Three (3) Years of Battleship IOWA Museum in Los Angeles!

Crew, Supporters, and Friends:

Our adventure continues over the recent few weeks. I commend all of you for your continued hard work and support. As we look at July 4th, we must pat ourselves on the back for a job well done over the past 3 years. Can you believe it has only been 3 years?

Photo Credit: Johnny Wu

We have had major accomplishments and it can be attributed to the great support and hard work that our entire team provides. The continued focus on the goals is astonishing and with the vast majority of the crew being volunteers, I commend you all for an amazing job well done.

Over the past few weeks the organization has continued its growth and strengthened its focus on guest experience. We have hosted a couple of important meetings which include the trustee / board get together, the board meeting, and the quarterly crew meeting. These meetings were all very positive in nature and have strengthened our ability as a crew to accomplish whatever we put our mind to.

Highlights include:

Photo Credit: Johnny Wu

• Volunteer of the Quarter – Congratulations to Chris Nelson for receiving the volunteer of the
quarter award. Chris is always willing and able to do anything the ship needs or requires.
• Attendance – Attendance is up 26.5% year over year thru May. Great work to everyone that has helped spread word of the IOWA. It is with your continued support, that we are able to provide such a great experience to our guests.
• Revenue – Revenue is up.  For the crew – I encourage you to attend the quarterly crew meetings for details.
• Fundraising – General fundraising is down year over year, but we are rapidly picking up pace. We have a few crew members assisting with development and we have submitted numerous grant requests over the past couple of months. We have also retained a fundraising consultant (thanks to a large contribution by Kehl Family Foundation) to help us build a strong foundation forward. Also starting in July, we are doing a direct mail campaign to generate contributions across the country. This program is at no up-front cost to our organization.
• Special Events – As many of you have noticed, our special events program has been extremely busy. Thank you to all crew members and supporters for their assistance and attendance at these great events. A special thank you, to all teams for working the long hours planning, setting up, breaking down, and providing a fun and secure time for our guests.
• Filming- We have had a few filming’s over the past month. A big filming was American Ninja Warrior. Please plan to watch this on July 6th and see our ship as an excellent backdrop.
• Membership – David Canfield has been hard at work programming Salesforce to be our primary member management system. I apologize to all of our crew and supporters that may have seen a lag (or lack) or member servicing. This is primarily due to a lack of efficient management system. We will see Salesforce doing its magic during July, with Tanya generating renewal notices over the next couple of months. Thank you for your continue patience and support.
• Operations – The OPS team has been hard at work painting, restoring, preserving and highlighting the ship. A big thank you to the OPS team for continually working on solving our head issue on board. Please reinforce all visitors and crew members to ONLY flush toilet paper down the toilets. Please no shirts, under garments, diapers, footballs, or anything else that may clog the system.
• Accounting – The finance team is hard at work finalizing our annual audit, which is due at the end of June. Thank you to this team for focusing on keeping us heading forward on finances.
• Education – Day of Discovery continues into the summer and I think we are close to expanding on this program in the future. Josh Stutz and his team of guides have provided an excellent experience to all of the kids that have visited. Keep up the great work!
• Museum - The IOWA Veterans Association exhibit is accelerating quickly, with a timeline of August for opening and completion (just in time for the Veterans reunion.) I commend Mike Getscher, Linda Ayers, Dave Way, and the rest of the team for their dedication and focus in achieving the objective.

In closing, I provide you with a statement that we use in many of our funding requests to help define who we are. Thank you again for your support, hard work, and continue assistance.

~JW

"The mission of the PBC is to celebrate the American spirit through the preservation and interpretation of the Battleship IOWA, to educate the public on the accomplishments and sacrifices of American patriots, and to engage our guests in unique and exciting ways that bring the ship to life by connecting the past with the future.

Photo Credits: Angelo Salarpi

The goal of celebrating the American Spirit is fulfilled through providing educational programs for school children; tours that teach the public on the activities necessary at sea; public events that commemorate significant American dates; and, a community platform for engagement with and for veterans and community members.  Our public outreach activities are dynamic and include learning opportunities through our website and social media, as well as participation in community activities.  Today, our social media presence exceeds all museums in Los Angeles and includes over 310,000 loyal Facebook followers. The Pacific Battleship Center’s annual budget is $4,101,250 and currently doesn’t operate at a deficit."