Making it
WHAT IS OUR ACTION PLAN?
Our organization has been fulfilling its planned actions successfully since its inception in June 2001. There are four major components of our action plan.
1. Program-Resource Establishment: (completed)
2. Design Development: (completed tasks and in progress tasks)
3. Feasibility/Cost Analysis and Budget: (completed)
4. Fundraising: (completed tasks, in progress tasks, and ongoing activities)
After the completion of program-resource establishment phase and feasibility analysis of our project, design development and fund-raising phases have been initiated. As a result of a competition among architectural teams, Professor Yildirim Yavuz and architects Affan Yatman and Nesrin Yatman were selected as the designers of The room. The details of our accomplishments and future tasks are summarized below.
The TNR Committee draws its strength from the Turkish American Community of the Pittsburgh region. Committee members are volunteers from community leaders and other participants. The Committee brings together a distinguished set of skills and capacities of different professional experiences and a vibrating enthusiasm of committed members to achieve our objectives. An Advisory Board has been formed by July 2001, to help the executive committee with networking and fundraising efforts. The board consists of individuals that represent a variety of Turkish institutions, friends of Turkey and regional representatives. There is also a Technical Committee, embodied into our organization, to help with the design and construction of the Turkish Nationality Room. You may see the list of members below that have been selected carefully to contribute their unique sets of experience, skills and expertise to fundraising for and building of the Turkish Nationality Room.
OUR ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND FUTURE TASKS
Program-Resource Establishment: (completed)
| Jan-Jun 2001 |
Community Discussions Feasibility Study Project establishment by inclusion into community Associations' bylaws |
| Jun-Sep 2001 |
Application to and invitation by the University of Pittsburgh Nationality Rooms program. |
| Jun- Sep 2001 |
Executive Committee and Advisory Board establishment. |
Design Development: (completed tasks and in progress tasks)
| Oct-Dec 2001 |
Design Brief specification development (completed) |
| Jan-May 2002 |
RPF and Design Requirements establishment juried invitation to leading architectural groups in Turkey (completed) |
| May 2002 |
Jury and Design Architect selection (completed) |
| Jun-Aug 2002 |
Pittsburgh licensed architect partner selection (completed) |
| Sep 2002 - May 2004 |
Design Development - modifications (in progress) |
| June 2004 - Dec 2005 |
Further modifications, material acquisitions |
| Jan-Dec 2006 |
Implementation: Construction - Dedication |
FEASIBILITY/COST ANALYSIS AND BUDGET (completed)
Feasibility/Cost analysis was completed by May 2001. Analysis concluded that in line with the construction cost of other recent Nationality Rooms, the unit cost is $ 375 per square foot. As the room dedicated to the Turkish Nationality Room is 650sq ft, we estimated our total costs to be $466,092 for construction, contingency, architectural services, and fundraising.
Fundraising: (completed tasks, in progress tasks, and ongoing activities)
Our financing will be done through fundraising activities within the Pittsburgh community as well as the broader Turkish-American community in the US, and in Turkey. Due to small size of the Turkish community in the US, our campaign will target small number of individuals, companies and foundations rather than the broader public. We will seek donations in cash and in kind. Fundraising and project accounting will be managed by the University of Pittsburgh NRIEP (Nationality Rooms and Intercultural Exchange Programs), as they function within the Office of University Center for International Studies at the University of Pittsburgh.
As of January 2004, donations of over $134,000 have been achieved mostly by individual donations from the Turkish-American community in Pittsburgh since 2001.
