Community Theater Green Room Discussion Board: Fundraising ideas?

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bbpchick
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Joined: 7/17/07
Location: United States
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Posted: 9/22/07 at 4:12am

During our spring production, one of our actors missed his Senior Prom to be in the play. So we threw him one at the theater. We had the photographer who does the highschool proms come and take pictures, I made a ton of cd's with all kinds of music, and we had decorations, and refreshments...basically everything that makes a senior prom. Everyone came all dressed up and we just danced and had a blast all night long. As the community found out about what we did for our member we have gotten a lot of questions about doing another one. Many people either missed their senior prom, or had a horrible time, so here is a chance to make up for it

. We are planning it as an adult party so we will serve wine and beer (prolly sell it) as well as non alchaholic drinks. And we where thinking $25 per ticket. If we get the same deal with the photographer as last time, we won't have to pay him. He said if we provide the backdrop, we only have to sell 10 packages and that will cover his time. We also made favors which I think only cost us about 6 bucks per favor and they came out really nice. If the community really goes for this, I think we can make a fair amount of money. I'll let you guys know how it goes.

Here is a link to my photobucket with pictures from the prom. If you want to see how we set it up.

http://s173.photobucket.com/albums/w43/ilyra_morgan/

Oh and the pictures of us, we were being as silly as possible for the camera (what do you exptect? We are actors *grin*)

Kendra
www.murphysblackbartplayers.com
You are NEVER too old to dress up!

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Gaafa
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Location: Australia
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Posted: 9/22/07 at 6:48am

Chookas Kendra!
You might have grown a money tree there.
Great pic of the 'house rag & floats'. ideal for your music halls!
Might be a good money spinner, with no Rights fees to pay!
I assume it would work here. except with us old fogeys. who only got a cuppa char, a jam buttey & a smoke, when they graduated. In most cases they only recieved the scroll delivered by the Postee.
But my kids & Grandies went to the full thing, so there would be a few of them about!
If you don't mind I'll put to our mob & see what happens? Thumbs%20Up

Joe
Western Gondawandaland
turn right @ Perth.
Hear the light & see the sound.
Toi Toi Toi Chookas {{"chook [chicken] it is"}
May you always play
to a full house}

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bbpchick
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Posted: 9/23/07 at 11:59pm

I don't mind at all. Let me know how it goes for you

. I have my fingers crossed for mine. Just had our board meeting and we decided that we are going to do it in May. We also need all new seats, so we are going hold an adopt a seat program starting in January. So hopefully we'll get new seats by the end of next year. *crosses fingers*

Kendra
www.murphysblackbartplayers.com
You are NEVER too old to dress up!

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vickifrank
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Joined: 9/21/07
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Posted: 10/18/07 at 10:39pm

I'm VP of a local children's charity that covers 5 counties. I'm in charge of the fundraising (surprised the heck out of me when they put me in charge of that! I'm an engineer, for heaven's sake!). I have a small piece of advice to anyone raising money for anything--start by brainstorming who is interested in seeing you succeed. You might be surprised at how many stakeholders there are. Once you find the people who are interested, then set about the simple task of making them love you. That starts with them knowing you are there, proceeds to letting them know you as an organization, builds to them trusting you and ends up with them loving you. Each step along the way can be accompanied by more cash. You don't need to ask all the time, just really give them a reason to love you.

I loved the funny request with the subliminal clues listed above. That's great, and a wonderful way to let the people get to know the flavor of your organization and start to like you. In advertising, they call that 'branding'.

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gaftpres
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Posted: 11/15/07 at 12:52pm

What great ideas from all of you. I will bring them up at our next board meeting.

We have 3 major fundraisers per year. THe first if our Golf Outing; $50.00 per team of 4, we gather donated prizes from local business and golf courses, We provide a luncheon after the golf outing and give away prizes. We also do individual hole fundraisers, closest to the pin, lowest score and the coveted title of "most ball lost in the water". We normally make 2,000-3,000 $ from this fundraiser.

2nd we have a Swiss Steak Dinner, as a non-profit, we get the hall use donated, we purchase the swiss steak, but get all the other food donated. We send letters to our membership for $ donations to help defer the costs.

This fundraiser makes $1000 approximately.

