Cultural

Oglebay Foundation

Forever Yours: The Campaign for an Enduring Oglebay

Defining the Problem

The Challenge

Oglebay’s self-sustaining model was so successful that the community didn’t realize the 100-year-old park needed philanthropic support. Operations could sustain—but only philanthropy could propel.

What we faced:

Century of success ready for public articulation
Self-sustaining strength primed for transformation narrative
Operations excellence creating philanthropic opportunity
Community gratitude ready for investment

FIRST-EVER

COMPREHENSIVE CAMPAIGN

100

YEARS OF COMMUNITY IMPACT

XX

CAPITAL PROJECTS FUNDED

Setting the Stage

The Starting Point

When Foster Avenue began working with Oglebay Foundation in 2020, the organization faced a paradox that threatened its first-ever comprehensive campaign. Oglebay—America’s only self-sustaining public park system—had been so successful at funding operations through visitor revenue that most community members didn’t realize it needed philanthropic support at all.

For nearly a century, Oglebay had operated without government funding, using revenue from lodging, golf, dining, and events to maintain its 2,000 acres of trails, gardens, and facilities. This self-sustaining model was a point of pride—but it created a dangerous perception gap. If the park takes care of itself, why would anyone need to give?

The truth was more nuanced. Operations could sustain the status quo, but couldn’t propel Oglebay forward. Capital improvements, new facilities, endowment growth—these required philanthropy. With a centennial approaching and facilities showing their age, leadership knew the time had come to articulate a case that had never been made: why this beloved community asset needed the community’s philanthropic investment.

The Strategic Work

Strategic Discoveries

The Living Endowment

Discovery revealed that Oglebay functions like a perpetual endowment for the entire region—generating returns not just in dollars, but in family memories, community connection, and regional pride. This insight reframed the campaign from “funding park improvements” to “investing in a living asset that pays dividends to everyone.”

The Great Role Reversal

Wheeling was once an industrial powerhouse with Oglebay as its adornment. Now, that relationship had reversed—Oglebay channels economic strength to the community, drawing visitors and investment to the region. This role reversal created urgency: the community’s anchor institution now needed the community’s investment to continue its work.

Building Four Things

Stakeholder interviews revealed that Oglebay’s impact could be organized into four distinct pillars: building family, building community, building commerce, and building pride. This framework provided a versatile structure for connecting any campaign priority to donor motivations—whether driven by gratitude, legacy, connection, or civic responsibility.

Our Framework Applied

Why Now? Why Here? Why This?

The strategic framework crystallized a case for investment that had never been articulated in Oglebay’s century of existence—transforming a beloved community asset into an urgent philanthropic opportunity.

Why Now?

The centennial approaches. The community’s anchor needs the community’s investment.

With a centennial approaching and facilities showing their age, this campaign captures a once-in-a-generation moment. The pandemic proved Oglebay’s essential role; now the community must invest in its next century.

Why Here?

Today, as it celebrates its first century, Oglebay must evolve so it can stay the same.

Oglebay is Wheeling’s Golden Gate, its Mount Rushmore. The park combines an AZA-accredited zoo, championship golf, historic lodges, and 2,000 acres of natural beauty—all without government support. It delivers excellence without pretension, serving everyone from wedding parties to scout troops. 

Why This?

The park is yours; philanthropy makes it forever.

A wide range of disparate campaign priorities – from zoo expansion to historic preservation to endowment – created messaging challenges, but all fit neatly under Oglebay’s case to serve as an enduring community anchor.

Strategic Foundation

How Strategy Became Story

The campaign theme emerged from a deceptively simple metaphor. For 100 years, Oglebay had been growing, ring by ring, like the great oaks that shade its grounds. As a century-old environment welcoming locals and tourists alike, Oglebay named its campaign Forever Yours.

The tree ring metaphor proved remarkably versatile. It captured Oglebay’s century of growth, its rootedness in the community, and the idea that each new generation adds its own ring to the story. More importantly, it resolved a tension at the heart of the campaign: how to honor a beloved past while making a case for urgent future investment. The rings showed that growth and permanence aren’t opposites—they’re the same process, viewed from different angles.

The theme did real work in donor conversations. Forever Yours reminded long-time visitors that Oglebay had always belonged to them—and invited them to ensure that it would belong to their grandchildren too. The tagline “For Everyone, Forever” extended this ownership to the entire community, transforming the campaign from an institutional ask into a collective stewardship opportunity.

When the pandemic arrived months into the engagement, the theme proved prescient. Community members suddenly understood what life without Oglebay would feel like. The Forever Yours message met the moment perfectly—affirming Oglebay’s essential role while channeling the community’s gratitude into action.

CAMPAIGN Theme

Positioning Statement

“For nearly 100 years, Oglebay has functioned like an enduring endowment, providing our community strong returns on investment—social, familial, and financial. The campaign will ensure that this living endowment continues to grow and serve for generations to come.”

The Work

Strategy Made Visible

Leadership Case for Support

A comprehensive narrative document built around the tree ring metaphor, the case for support equipped campaign volunteers with the language to articulate why Oglebay’s self-sustaining model—paradoxically—requires philanthropic investment. The document traces Oglebay’s century of growth while making a compelling case for its next hundred years.

Campaign Identity & Standards

The visual identity system centered on the tree ring motif, creating a cohesive look across all campaign touchpoints while honoring Oglebay’s natural setting. Graphic standards and templates ensured that the Foundation could extend the campaign’s voice consistently across internal communications, event materials, and donor recognition.

Campaign Website

The Forever Yours website brings the campaign narrative to life through donor spotlight stories, campaign priority details, and the centennial celebration timeline. Interactive elements invite visitors to explore Oglebay’s impact across its four pillars—family, community, commerce, and pride—while providing clear pathways to giving.

Validation & Credibility

What They Said

“We represent nine generations of Wheelingites. We met as children here in the park, held our 60th wedding anniversary in the Pine Room, and now our grandchildren are making their own memories. When the campaign asked us to help ensure Oglebay’s next century, we knew this was our moment to give back to the place that has given us everything.”

Campaign Donors

“I’ve been connected to this park for 86 years—as a Pine Room waiter in 1951, as a lifeguard, as a young man who met my wife here, and now as someone who walks these grounds every day. When the Foundation said they were launching a campaign for Oglebay’s future, I didn’t need to think twice.”

Campaign Donor

“When the pandemic hit, we wanted to do something meaningful. The matching gift opportunity let us multiply our impact—and watching the community respond with more than $700,000 showed us just how much Oglebay means to everyone. This place isn’t just a park. It’s who we are.”