The Inheritance Pass itself is a piece of direct marketing for current and future generations of visitors to Yellowstone National Park. The beauty of it is that it can’t be used until 2172, thereby protecting the park from an influx of visitors now while raising money that’s so needed for park preservation today.

Year after year for the past decade, Yellowstone National Park, the first national park in the U.S., has seen a record increase in attendance. Sounds good, right? Except it’s not.

This increase in visitors negatively impacted Yellowstone in a lot of ways, to the point that its future is in danger. There’s been more car pollution and not enough staff to keep up with the increased demands; the wildlife has been threatened, the habitats disrupted and there’s been more destruction and deterioration of the park’s natural ecosystem than ever before.

So for Yellowstone’s 150th Anniversary in 2022, they wanted to do something that increased donations without increasing attendance. Something that would preserve the park for future generations. All while celebrating its milestone anniversary.

The problem was a unique one, and it needed a unique solution. Yellowstone found a way to solve it by creating The Inheritance Pass, a ticket to Yellowstone that isn’t valid until the year 2172. It’s a way to raise money right now without raising attendance. And it comes in the form of an heirloom that people can leave as an actual inheritance for future family members.

Why 2172? Because that’s 150 years from now, so it was a nod to the 150th Anniversary that Yellowstone is celebrating in 2022.

Yellowstone is full of inspiring wonders and life-changing experiences that motivate nature lovers to get involved and support the park. But solutions that involved experiencing Yellowstone firsthand would further contribute to the problem.

So how do you get potential donors to lean in while also keeping them out?

Research about environmental motivations helped shine a light. Data showed that the number one thing that inspires people to support environmental causes is not self-motivated. The majority of people actually get involved in order to help build a better life for future generations.

Scientific studies have shown that people who feel a personal responsibility to future generations are significantly more likely to worry about the environment and support pro-environmental initiatives. Further, priming legacy motivations increases donations to environmental charities.

Armed with this knowledge, we appealed to people’s future desire telling them that taking action today could help preserve the park for tomorrow.

On its 150th Anniversary in 2022, Yellowstone launched The Inheritance Pass with a page on their website asking people to help preserve the park’s future. That made Yellowstone the first national park to offer a ticket to the future.

Within the first week of its launch, The Inheritance Pass took off and spread globally, generating its own content on international news outlets, including The Guardian and BBC. Beyond the news coverage, it has made its way into culture with content in C|Net, Time Out, Smithsonian Magazine and many more.

The Inheritance Pass has received almost 2.5 billion earned media impressions, from top outlets around the world, which equates to over $20 million in media coverage.

Donations have tripled compared to last year, projecting $3.75 million to Yellowstone in 2022. But more importantly, there will be zero immediate impact on the park itself, because no one can use it for the next 150 years. With The Inheritance Pass, Yellowstone found a way to raise money without raising attendance, preserving the park for future generations.