#rd we have our Pampered Chef fundraiser, as a fundraiser you receive 15% of the sales. We also have our very special guest (for comedic value) to entertain us, she is Pammy the Pampered Chef. Of course it is one of our funniest actresses and she makes the party hilarious. So they are entertained and can order items to use or give as gifts. We hold this in November and advertise it as an easy way to begin Christmas shopping.

Our advertisers in our programs is a great way to defer the costs of programs for our shows.

We are looking at have a Casino night or a Poker tournament to raise money, but haven't decided if that is one we want to tackle. There isn't enough days in the year to do all of the fundraisers and shows.
Applying for grants is a way to get money, we have initiated a Youth Program with grant money. It has helped make our theatre grow in depth with new actors, unfortunately it seems that now all the parents want to do is drop them off and pick them up. It used to be a family involvement and with some it is, but with most its a babysitting opportunity. unfortunate for the theatre and the kids.

Old volunteers never die, they just get recycled!

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John Luzaich
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Posted: 2/26/08 at 5:13pm

There is a great book published by TCG (Theatre Communications Group). the author is Alvin H. Reiss. It's titled "Don't Just Applaud, Send Money!"

It is the most successful strategies for funding and marketing the arts. It's basically a compilation of some of the best ideas and practices that different arts organizations have used as marketing tools, gimmiks, strategies, and some off the wall ideas. Some of the organizations are dance companies, orchestras, theatres, and other cultural institutions, but you can see how different ideas might work for you. No, we don't have any vested interest in the book or know the author. It just helped us out with some creative ideas we hadn't thought of before. One of my favorite was the "Ten lousy bucks letter".

Anyway, check it out on line. Just google it.

John

John
cfct@cfu.net
http://www.osterregent.org
http://www.facebook.com/osterregent

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avecsoul
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Posted: 3/03/08 at 9:56pm

Hi Richard!

We are a small community theatre that has seen its "hey day" and recently been through quite a bit of drama, poor quality shows etc. We

currently have new people on the board more focused on QUALITY

productions and are currently doing Annie Get Your Gun. We need

fund raising ideas. Would you be willing to provide us with some of

your funny fundraising letters? It would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Renee

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John Luzaich
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Posted: 3/04/08 at 10:28am

avecsoul, are you asking about the "Ten Lousy Bucks" letter?

I'd be glad to share it with you if that's what you are asking about. Our problem is that we were doing only one "ask" per year. I mean, we were doing other kinds of things to raise funds, but we only sent one letter per year. We did some benchmarking with other community theatres and arts organizations in the Midwest and found out they averaged two per year. Some were doing three but we thought we'd try two and see how it worked out. We raised over $4,000. the first year and about $8,000. the second year in a community of about 30,000 people. Our main fund drive for individuals is about six months apart and that raises around $22- 24,000. that's not business or corporate or sponsors, co-sponsors, that's just from individual annual donors. The additional "ask" really helped out this last couple of years. We've done other things like raffle tickets, auctions, etc. This year we're trying a golf tourney patterned after the Ryder Cup and we're calling it the Directors Cup. It's a combination scramble, best ball and alternate stroke - just like the real ryder cup.

Let me know if you're interested in the "Ten Lousy Bucks" letter. We got it from the "Don't Just APPLAUD, Send Money" book by Alvin Reiss. (the letter itself came from a small theatre company in New York).

John
cfct@cfu.net
http://www.osterregent.org
http://www.facebook.com/osterregent

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avecsoul
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Posted: 3/04/08 at 10:36am

John,

I'm interested in the letter. I have to say that I don't quite understand exactly what you are talking about with all of your fundraisers but I am interested in all of your ideas. I plan to also order the book you mentioned. Can you email me at avecsoul@hotmail.com?

Thanks!

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John Luzaich
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Joined: 2/24/08
Location: United States
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Posts: 174

Posted: 3/04/08 at 11:05am

(this was the letter sent to our mailing list - it's not perfect, but it worked for us. You could change it or tailor to fit your needs. Also, our APPLAUD members referred to are our annual individual donors and contributors).

Oster Regent Theatre
Home of The Ceder Falls Community Theatre

Please send us Ten Lousy Bucks!

