Q. You have a lot of experience in fundraising. How would you compare the USS Missouri to other projects?

A. It's definitely an easy sell because I believe so strongly in the mission. Our mission is technically to create and maintain a fitting memorial for the people and the historic events that reflect our nation's legacy of duty, honor, strength, sacrifice and resolve. So it's very easy for me to take that mission and put it into the component of this is why we have these education programs, this is why we have tours, this is why we have volunteer experiences.

Q. It must help to have the USS Arizona Memorial side-by-side with the Missouri.

A. I meet people who believe that the battleship would do better if it were down in Waikiki or down at Sand Island or in another area. That might be true, but the reality is the Arizona was the start of World War II and the USS Missouri was the ending. It was where the signing of the surrender documents took place, and we focus on that being truly the first steps towards peace at the end of World War II. It's great because we also have the Pacific Aviation Museum out here and the USS Bowfin, so we're all starting to engage each other to really tell the story of Pearl Harbor.

Q. What are your responsibilities?

A. My primary role is to raise the funds and support for the ship — more importantly, the mission of the USS Missouri Memorial Association. We're the actual caretakers that were designated by the Navy to take care of the battleship Missouri. We do basic public relations, making sure people understand what our mission is, and then the fundraising and volunteer support for that mission.

Q. Do you have a certain amount that you need to raise?

A. Usually there's always a goal, but I just started here, so I'm in my first six months. It's an exciting time because I'm in a window where we're going to be celebrating the 10th anniversary of the Missouri's arrival in Hawai'i next June, and then the following January 2009, it's the 10th anniversary of opening the battleship to the public.

Q. What's involved in the fundraising?

A. There are two components. One is we get a lot of questions about the maintenance and the capital campaign component. There's a second component, which is what we call the annual fund and it focuses on programs and the ongoing operations of the ship. Right now we're not in a capital campaign, rather we're in an annual fund campaign that's raising funds for the creation of the Mighty Mo campus. It's going to be a virtual campus that's dedicated to the education of all of the different science, technology, engineering and math programs and activities that we'll have. It's focusing on enhancing the hands-on experience, like overnight use encampments, field trips, lecture series and things like that. At the same time, we have a marine surveyor who's going to be here for about six weeks, telling us what the condition of the battleship is so that we will know when or if we need to start a capital campaign. Somebody just told me that our power bill can be up to $39,000 a month, so we have a large burden of infrastructure. But what's nice is we have more than 800 people a day that come through, and the general admission here helps us with that.

Q. Your office is on the battleship?

A. It is. We originally were in the Navy pass/I.D. office, and at the start of my tenure, we decided that we were going to pull all of the organization over to the pier side. I ended up in the chaplain's office in the chaplain's stateroom. This is near where they call "officer's country." Three of our staff have three staterooms, so it's a really unique work environment.

Q. Is fundraising what you do best?

A. In terms of a career, I'm dedicated to the development of the professional fundraising field and industry, especially in Hawai'i. We have an enormous amount of nonprofit organizations and I'm very passionate about making sure we have the expertise and the tools and the knowledge here locally to raise funds professionally and in the proper fashion. Professional fundraisers identify, cultivate, solicit and steward donors that match the mission of the organization and that's what my role is with the Missouri.

Q. Do you have to take a different approach depending on what organization you're raising funds for?

A. There are different approaches in terms of the way you might approach a supporter. But there are fundamentals that every nonprofit should follow in terms of professional fundraising. Sometimes if it's not professional fundraising, I like to call it the "hulihuli chicken" approach, where you just have the hulihuli chicken out there and you're trying to raise a few dollars and get anybody in a car passing by to buy some chicken. Not that that's wrong, but there is a science and a method of looking at a strong base of supporters, segmenting them, understanding who has a true interest in the mission of the organization and then engaging them in a way that's interesting and really fulfilling for their value system and your mission value to match them correctly.

Q. You're also president of the Rotary Club of Waikiki. How do you juggle all your different activities?

A. The key is you have to have really good support from family, and my husband has been phenomenal. He understands that during certain periods of time I get super busy, such as being president of the Rotary Club — on Wednesdays at noon we have our meetings and those are not the days we want to talk about cutting the lawn. I have a very supportive staff, and the Battleship Missouri has been a phenomenal organization because they allow me to do things with other service organizations because it does reflect on them as an organization and the networking provides a synergy for my daily work.

Q. What are some of your other challenges?

A. I do not have a military background, and I do not want to make a mistake in protocol. For instance, if we have a Veterans Day celebration or if we have events that are honoring veterans, that's one of the biggest concerns is making sure that the development department is doing things properly. The other challenge or concern that I have is ensuring that the different organizations that I'm involved with balance one another, that one doesn't take too much time. The key is understanding what you're headed for, what you want to achieve, and in my line of business I know that I do not want the Battleship Missouri to lose its mission, to lose its focus on being here in Hawai'i.

Q. What are some of your goals at the Missouri?

A. I have three main things that I'm looking at. The first is to really build a strong team. That means in the fundraising and the development office, but also among us as staff in the organization. From my background, we're in a time of a lot of technology changes, so integrating that in with the current things that are happening, build a stronger team. The second thing is we definitely are focused on the donors and the supporters who have been here for us. We're going into our 10-year anniversary, so those who have been with us from the beginning they reflect a commitment level based on what their experience and relationship with the ship is. So the better I understand that, the better I understand how to bring out in them what they value and what they want to see the ship become as well. That's going to help in the long run in engaging more supporters. The last thing is our 10-year anniversary. We're going to have a really good anniversary celebration that lasts from that June 2008 coming into the waters of Hawai'i all the way up to Jan. 29, 2009, which is the actual date of the ship opening its doors here.

Reach Curtis Lum at culum@honoluluadvertiser.com.