With little to show but enthusiasm, the development staff at the National Constitution Center managed to fund a dream.

By Margaret Battistelli Gardner

Out there on its own
The original fundraising campaign, which began in 1988 and picked up speed with Rendell’s involvement, ended in March. The campaign goal was $185 million; the actual take: $185,000,216.

Of that, $108 million came from the federal government (U.S. Department of Education and U.S. Department of Transportation), the state of Pennsylvania, the Delaware River Port Authority and the city of Philadelphia. The remaining $77,000,216 came from the private sector, Seiter says, stressing that the NCC is now a fully independent nonprofit organization. By prior agreement, once it opened on July 4, 2003, it lost all of its public funding except a small subsidy from the state tourism budget.