IBCC Development Donors Appeal
The following appeal is from ACM Sir Michael Graydon GCB CBE, Chairman, International Bomber Command Centre. Whilst donors are encouraged to commit to giving funds over a set period, it should be emphasised that any single one-off donation, however modest, would be much appreciated.
As Chairman of the International Bomber Command Centre, I wanted to give you a quick update on the development of this major addition to Lincolnshire’s heritage. And to ask for your help.
Many of you have already been most generous, helping us to open in 2018 in memory of almost 58,000 men and women who lost their lives in Bomber Command during the Second World War.
Since then, with the development of our unique Digital Archive preserving the stories of those who served, supported and suffered, we are now also preserving the heritage of those who served later and further afield. Our ethos and expertise have led to us becoming a base for ethics training for today’s RAF Officers.
With our theme of Recognition, Remembrance and Reconciliation, over the past five years our reach has become international, and the number of visitors to the Memorial and Centre on our wonderful site just south of Lincoln has risen to over 100,000 a year.
In 2023 we were honoured by winning the King’s Award for Voluntary Service and the Bronze Award in Visit England’s nationwide review of large visitor attractions (the only two ahead of us being the Harry Potter film studios and Blenheim Palace!) This year we have plans to commemorate Bomber Command’s part in the Great Escape and D-Day, and in 2025 to recall Operation Manna - the first airborne humanitarian mission, in which Lincolnshire farmers played so great a part.
But meanwhile we face a great dilemma. We have paid off most of our debt and increased our income from our award-winning cafe and events; there is much demand to use our facilities. But we cannot raise more income this way right now because we also need to use the space for our most important function: education. This means we cannot pay our way. And there is huge demand from schools, of which we can only meet part without turning away still more income-earning events.
To become sustainable, we desperately need dedicated space for both. We have recently received a £231,000 grant from the National Lottery Heritage Fund to expand our work into the postwar period and carry out the planning and preliminary preparations for new education and hospitality buildings.
We are in discussion with a number of the big charitable foundations. And now we hope we can attract support for these projects from local well-wishers, as we have done in the past.
But the meantime, we have a pressing need to fill the gap between what we must spend to keep our education programme going and what we can earn from our limited space. Despite all our help from our wonderful volunteers, this gap amounts to about £120,000 a year.
And that’s why I am asking if you would agree to become a Development Donor.
• Will you help us through the gap between planning for new facilities and having them ready for use, by becoming a Flight, Squadron or Wing Donor for £500, £1,000 or £2,000 each year for three years?
• Would you consider becoming a Pathfinder Donor, by contributing a capital sum towards the construction of these new buildings? We would be happy to discuss special ways of commemorating your generosity.
Of course, we know that for some people it may not be possible to help now, but you might be prepared to leave us a legacy, underpinning our future sustainability. That too would be much appreciated - especially if you would very kindly let us know.
Finally, if you don’t feel you know us well enough to commit yourself, we would invite you to become a member of our new Lancaster Club. This builds on our existing Friends of the IBCC but adds a further donation to help fill the financing gap.
These schemes, all of which are eligible for Gift Aid, are outlined in the note attached to my letter, but we’d be very happy to give you further information on any ways of helping the IBCC. Please just email info@internationalbcc.co.uk if you would like to discuss them or our future plans.
