This is in response to Emily's question, We are fledging contra dance group in Tri-Cites, WA. This was our first year bringing contra back after a 5 year hiatus for lack of volunteers. We are a fairly inexperienced group and coordinating the dances, but we're committed!
We do one contra dance a month, and have a raffle with items we've had donated by local businesses It does not bring in much revenue, but we only average about 24-28 in attendance. Depending on the item, we make between $20-40. We do have to have a license with our State's gambling commission which has its own cost and labor involved. We will decide mid-year when our license has to be renewed if its worth the effort and expense. Thanks, Terri On Tue, Dec 4, 2018 at 1:24 PM Claire Takemori via Organizers < [email protected]> wrote: > Alan, > Actually Amweek last year applied for a CDSS grant to help us cover > scholarships and the change in registration pricing for last year. > We went from $700/person to a sliding scale and we were not sure that we > would get enough full & over-paying folks to cover the lower-income folks > and scholarships. > We were able to use the funds to bring in a new to the scene band that has > grown in leaps and bounds over the past year & half and will be the band > for our NY Eve dance this year. > > Claire Takemori (also BACDS dancer, caller, organizer, cat herder) > > On Dec 4, 2018, at 1:11 PM, [email protected] > wrote: > > Send Organizers mailing list submissions to > [email protected] > > To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit > > http://lists.sharedweight.net/listinfo.cgi/organizers-sharedweight.net > > or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to > [email protected] > > You can reach the person managing the list at > [email protected] > > When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific > than "Re: Contents of Organizers digest..." > > > Today's Topics: > > 1. Re: Ideas for revenue BEYOND the door entry price > (Winston, Alan P.) > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Message: 1 > Date: Tue, 4 Dec 2018 20:17:53 +0000 > From: "Winston, Alan P." <[email protected]> > To: "[email protected]" > <[email protected]> > Subject: Re: [Organizers] Ideas for revenue BEYOND the door entry > price > Message-ID: <[email protected]> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8" > > Bay Area Country Dance Society: > > - Offers various levels of membership with no additional perks beyond the > entry-level (and that perk is a $2 discount on admission to regular dances, > but given that we also have a "pay what you can" option at those dances you > don't really save any money on buying a membership). > > - On the membership form there's also an opportunity to donate for > targeted funds, eg youth scholarships, need-based scholarships. (Youth > scholarship money then goes to get under-30 people to our camps and > weekends, in hopes of encouraging a new generation of contra and English > dancers.) > > - As a 501c3 gifts are tax-deductible, and we've occasionally been given > something and had an employer match it. We don't have a development > division and we don't solicit donations or being named in wills, but > sometimes people give us money anyway. > > - We're working on implementation, but people have tried to give us money > through Amazon Smile (where a percentage of your purchases goes to your > designated nonprofit recipient if they provide Amazon with routing numbers, > etc) and we think we're going to do that. (I personally feel awkward > soliciting people to give our dance organization money through a specific > mechanism that could be benefiting organizations that save lives.) > > - We hold three dance weeks (American Week, English Week / Hey Days, > Family Week), one contra weekend (Balance the Bay), one English Weekend > (Fall Frolick). The camps and the English Weekend all have auctions which > often include items like dance/tune compositions, services (accordion > serenade), crafts, and camper-made jams, etc. The camps don't always make > money but the auctions make it likelier that they will, and when they do > make money it's usually enough to offset losses in other areas of the > organization. (When a week-long residential camp tanks badly, it loses a > lot of money. A non-residential weekend where food isn't provided has > fixed costs (staff, sound, staff travel, rent) which put a cap on how much > you can lose and have potentially large upside once the fixed costs are > covered.) > > - We sponsor a number of performance teams. Many cover their expenses via > member dues and busking. Mayfield Morris, when it was active, collected no > dues but spent a lot of energy on various fundraisers which enabled even > less-flush team members to participate in team trips to distant morris > ales, England, etc. The team ran an annual garage sale and a series of > afternoon teas with entertainment. > > We've never applied for a grant as far as I know. > > Queer Contra would count the door money before the end of the evening and > if they weren't making rent or couldn't pay the band well enough they'd > have an announcement about the shortfall and pass the hat for more > contributions, which worked out satisfactorily as far as I know. > > -- Alan > > > > > On 12/4/18 8:25 AM, Emily Addison via Organizers wrote: > Hi fellow shared weight organizers :) > > Wearing my CDSS hat, I'm wondering ----> Does your dance have sources of > revenue BEYOND the door entry price??? > > A few great ideas were shared at the October CDSS Executive community > meeting in Toronto and we're looking for more! Do you have successful > experience with: > > * sponsorships (individual/company/other) > * grants > * donations (collected at the dance OR one-off/ongoing donor programs) > * other fundraising (e.g., pie/cake sales anyone?) > * membership > * merch ? that make money? > * special events ? that make money? > * other? > > I'm pulling together a curated collection of success stories on this > subject for CDSS that will then be shared back out early in the new year. I > would love to hear your ideas and if you know of someone I should talk to > about this, please let me know. > > Thanks! > Emily > PS - I asked shared weight about posters/flyers last month and so wanted > to update you that that collection will be available in January. I'm just > waiting on a few more contributions. > > > > _______________________________________________ > Organizers mailing list > [email protected]<mailto:[email protected] > > > http://lists.sharedweight.net/listinfo.cgi/organizers-sharedweight.net > > > -------------- next part -------------- > An HTML attachment was scrubbed... > URL: < > http://lists.sharedweight.net/pipermail/organizers-sharedweight.net/attachments/20181204/735a25c7/attachment-0001.html > > > > ------------------------------ > > Subject: Digest Footer > > _______________________________________________ > Organizers mailing list > [email protected] > http://lists.sharedweight.net/listinfo.cgi/organizers-sharedweight.net > > > ------------------------------ > > End of Organizers Digest, Vol 44, Issue 4 > ***************************************** > > _______________________________________________ > Organizers mailing list > [email protected] > http://lists.sharedweight.net/listinfo.cgi/organizers-sharedweight.net >
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