Timber Ridge School

Objective: The Timber Ridge School in Winchester, Virginia serves emotionally disturbed and learning disabled male students between the ages of 11 and 19. The school needed to raise money on an ongoing basis to fund improvements in its campus programs and facilities.

 
Solution: Eight years ago the Timber Ridge School developed its first collectible with ChemArt featuring the artwork of Mort Kunstler, one of America’s greatest historical artists.

Every ornament since then has featured an original oil painting by Kunstler which has increased the popularity of the collectible series, and increased awareness of the school.

Each ornament is packaged with a certificate of authenticity and a thank you letter confirming the eligibility of the purchase for a tax deduction.

Timber Ridge uses a variety of creative marketing tactics to promote their collectible series. These include: mailings to their database, advertising in local holiday newspaper inserts, collaborating with the local Chamber of Commerce, cross promoting on Civil War message boards, donating a series to Civil War related silent auctions. They are currently working with Pay Pal so that visitors can purchase the ornament directly from the School’s web site. Every year the local cable television talk show invites Timber Ridge to introduce the new ornament on the show.

Results: The Timber Ridge School has raised close to $45,000 with their ChemArt collectible program. In addition, their first ornament from 1996 now sells on eBay for $450.

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