Bean Blossom Brown County Jamboree Preservation Foundation

Important Announcement
from the BBJF

Dear Friends, Donors, and Supporters of the Bean Blossom Jamboree Foundation:

We first set out a little over three years ago to establish a non-profit organization that could serve as a gathering point for the bluegrass music community, where we could pool our efforts, seek civic and corporate support, and by doing so achieve our main goal of acquiring the Bill Monroe Music Park located in Brown County, Indiana and preserving this historic site as a non-profit entity for future generations. We began our efforts by communicating to the public at large, primarily festival goers and other fans of the music. We received overwhelming positive responses from all over the world and our efforts have been propelled by rank-and-file individual support from donors like you.

As we promised in our mission statement, our volunteer officers and board members worked tirelessly for three years exploring every funding option possible, from loans to installment agreements to private-public partnerships to sponsorships to major corporate donations and more. Below is a partial list of public and private individuals and organizations we formally approached for support. A few gave us small donations ($1,000 or less), many told us they could not support us at the current time, and many others also indicated no interest. However, we could not have even approached these donors if it had not been for your individual support. The economic downturn in 2008 coincided with our start and severely hampered our efforts. While this has hurt us with the big donors, tough times did not deter the individual donors, and for that we are extremely grateful.

We want you to know that the funds we have raised have been used solely to advertise, seek civic and corporate support from “big donors,” cover operating expenses, and to promote bluegrass in ways such as the Youth Boot Camp. While we hired a professional fundraiser to approach large donors in late 2010, all board members and officers have been 100% volunteer, including free legal, business, and marketing expertise, and have not even sought mileage reimbursements or similar expenses. Despite our best efforts, funds are now low, and prospects of purchasing the park at the current time are narrow. For this reason, we are not actively seeking individual donations at this time. If opportunities present themselves in the future, the BBJF will remain a vehicle to pursue those opportunities. Until then, our mission allows us to set shorter term goals. We intent to maintain the Memorial Wall at the park and use the proceeds to help promote local bluegrass and fund educational activities like the Youth Boot Camp. We invite anyone who might be interested in a leadership position in the BBJF to contact us, because there will be a great opportunity this year to help define and guide the Foundation’s mission in the future.

Again, we thank you for your support over the past three years. We regret that we have not yet been able to raise the funds necessary to purchase the park, but we our encouraged that the park’s ownership remains committed to seeing the park preserved and hope that by infusing some new leadership and new ideas, the BBJF can continue to do good for the bluegrass community.

Sincerely,

Volunteer Leadership, Officers, and Board Members
Bean Blossom Jamboree Foundation, Inc.

These are some of the corporations, foundations, government entities, and celebrities the BBJF has approached for support since 2008. The BBJF has chosen not to publicly indicate local individuals who have been approached for support. Individual donors can be found on our website, www.bbjfoundation.org.

Eli Lilly & Co.
Cummins Diesel
Clarian Health
General Electric
Honeywell
Allison Transmission
Brown County Community Foundation
Central Indiana Community Foundation
City of Indianapolis
Indiana Land Trust
Gibson Foundation
C.F. Martin Foundation
D’Addario Foundation
Cracker Barrel
Tractor Supply Co.
Stetson Hats
Allison Krauss
Martha White Co.
John Mellencamp
Dolly Parton
Vince Gill
Gander Mountain
Bob Evans
Cabella’s
Steve Martin
Indiana University
National Endowment for the Arts
National Heritage Alliance
Warren Hellman Foundation
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
PepsiCo
IBMA
Ind. Office of Comm. & Rural Affairs
Indiana State Parks and Reservoirs
Indiana Historical Society
Ind. Office of Tourism & Development
Efroyson Family Foundation
The Glick Fund
Indiana University Health
St. Francis Hospital
St. Vincent Hospital
Tennessee Pride Sausage
Ind. Dept. of Economic & Sustainable Development
Music Crossroads
Indiana DNR (Div. of Historic Preservation and Archaeology)
The Weed Patch
Indiana Landmarks
Film Indiana
Jimmy Dean Sausage
Various Indiana state legislators
Small Business Development Center
Indiana U. School of Philanthropy
Cook Pharmaceuticals
Columbus Conv. & Visitors Bureau
Traditional Arts Indiana
Orange County Economic Development
Hills O’Brown Realty
Purnell Sausage
Brown County Economic Development
Indiana Arts Commission
Brown County Conv. & Visitors Bureau
Lucas Oil
Indiana University Fundraising School
First Merchants Bank
Sycamore Land Trust
Edmonson RV
Indiana RV
Camper World

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