The parade committee is planning to introduce a parade “corporate seal” that will be available to advertisers and sponsors.
The idea is to raise money to fund the annual march up Fifth Avenue in Manhattan which is lately facing sharply mounting costs.
A formal launching of the seal plan, to be hosted by Irish Consul General in New York, Niall Burgess, will take place January 13 at the consulate offices in Manhattan.
“In creating the official seal, the Saint Patrick’s Day Parade Committee seeks to recognize our valued partners and corporate sponsors,” the parade committee said in a statement.
“The official seal can be used in advertising, brochures and places of business. The parade committee will thank its valued partners and sponsors in all parade literature, on our official web site, at our organizational meetings and in our TV commentary,” the statement added.
The committee stated that “what most people don’t know” is that the parade was “completely funded” by donations from “generous people” and “much needed” sponsors.
“We have met the challenge every year, never breaking the 248-year tradition of marching but we too are feeling the ripple effects of the worsening economy,” the committee statement continued.
“Our great city offers us no financial subsidies despite the fact that the city takes in millions of dollars in tax revenues from our parade participants. We are charged for everything, from reviewing stands to the network airtime that brings the parade to people all over the world.
“And costs of organizing and hosting the world’s oldest and largest parade are increasing,” the statement, signed by parade chairman John Dunleavy, concluded.
The seal idea follows an online donation drive launched by the committee last month.
In that move, the parade committee, which is a registered non-profit, said it was 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.
The corporate seal plan, and the online donation drive, are both being run with a view 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” John Dunleavy has stated.
In the November statement announcing the online drive, the parade committee did not stop short of tapping into public sentiment.
“We are asking the public to ask themselves how much is a lifetime of memories worth,” the committee stated. “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.”