No matter your experience level as a theater director, we all struggle to make FIVE STAR shows on a FAST FOOD budget. After we estimate our show budget… perhaps using the handy-dandy musical budget sheet we provide for you, we are normally left with a crater-sized deficit. Enter fundraising from the wings.
The word alone can cause us to cringe and dry heave into our office trash cans, but hopefully with these helpful tips you can choose the options that allow you to find some FUN in your production FUN-DRAISING.
Raising Revenue and Not Your Blood Pressure
There are many ways to raise revenue toward your musical’s bottom line. So many that it can become overwhelming trying to decide what is right for your show and theatre program. To simplify things for you, I have divided fundraising into four categories with the highest money raising ideas first. If you can capitalize on a few of these areas, you will be operating a program that breaks even or…wait for it…MAKES A PROFIT!
THE FOUR CATEGORIES OF FUNDRAISERS
with the highest money raising ideas first
Sponsorships and Donations
Campaigns
Daily Fundraising and Sales Events
Performance Day Sales
Early in my career, I was REsponsible for REbranding and REbuilding a program that was in dire need of a REboot. If you need to RE-read that sentence to catch all that, I understand. The point is, by using a combination of the list above, in three years time I was spending over $50,000 per large scale musical, but making a profit of $2,000 - $10,000 above that large expense. It doesn’t happen overnight, but it is possible! Let’s break em’ down.
Sponsorships and Donations
This is the fastest way to earn big bucks toward your production and often the hardest to find, but it’s not impossible with the right incentives. The word donation needs little introduction. I have found in my twenty years of directing that people are rarely willing to cut checks unless they know exactly what their money is going towards.
For the budgeting novice, we call this “restricted funds.” This is where your very organized musical budget will help you. Perhaps you have a plan to use fancy projections for the first time, but the cost to rent the projector is $1,500 for the week. Yikes! You never know who is looking for a tax write-off and would love to support the great work you are doing especially if they have a child in the cast or crew.
Be specific with your requests. If you don’t feel comfortable asking people for money? Having a ‘WISH LIST’ that parents or patrons know about is a great way for restricted money to magically show up.
Sponsorships may be a fancy word for donation, but I define sponsorships as a relationship where someone will give you unrestricted funds to support your production in exchange for a small incentive. People connected to your show will likely have businesses and some of these businesses will be very successful.
I always offered the back page of the program in exchange for “top billing show sponsorship.” If you donate $1000 - $2000, your business can have the back page of the playbill or have a banner hanging in the lobby or outside the building. Use your imagination. As long as they are able to let the community know that, “Dr. Toothache’s Dental Practice is a Supporter of the Schmigadoon Players,” you have developed a great business relationship where both parties can capitalize off the exchange.
Campaigns
A campaign is a way to raise funds for your production over a period of time. I will share the two I use the most, but use your creativity. The most important nugget of advice I can give you is to remember that YOU ARE A THEATRE ARTS group! Make your musical FUNdraising FUN by creating a campaign that is relevant to only theatre folk.
TWO TYPES OF CAMPAIGNS I USE THE MOST:
1. Ad Campaigns
Selling eighth, quarter, half and full page ads can create a lot of work, but bring in a lot of money for your show if you are organized and have the right volunteers. Have a digital ad form that is easy to fill out and clearly specifies formats you need for artwork, (PDF, Jpeg only) and the cost breakdown. I had price packages for families different from packages for businesses. I also had a Volunteer Coordinator (VC) just for ad sales and made between $5,000 and $7500 per production NOT including the back page show sponsor.
I do not recommend doing this alone. Emails will come flying in and you have enough to worry about. Nothing makes a business or mom more upset than paying for an ad with their son’s baby picture in it that never makes it into the playbill. For added income, you can have a Patron Donation page with a list of names of people who donate $25. '
2. Dance-A-Thons, Rock-A-Thons, and any “A-Thon” you can think of
We have all heard of a “walk-a-thon” where you sponsor $1 a mile, and if a student does complete the 5 mile walk, you give them $5 when the event is over. This is a great opportunity for you to use your theatre creativity and create an “A-THON” that is relevant to your show.
I have done “dance-a-thons” where you sponsor a student per minute and their time stops when they can’t dance anymore. I have done the “rock-a-thon” which is an all night movie watch in rocking chairs and when you fall asleep and stop rocking, your time stops. Both raised thousands of dollars toward the production. Think about the production you are doing and see if you can create one that centers around the show material. It raises money and is FUN for the students to participate in.
NOTE: This is also a great way to raise money for a trip you may be taking.
Daily Fundraising and Sales Events
We have all planned the car washes, bake sales and even yard sales, but these are often NOT fun, and only put the “F” back in fundraising, if you know what I mean. 😜 They might only take a couple days to prepare and host the event, but the money raised often leaves a lot to be desired. It takes many sales events to make a dent.
However, if you decide to tackle one or two of these, I want to reiterate to make it show or theatre related. Instead of a bake sale, can you sell roses or heart lollipops and a singing telegram on Valentine's Day? If you are doing, Peter and the Star Catcher, can you sell “Super-Stars” for $1 where students can send each other stars during the course of a week containing inspirational reasons they are “stars in each other’s lives.” The point is, make it creative and something more fun for your students to plan and implement.
Performance Day Sales
I have two words for you regarding Performance Day Sales: Volunteer Coordinator.
You don’t have time to be running around the lobby stocking water bottles so get a VC to take this on early in the process. They can find donations, decorate and schedule all the additional volunteers you need for front of house needs. This is a great way to raise a little extra money toward the show if you can get the food, baked goods and flowers donated. If you have to pay out of pocket for all of it, keep it simple and don’t overdo your options.
The most popular concession sale items are:
Flowers
Candy
Baked Goods
Drinks.
If you are looking for some creative ideas or higher ticket items, try show related auction baskets, a 50/50 raffle or “Dash-A-Grams.” What is a dash-a-gram? You have a couple of student runners in the lobby, and your audience can pay $1 to have supportive messages run back to the cast before a show. This wont raise a ton of money, but it will raise spirits!
I was fortunate that after a couple of years, I would raise enough money in sponsorships and campaigns that all my performance day sales went to senior scholarships! Whatever you choose to do, all these details can be handed off to your front of house Volunteer Coordinator so all you have to worry about is delivering a pre-show pep talk to the cast and crew that even Mel Gibson in Braveheart would be jealous of.
The most important takeaway is to create FUNdraising for your musical that is relevant to your group and FUN for your students to participate in. Let your cast and crew use their imaginations and have a musical FUNdraiser that raises money while raising support for your theatre program.
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