February 17, 2011
By Staff Reporter
The parade, which is a registered non-profit, is hoping to raise tax-deductible donations from the general public for what it described in a statement as its continued efforts to improve its operations.
“We introduced our website two years ago, and last year the parade was web-streamed live over the Internet from Fifth Avenue for the first time,” said parade secretary Hilary Beirne.
“Both items have been hugely successful and the overall communications between the committee and the public has improved dramatically,” Beirne said.
The effort to secure funding from the public is in part due to the parade’s fast approaching 250th anniversary.
“The Parade will be 250 years old in 2011 and the committee is already hard at work planning a truly momentous parade for that year” said parade committee chairman John Dunleavy.
“We hope the online donation center will help us raise funds to off set our rising costs and expected reduced donations due to the downturn in the economy,” he said.
“Parade costs have increased, especially since 9/11 and we are looking to the online public to raise additional funds to maintain the world’s largest Irish event on St Patrick’s Day Parade,” he added.
A committee statement said that most people did not know that the parade was completely funded by donations from the public.
“New York City, which serves as the majestic backdrop to the parade, offers no financial assistance to the parade despite the fact that the city takes in millions of dollars in tax revenue from parade participants. The parade committee has to pay for everything from comfort stations for parade participants to reviewing stands,” the statement said.
And it continued: “We are asking the public to ask themselves how much is a lifetime of memories worth. How many Saint Patrick Days have you spent watching your children be awestruck by the marching bands?
“How many times have you gotten goose bumps as the sound of the first bagpipes break through the chilly March morning air?
Urging people to donate, the statement said that because the St. Patrick’s Day Parade and Celebration Committee was a registered non-profit organization, 100 percent of each individual donation would be tax-deductible and would “help fund the world’s oldest and most cherished parade.”
The committee stated that “secure” online donations could be made to NYC-St-Patrick-Day-Parade.Org or NYCStPatricksParade.Org. Mailed contributions could be sent to the St. Patrick’s Day Parade & Celebration Committee
P.O. Box 295 Woodlawn Station, Woodlawn, NY 10470.