Klarinet Archive - Posting 000065.txt from 1995/06

From: Lisa Clayton <clayton@-----.EDU>
Subj: Re: Fund Raising
Date: Tue, 6 Jun 1995 12:54:18 -0400

> Here is something I would like to open for discussion and compile
> all the good ideas. I play in several community groups and the common
> thing between them is they are not self supportive. That is ticket
> sales will not cover the expenses of renting music, rehearsal space,
> performance hall and conductor reimbursement. The local school district
> has raised prices to use the bandrooms and changed policies as to
> make it unfeasible use them. I am curious what other people have done
> to augment income. I would consider this a brainstorming session
> where any idea is open to suggestion. From what I've seen of this
> group that is standard procedure in any topic. Thanks in advance for
> al the good ideas and hopefully several groups will benefit from
> this.
> Jack Dannenberg
> jackd@-----.com

Ah, fundraising for the community band. My group has done a variety
of fundraisers over the years, with varying degrees of success. Although
we aren't your "average" community band since the community we serve
is the lesbian/gay community, and therefore not necessarily
geographically bound (we've played Fresno to Washington DC!), there
are some approaches we've taken that have
been pretty successful and can apply to a wide range of community
bands.

I've had some experience with this-- I've been president of my band
for the last two years, and we've been in some tight fundraising
situations. So, from the simplest onward:

1. GARAGE SALES. This is pretty obvious, but for a weekend's
worth of work, it can easily net you anywhere between $500-$1000,
depending on your location. It is a great way to get a sudden
infusion of cash. The drawbacks are that it is labor-intensive
since you need someone there all the time, you need to have a
decent garage near foot traffic, and you need a place to donate
the leftovers. The overhead consists mainly of the cost of a few
photocopies, so it doesn't take much cash, and better than bake
sales, since your membership just has to haul out a few boxes
from the garage rather than spend all night making mocha chip
brownies.

2. DUES. A lot of community bands have some kind of dues, ours
is $10.00 per month, with cheaper rates if you pay 6 months or
a year in advance. Putting a dues structure in place is painless
if you start relatively low (say $3-5/mo) and the membership has
experienced the pain of low cash flows. The down side is, of
course, you're soaking your own, and unless there's a real need,
the membership may not give its approval.

3. JOINT-REVENUE SHARING. One way to not only raise money but to
raise awareness of your band is to approach different charitable
organizations in your community and propose joint fundraisers.
For example, have a mini-concert at a church social, provide
ensembles at a blood drive, provide some quick step music at a
walk-a-thon. It's been my experience that many organizations like
having music at their events, and will happily negotiate some kind
of donation or revenue-sharing plan.

4. FREE CONCERTS. Ironically, we got the most revenue when we
quit charging for our concerts. Instead, afterwards our conductor
made a pitch for donations. Not only did our audience increase
because of the appeal of a free concert, but our intake increased
since people were very willing to donate after the concerts. It
takes a little time to build up an audience, and it helps to have
regular concerts at a regular venue, but it did increase our
revenues over ticket sales quite a bit. This also gets rid of
the headache of ticket sales and box-office.

5. BUSINESS SPONSORSHIPS. This is a lot like revenue sharing,
where your community band can provide music for events like
grand openings, sidewalk sales and neighborhood festivals.
If you're willing to be hired, approach businesses in your community
and let them know you're available. This also goes for city or
county governments, who may be willing to trade rec hall rehearsal
space for your participation in community events.

These of course are just general suggestions. Most organizations
really need to have the leaders of the community bands sit down
and identify what their needs are, both immediately and in the
long-term. From there, you can work out a long-range plan, a
development (fundraising and grants) plan, and a 1-year and 5-year
budget. If you can identify precisely what you'll need, then
you'll know what you'll have to do to satisfy those needs.

Having these plans also make it easier to approach businesses--
for example, if you write a business and ask them if they would
be willing to grant you $1000.00 for tympanis in exchange for
playing at a spring sale, that gives the business a very clear
goal that they can use as part of their plans and promotions--
"Come to the Spring Sale and Buy the Band some Tympani" (or
something pithier, one hopes) which can be used as a hook.

In short, a little brainstorming and a lot of planning will go
a long way in providing a clear idea of where you need to go
as far as fundraising is concerned. Here's hoping the
suggestions are helpful.

____ Lisa K. Clayton Geek |GS/M d-- H++ s:++ g+++ p3 !au a32 w+ C++++ P--
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"There is nothing more onanistic than playing the bass clarinet by yourself"
-Steve Trier

   
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