This morning I had an interesting conversation about this fundraising campaign on Twitter with a friend who caught some of the local news reporting about it. That conversation highlighted the real challenges we have beyond the raising of funds. I think it is important to share this because I think with the energy expended to raise cash, the real challenge is often overlooked.
The conversation began with my friend saying that it looks like the
theater is unsustainable if we have to raise money each and every year.
That is true as far as that statement goes. But it hits and misses the
real point. Wayside Theatre is unsustainable without raising funds each
and every year. As a not-for-profit we need to raise a portion of our
budget each and every year, other wise we would not be able to operate.
Our business model is no different than any other not-for-profit arts
organization. We sell tickets, program ads, concessions, to generate the
largest portion of our revenue. But to provide the programs we offer,
we must raise funds to cover a portion of our operating costs, otherwise
we would have to charge prices that no one could afford.
Here
are the quick numbers. If our budget is $700,00 (it is actually less
than that this year) we need to generate $450,00 in ticket sales,
program ads, concession sales, etc… and raise $250,000 annually in
grants, donations, pledges, etc…Realistically, our budget needs to be in
a $900,000 range but since the economy took a nose dive in 2008, we've
cut back substantially in the face of declining revenues across the
board. But each cut we are making has a negative impact on generating
revenue and so we have to stop that cycle.
This is the real
challenge. Convincing those in our community, in government, and in
general that Wayside Theatre has to raise funds annually in order to
operate. Yes, we are an arts producing organization, but we are also a
fundraising organization, so that we can produce that art. At times our
shows do well at the box office and at times our shows do not. That's
called producing theatre. We never start out to have a show that sells
badly, but it happens, and because we do not have an ongoing base of
financial support to fall back on, one less than stellar show can put us
behind at any given point.
I would love to take the time to
explain this in more detail to anyone who is willing to expend the time
and commitment to learn about those details. We've had several of those
conversations in this campaign already and they have indeed yielded a
greater understanding. But in today's quick sound bite world, this
message often gets reduced to "Wayside Theatre needs money. Again." Yes,
that is true. Wayside Theatre needs money again. Should this campaign
succeed, Wayside Theatre will need to raise funds again next year as
well. And the year after that. But we, with your help, need to convince
our friends, our neighbors, and our community that this annual need is
normal and required if our community wants to retain a small
professional theatre as a part of its social and cultural fabric.
To be completely frank, my biggest fear is that we'll meet our
immediate funding challenge, but not solve this larger one. That
happened last year and in year's past, but can not happen again going
forward. If we can't make important strides towards solving that the
larger issue, than my friend on Twitter may prove to be sadly profound,
that Wayside Theatre is not sustainable. That would be a sad conclusion
to reach. But that is why this campaign is different and that is why we
need your help is spreading the word.
Please contact me if
you'd like to talk more about this. Please plan to come and see our next
show, Smoke on the Mountain Homecoming that begins this weekend.
If you'd like to read more about this campaign please check out more infomation here on this blog, on Facebook, or at Wayside Theatre's website. If you'd like to help or share your story we'd be very grateful.