         If you took out ten lousy bucks right now and sent it in the enclosed envelope, by next week you probably wouldn't even miss it or notice it was gone. Please don't send $105. or $275., like many people do when they become APPLAUD members. We're just asking for Ten Lousy Bucks.

         Help me out. I've been making so many mistakes that we have to order an extra case of "white out" to cover my errors. Do you know how much a case of white out costs? Also, we have plenty of pencils, but I'm using up all of the erasers on the ends, so we have to get extra erasers.......a whole bunch of extra erasers. Sometimes I'm outside greeting theatre patrons and holding the door open for them when they enter the lobby. Do you know how cold and windy it's been? Hairspray is not cheap! (hey, it is work related).

         In all seriousness, with costs rising in advertising, utilities, insurance and other factors to operate a large building like the Oster Regent, things are always tight in a business like ours. Remember, we are a non-profit organization, a 501 (c) (3). With us, every penny counts, that's why we are asking for just Ten Lousy Bucks.

         We are also doing our part to be a good neighbor with our other local business owners and managers. We have season ticket holders from forty-three different cities. We have others come to see shows from an hour and a half radius on a regular basis and from three or four hours away on occasion. Quite frankly, we know it has some positive residual effect with many of our neighbors. When we do well, our business neighbors do well.

         So, if you could see your way clear to sending just Ten Lousy Bucks (or, we wouldn't mind if you covered for someone else that won't respond to this letter) I would greatly appreciate it. I thank you for your time and consideration. I'll also thank you when I see you....I have a long memory.

John C. Luzaich
General Manager

www.osterregent.org

(I'll tell you we only had one person complain about the letter. It was a donor that contributed about $7,500. during the year. We had a good discussion with her. in fact, she is now on our board)

John
cfct@cfu.net
http://www.osterregent.org
http://www.facebook.com/osterregent

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Money Talk
Community Theater Green Room Discussion Board :Theater Administration :Money Talk

Author	Message
bbpchick Star Joined: 7/17/07 Location: United States Online Status: Offline Posts: 86	Posted: 9/22/07 at 4:12am
	During our spring production, one of our actors missed his Senior Prom to be in the play. So we threw him one at the theater. We had the photographer who does the highschool proms come and take pictures, I made a ton of cd's with all kinds of music, and we had decorations, and refreshments...basically everything that makes a senior prom. Everyone came all dressed up and we just danced and had a blast all night long. As the community found out about what we did for our member we have gotten a lot of questions about doing another one. Many people either missed their senior prom, or had a horrible time, so here is a chance to make up for it . We are planning it as an adult party so we will serve wine and beer (prolly sell it) as well as non alchaholic drinks. And we where thinking $25 per ticket. If we get the same deal with the photographer as last time, we won't have to pay him. He said if we provide the backdrop, we only have to sell 10 packages and that will cover his time. We also made favors which I think only cost us about 6 bucks per favor and they came out really nice. If the community really goes for this, I think we can make a fair amount of money. I'll let you guys know how it goes. Here is a link to my photobucket with pictures from the prom. If you want to see how we set it up. http://s173.photobucket.com/albums/w43/ilyra_morgan/ Oh and the pictures of us, we were being as silly as possible for the camera (what do you exptect? We are actors grin)
	Kendra www.murphysblackbartplayers.com You are NEVER too old to dress up!
	IP Logged

Gaafa Celebrity Joined: 3/21/04 Location: Australia Online Status: Offline Posts: 1181	Posted: 9/22/07 at 6:48am
	Chookas Kendra! You might have grown a money tree there. Great pic of the 'house rag & floats'. ideal for your music halls! Might be a good money spinner, with no Rights fees to pay! I assume it would work here. except with us old fogeys. who only got a cuppa char, a jam buttey & a smoke, when they graduated. In most cases they only recieved the scroll delivered by the Postee. But my kids & Grandies went to the full thing, so there would be a few of them about! If you don't mind I'll put to our mob & see what happens?
	Joe Western Gondawandaland turn right @ Perth. Hear the light & see the sound. Toi Toi Toi Chookas {{"chook [chicken] it is"} May you always play to a full house}
	IP Logged

