Bringing fundraising and emailing together, the WW&F story

WW&F Railway Museum is almost entirely volunteer-run. Ed Lecuyer started using Zeffy for donations, then moved ticketing from FareHarbor and email from Mailchimp. Today, the museum runs all three in one place, with fundraising and email working together.

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WW&F Railway Museum is in Alna, Maine. More than 200 volunteers gave their time last year, and the museum is on track to welcome close to 10,000 visitors this year.

“Saturday, we had 450 passengers, and everybody buys tickets online through Zeffy,” says Ed Lecuyer, General Passenger Agent.

The museum runs seasonal train rides, like the Lavender Pickin’ and Pumpkin Pickin’ trains to SeaLyon Farm. It’s also raising money for two restoration projects. One is Coach 9, a Victorian-era passenger coach. The other is Build 11, a steam locomotive the museum is rebuilding from the original No. 7. It will become WW&F No. 11.

Tickets are the museum’s front door, and groups of two to 15 riders book together. Ed, who has a background in software engineering and web design, wanted ticketing that looked like part of the museum’s own website.

Ticketing ran on FareHarbor, which appeared as an add-on to the museum’s WordPress site rather than part of the page. When issues came up, Ed wanted more technical support. On ride days, ticketing has to work every time.

“They’re getting on the train. They’re not waiting,” says Ed.

Newsletters ran on Mailchimp, a separate tool from ticketing and donations. The museum outgrew the free plan, which added a recurring cost.

Ed started with Zeffy for donations, then tested ticketing for one event. It worked, so he kept going. Today, almost everyone buys tickets online through Zeffy, and the ticketing lives on the museum’s own pages.

“I can pretty much get the look and feel that I want on my web page that I control, and then Zeffy just plugs right in to make it work seamlessly to the consumer,” says Ed.

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A platform that listens

What Ed loves most is that Zeffy takes feedback into account. The check-in manager is a great recent example. Ed wanted it to be easier to find riders at the door, and now the list is sorted by time slot and last name, riders drop off it once they’ve checked in, and volunteers can search for a passenger quickly.

“We had one of our busiest days, and the check-in app worked flawlessly,” says Ed.

He says it’s wonderful to see changes he asked for “just kind of show up magically.”

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Riders become donors, and donors become riders

The museum uses Zeffy to connect ticketing, donations, and email, making it easier to bring riders and donors closer to its restoration work. In September, a Coach 9 update invited donors to special preview trips where they could see what their gifts made possible.

“Having everything in one system helps me keep track of donors, invite them to ride, and encourage riders to support the museum,” says Ed.

The museum now uses Zeffy to send monthly newsletter updates. Riders also receive a ticket confirmation, a reminder before their trip, and a thank-you afterward.

“We don’t use Mailchimp anymore. We use Zeffy for email,” says Ed.

“They’re covering the credit card processing, the ticketing platform, and my email marketing. We’re absolutely getting that value,” says Ed.

• $417,978 raised since 2024

• $20,899 saved since choosing Zeffy

• Coach 9 passed its $120,000 goal, and Build 11 is at $152,588 against its $120,000 goal for 2026 (museum website totals)

• About 10,000 visitors on track this year, with 450 riders on one recent Saturday