Naughty Columns and Serious Fundraising
*NSFW language and images
On Halloween night, someone purposely lit fire to a front column on Historic Beverly’s Cabot House. What happened next is the real hero of this story.
Three men walked by 117 Cabot Street on Halloween evening and noticed one of the front columns smoldering. One pulled out a cell phone and called the Beverly, MA police and fire departments and the response was rapid. The fire was put down but the damage was done. Gratefully insured, Historic Beverly put the story into the community with a request to raise $5000 to support the deductable and start the restoration process ASAP.
Here’s where it gets interesting…
Do you know who Beverly’s Zaddy is? Have you heard of Zeke the turtle? Does the history of Bobby Rantoul intrigue you? Perhaps you came across stories of Shoebert - the grey seal who swam up a tunnel into a pond and stole the hearts of thousands last fall. More than likely, unless you are Beverly or Beverly adjacent, you DON’T follow the Entering Beverly - a hyperlocal, extremely popular main page whose snark and sarcasm cause texts to fly and water cooler conversations to happen.
(You can see the full lineup of Stories on Entering Beverly’s Instagram page)
Entering Beverly picked up Historic Beverly’s post about the fire.
Outrage expressed.
Ideas are presented - some might even say outlandish ideas…
Thanks to Entering Beverly for saying the things that the staff was likely thinking and saying but for marketing purposes really couldn’t put into a public post.
Historic Beverly enters the chat…
Gentile Brewery - one of four in less than a mile radius, throws down the community gauntlet to the other breweries and proposes a crawl to raise some money.
Waiting, wishing, hoping.
Not the most architecturally accurate depiction, but it’s attention-getting?
As a community, we’ve gone from Phil Columns to the Naughty Column.
Beautifully designed…
So many Beverly businesses - from craft studios to dive bars tgot in on the fundraising action. Donations poured in from across the country.
And, yes! Historic Beverly was actively engaged with their own fundraising efforts and communication while this Entering Beverly saga unfolded.
Even the youuthssss [sic] from Beverly High School helped.
So much anticipation from the community.
Breaking news and shedding tears from Entering Beverly.
Are you ready for this result?
$5000 goal. $23,000 was raised in a few days.
Effing wild is right.
Why did this work?
In our DM’s we were talking with a colleague about the wonderful randomness of how this played out. They said, “How do we harness this? Bottle it up? What magic happened here? Do all donation graphics need to be phallic? So many questions!”
In years of museum and fundraising work, we’re definitely asking the same questions. There have been well-planned and staged online efforts - think Giving Tuesday. Things definitely go viral in an organic, unplanned way. Being open and honest about challenges in your organization with messaging that feels human is crucial.
The Entering Beverly page is a hyperlocal audience of people who live in or around Beverly or have come from Beverly with close to 17,000 followers. The demographics of the page literally span the youthssss to grandparents. The tone of the page captures a community spirit with humor, snark, and sarcasm. Oh, and modified pop culture images that resonate.
There was no planned connection between Historic Beverly and Entering Beverly. In fact, Entering Beverly is not in this for promoting local businesses or fundraisers no matter how important the cause. Whoever this anonymous meme master is, they’re here to share what’s on their mind about the community in the moment.
“We need more of this energy in public history.”
This statement really made us think and expand on “what worked.” From local dive bars to the class of 2025 Beverly High School kids, dozens of people and businesses stepped up and donated. Was it the idea of a plaque and permanence to commemorate a group effort? Was it because there was “real talk” about the issue from Historic Beverly mixed in with silly drawings and GIFs that launched this organic effort? Was it Historic Beverly going with the non-traditional flow that helped the support trajectory? Or, all of the above?
This story isn’t over. Historic Beverly will have money to cover the insurance costs and to expand the restoration project. As the project progresses, it will be interesting to observe if/when this project continues to go viral on a hyperlocal level. Historic Beverly has dozens of new donors to engage with.
We’re looking forward to the snark energy, memes, and continued success for our local historic organization!