OUR FUND RAISING PATH
Planning, Development, and Donations from Targeted Focus Groups to Larger Resources
| Jan-Dec 2001 |
Fundraising plan development (completed) |
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| Jan 2001- ongoing |
Network development, fundraising consultancy |
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| Jan 2001 - ongoing |
Regional/National/International communication - presentations to target people and corporations - quarterly newsletter (to date five issues published since January 2002) (completed) |
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| PITTSBURGH |
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| Mar 2002 |
Pittsburgh community quiet campaign launch (completed) | |
| Mar 2003 |
Pittsburgh community mass campaign launch (in progress) |
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| THE USA |
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| Nov 2002 - Dec 2003 |
Washington DC quiet campaign development with Embassy (completed) |
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| Jan 2003- Dec 2003 |
Washington DC quiet campaign (completed) |
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| Nov 2002 - Dec 2003 |
NY quiet campaign development with Consulate (completed) |
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| Jan 2003 -2004 |
NY quiet campaign launch (in progress) |
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| Jan-Dec 2004 |
Washington DC mass campaign launch (in progress) |
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| 2003-2005 |
Target city/prospect identification, donation solicitation (ongoing) | |
| FOUNDATIONS |
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| Nov 2003- Mar 2004 |
Grant applications (ongoing) |
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| TURKEY |
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| Summer 2001-2002 |
Network development, prospect identification (completed) |
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| June 2001 |
Tourism Ministry Fund application (completed) |
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| June 2001 - ongoing |
Donation solicitation from prospects (ongoing) |
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TURKISH NATIONALITY ROOM COMMITTEE MEMBERS
| 1. Chairperson and Director of Architectural Design Sub-committee: Omer Akin, PhD, Professor, Carnegie Mellon University, School of Architecture 2. Director of Fundraising: Enigul Sonmez-Alpan 3. Treasurer and Pittsburgh Turkish American Association (PTAA) Liaison: Sakir Oguz 4. Turkish American Student Association (TASA) Liaison at University of Pittsburgh: Ali Ozuer 5. Newsletter and Foundations: Pinar Ipek. 6. FUndraising liaison staff: Zuhal Ulusoy, Baris Demiral 7. Graphic Designers: Bilge Mutlu, Dilek Bulut |
TURKISH NATIONALITY ROOM ADVISORY BOARD MEMBERS
| 1. Turkish-American Association in the US: Ercument Kilic, President-elect, Assembly of Turkish American Associations, ATAA Dr. Ulku Ulgur, Chairman, Board of Trustees, Assembly of Turkish American Associations, ATAA 2. Turkish Historians, Art Historians in the US and Turkey: Prof. Talat Halman, Director, Center for Turkish Literature, Bilkent University, Ankara, Turkey Dr. Esin Atil, Expert on Islamic Art, Curator Emeritus, Smithsonian Institute 3. Turkish Businessmen in the US: Varol Ablak, CEO, Pizza Outlet, Pittsburgh 4. Turkish Government Officers: Suleyman Demirel, Former President, Republic of Turkey Dr. Faruk Logoglu, Ambassador to the USA, Embassy of the Republic of Turkey, Washington DC 5. Businessmen in Turkey: Nuri M Colakoglu, CEO, CNN-Turk 6. Turkish Universities: Prof. Gulsun Saglamer, President, Istanbul Technical University 7. Turkish-American Community in Pittsburgh: Dr. Thomas Detre, Senior advisor to the President for International and Academic Affairs, UPMC Health System, Pittsburgh Edward Friedman Attorney and CEO of Friedman and Friedman, Pittsburgh |
TURKISH NATIONALITY ROOM TECHNICAL COMMITTEE MEMBERS
| 1. Prof. Dr. Nur Akin, Faculty of Architecture, Istanbul Technical University 2. Prof. Dr. Omer Akin, School of Architecture, Carnegie Mellon University 3. Doc. Dr Gul Asatekin, Faculty of Architecture, Middle East Technical University 4. Dr. Deniz Esemenli, Curator, Topkapi Palace 5. Dr. Sinan Genim, Faculty of Architecture, Mimar Sinan University 6. Dr. Suha Ozkan, Director of Aga Khan Foundation Awards 7. Prof. Dr. Hasan Sener, Dean, Faculty of Architecture, Istanbul Technical University 8. Dr. Murat Tabanlioglu, Architect, Istanbul 9. Prof. Dr. Yildirim Yavuz, Dean, Faculty of Architecture, Middle East Technical University |