bbpchick Star Joined: 7/17/07 Location: United States Online Status: Offline Posts: 86	Posted: 9/23/07 at 11:59pm
	I don't mind at all. Let me know how it goes for you . I have my fingers crossed for mine. Just had our board meeting and we decided that we are going to do it in May. We also need all new seats, so we are going hold an adopt a seat program starting in January. So hopefully we'll get new seats by the end of next year. crosses fingers
	Kendra www.murphysblackbartplayers.com You are NEVER too old to dress up!
	IP Logged

vickifrank Celebrity Joined: 9/21/07 Location: United States Online Status: Offline Posts: 332	Posted: 10/18/07 at 10:39pm
	I'm VP of a local children's charity that covers 5 counties. I'm in charge of the fundraising (surprised the heck out of me when they put me in charge of that! I'm an engineer, for heaven's sake!). I have a small piece of advice to anyone raising money for anything--start by brainstorming who is interested in seeing you succeed. You might be surprised at how many stakeholders there are. Once you find the people who are interested, then set about the simple task of making them love you. That starts with them knowing you are there, proceeds to letting them know you as an organization, builds to them trusting you and ends up with them loving you. Each step along the way can be accompanied by more cash. You don't need to ask all the time, just really give them a reason to love you. I loved the funny request with the subliminal clues listed above. That's great, and a wonderful way to let the people get to know the flavor of your organization and start to like you. In advertising, they call that 'branding'.
	IP Logged

gaftpres Star Joined: 11/14/07 Location: United States Online Status: Offline Posts: 80	Posted: 11/15/07 at 12:52pm
	What great ideas from all of you. I will bring them up at our next board meeting. We have 3 major fundraisers per year. THe first if our Golf Outing; $50.00 per team of 4, we gather donated prizes from local business and golf courses, We provide a luncheon after the golf outing and give away prizes. We also do individual hole fundraisers, closest to the pin, lowest score and the coveted title of "most ball lost in the water". We normally make 2,000-3,000 $ from this fundraiser. 2nd we have a Swiss Steak Dinner, as a non-profit, we get the hall use donated, we purchase the swiss steak, but get all the other food donated. We send letters to our membership for $ donations to help defer the costs. This fundraiser makes $1000 approximately. #rd we have our Pampered Chef fundraiser, as a fundraiser you receive 15% of the sales. We also have our very special guest (for comedic value) to entertain us, she is Pammy the Pampered Chef. Of course it is one of our funniest actresses and she makes the party hilarious. So they are entertained and can order items to use or give as gifts. We hold this in November and advertise it as an easy way to begin Christmas shopping. Our advertisers in our programs is a great way to defer the costs of programs for our shows. We are looking at have a Casino night or a Poker tournament to raise money, but haven't decided if that is one we want to tackle. There isn't enough days in the year to do all of the fundraisers and shows. Applying for grants is a way to get money, we have initiated a Youth Program with grant money. It has helped make our theatre grow in depth with new actors, unfortunately it seems that now all the parents want to do is drop them off and pick them up. It used to be a family involvement and with some it is, but with most its a babysitting opportunity. unfortunate for the theatre and the kids.
	Old volunteers never die, they just get recycled!
	IP Logged

John Luzaich Celebrity Joined: 2/24/08 Location: United States Online Status: Offline Posts: 174	Posted: 2/26/08 at 5:13pm
	There is a great book published by TCG (Theatre Communications Group). the author is Alvin H. Reiss. It's titled "Don't Just Applaud, Send Money!" It is the most successful strategies for funding and marketing the arts. It's basically a compilation of some of the best ideas and practices that different arts organizations have used as marketing tools, gimmiks, strategies, and some off the wall ideas. Some of the organizations are dance companies, orchestras, theatres, and other cultural institutions, but you can see how different ideas might work for you. No, we don't have any vested interest in the book or know the author. It just helped us out with some creative ideas we hadn't thought of before. One of my favorite was the "Ten lousy bucks letter". Anyway, check it out on line. Just google it. John
	John cfct@cfu.net http://www.osterregent.org http://www.facebook.com/osterregent
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avecsoul Walk-On Joined: 3/03/08 Online Status: Offline Posts: 0	Posted: 3/03/08 at 9:56pm
	Hi Richard! We are a small community theatre that has seen its "hey day" and recently been through quite a bit of drama, poor quality shows etc. We currently have new people on the board more focused on QUALITY productions and are currently doing Annie Get Your Gun. We need fund raising ideas. Would you be willing to provide us with some of your funny fundraising letters? It would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Renee
	IP Logged

