Thursday, May 14, 2009

Fundraising Ideas


Our creative director often tells me that when you borrow an idea from one source it's plagarism, but when you borrow from many you're observing "Best practices".

I was reminded of that when reading excerpts from Alvin Reiss' 1995 book "Don't Just Applaud, Send Money: The Most Successful Strategies for Funding and Marketing the Arts".  It's full of dozens of case studies from around the country, presented in easy-to-read two or three-page summaries.

One of my favorites is from the GeVa Theatre in Rochester which used law firm sponsors to fill the roles of non-jury members in "Inherit the Wind".   Not only did they raise money from the sponsorship, but the law firms usually invited clients and colleagues for both the show and a post-show reception.  

Not sure which of the ideas may provide some inspiration for you, but I'm sure there's at least one new fundraising strategy that could be of use.  Here's the Amazon link if you'd like to find out more or get a copy for yourself.

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