HMS NANCY - War of 1812 Bi-Centennial

HMS NANCY – War of 1812 Bi-Centennial

In writing Blogs one is always aware of its audience large or small and for marine history buffs I would dare to say that it is on the smallish side and rather unique. In terms of fund raising it is more unique still and when it comes to raising funds for the Bi-Centennial of the war of 1812 which is being celebrated from 2012 to the spring of 2015.

For larger corporations who donate in the five figure range there is a slightly different format than for those commercial enterprises businesses who donate in the four figure range that format is again different still from those who are small businesses who donate in the three figure range. For this grouping the tax write-off is essential but with the commercial tax rate in Canada being effectively 19% the incentive here is modest.

Beyond this group there is the unique corporation, usually a developer, who looks at it from the commercial advertising point of view and form an investment syndicate to underwrite the project from a commercial marketing purposes and this can revolve around a timing schedule rather than a tax schedule. In other words for them it is a direct cost of doing business. For the Nancy Project we luckily have a representative from each group.

The last threshold in terms of fund raising, and this is always asked by each group, and that is what is the government doing [read contributing] towards marine heritage here in Canada. The answer to that question is as expected – not much. For marine heritage other than say building a wharf or building there is some funding, but for anything that “floats” or might move, the answer is clearly no.

For the Nancy project, the Foundation did talk with the Trillium Foundation and because the NANCY floats, the answer is no support. Also we would have to have a history of raising funds on an annual basis equivalent to that which we would be seeking. For the Federal Government the answer is that same, the olde phrase –“whatever floats your boat” is clearly not working. While we did make a full Business Plan presentation and indicate our corporate support they still refused to answer even after a year and with the full support of the two major cities involved.

They, the Federal Ministry of Heritage did, after a year, refer us to a local group for the Bi-Centennial Committee who refused to support the project because they wanted a full listing of corporate supporters – which any Foundation would never do, and they took their lead from the Federal Government and didn’t like anything that floats – and the fact that we were a “private” Foundation, even though we have a heritage like none other, with our Directors and previous programs going back some 125 years. The local Committee was aghast that we would ask and that they were fully aware that we knew that they had 15 other museums with no relationship to the war of 1812 at all and were developing programs just so they could attract Federal funding. The Nancy be damned.

It didn’t help that the corporate developer, which has the Nancy’s syndicated funding, delayed their input for one year. Even more thrilling for the local group, for if the Nancy were to proceed, then it would be seen as the “elephant in the room” except in this case it would have been all of Simcoe County. The tourism impact would have been enormous; but “what the hey” as they say.

So then, what is next in terms of fund raising while we wait for one more river to cross before we get to Jordan as the olde camp song goes, or in our case cross from Jordan into Israel where our sponsor and their funding base is from.

So we develop our “QR code” and start a secondary funding program for what is called the “deck furniture” for the new Nancy and here it is:-

Subject: HMS NANCY Project – War of 1812 Bi-Centennial – 2012 to 2015

While most of the activity and Federal funding initiatives will be along the Niagara frontier there is one program which is essential to Simcoe County and that is of course the project to build a replica of the very famous 100’ HMS NANCY from the War of 1812. The events around the NANCY during the final year of the war in 1814 were essential to the British retaking strategic territory on Georgian Bay [Lake Huron] such that we were able to regain all southern Ontario taken by the Americans, even though all the Forts along the Niagara frontier were lost, and the boundary finally settled at the 49th parallel.

Since the crew of the NANCY and her allies later settled for the most part in Simcoe County, we believe that we should also be a focal part of the celebrations. While we anticipate a private corporate sponsor looking at the cost of the new ship next year, we are now looking a supplementary funding program to raise sufficient funds for her armaments - six new cannons at $5500 each along with twelve replica muskets-rifles at $750 each [two to a case] as well as her ships bell at $1100 and her two main admiralty anchors at $2300 each.

For this endeavour then, we, the NANCY-GRIFFON Foundation, Federally registered charity, asked for your financial support for this supplementary program for the replica of the NANCY, which will be based in Port McNicoll, the closest deepwater harbour to both Barrie and Orillia. Once finished she will sail around the Great Lakes representing the truly great heritage of Barrie - Simcoe County and southern Georgian Bay. For Cell phone users please scan the image below and visit our website for further information. Your financial support would be sincerely appreciated. Thank you very much.

Yours truly

Eric J. Macklin
Chairman
The NANCY Project