John Luzaich Celebrity Joined: 2/24/08 Location: United States Online Status: Offline Posts: 174	Posted: 3/04/08 at 10:28am
	avecsoul, are you asking about the "Ten Lousy Bucks" letter? I'd be glad to share it with you if that's what you are asking about. Our problem is that we were doing only one "ask" per year. I mean, we were doing other kinds of things to raise funds, but we only sent one letter per year. We did some benchmarking with other community theatres and arts organizations in the Midwest and found out they averaged two per year. Some were doing three but we thought we'd try two and see how it worked out. We raised over $4,000. the first year and about $8,000. the second year in a community of about 30,000 people. Our main fund drive for individuals is about six months apart and that raises around $22- 24,000. that's not business or corporate or sponsors, co-sponsors, that's just from individual annual donors. The additional "ask" really helped out this last couple of years. We've done other things like raffle tickets, auctions, etc. This year we're trying a golf tourney patterned after the Ryder Cup and we're calling it the Directors Cup. It's a combination scramble, best ball and alternate stroke - just like the real ryder cup. Let me know if you're interested in the "Ten Lousy Bucks" letter. We got it from the "Don't Just APPLAUD, Send Money" book by Alvin Reiss. (the letter itself came from a small theatre company in New York).
	John cfct@cfu.net http://www.osterregent.org http://www.facebook.com/osterregent
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avecsoul Walk-On Joined: 3/03/08 Online Status: Offline Posts: 0	Posted: 3/04/08 at 10:36am
	John, I'm interested in the letter. I have to say that I don't quite understand exactly what you are talking about with all of your fundraisers but I am interested in all of your ideas. I plan to also order the book you mentioned. Can you email me at avecsoul@hotmail.com? Thanks!
	IP Logged

John Luzaich Celebrity Joined: 2/24/08 Location: United States Online Status: Offline Posts: 174	Posted: 3/04/08 at 11:05am
	(this was the letter sent to our mailing list - it's not perfect, but it worked for us. You could change it or tailor to fit your needs. Also, our APPLAUD members referred to are our annual individual donors and contributors). Oster Regent Theatre Home of The Ceder Falls Community Theatre Please send us Ten Lousy Bucks! If you took out ten lousy bucks right now and sent it in the enclosed envelope, by next week you probably wouldn't even miss it or notice it was gone. Please don't send $105. or $275., like many people do when they become APPLAUD members. We're just asking for Ten Lousy Bucks. Help me out. I've been making so many mistakes that we have to order an extra case of "white out" to cover my errors. Do you know how much a case of white out costs? Also, we have plenty of pencils, but I'm using up all of the erasers on the ends, so we have to get extra erasers.......a whole bunch of extra erasers. Sometimes I'm outside greeting theatre patrons and holding the door open for them when they enter the lobby. Do you know how cold and windy it's been? Hairspray is not cheap! (hey, it is work related). In all seriousness, with costs rising in advertising, utilities, insurance and other factors to operate a large building like the Oster Regent, things are always tight in a business like ours. Remember, we are a non-profit organization, a 501 (c) (3). With us, every penny counts, that's why we are asking for just Ten Lousy Bucks. We are also doing our part to be a good neighbor with our other local business owners and managers. We have season ticket holders from forty-three different cities. We have others come to see shows from an hour and a half radius on a regular basis and from three or four hours away on occasion. Quite frankly, we know it has some positive residual effect with many of our neighbors. When we do well, our business neighbors do well. So, if you could see your way clear to sending just Ten Lousy Bucks (or, we wouldn't mind if you covered for someone else that won't respond to this letter) I would greatly appreciate it. I thank you for your time and consideration. I'll also thank you when I see you....I have a long memory. John C. Luzaich General Manager www.osterregent.org (I'll tell you we only had one person complain about the letter. It was a donor that contributed about $7,500. during the year. We had a good discussion with her. in fact, she is now on our board)
	John cfct@cfu.net http://www.osterregent.org http://www.facebook.com/osterregent
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