Real ideas for sustainability & revenue

[Slingerland]

I'm looking through the list of major local non-profit arts and/or educational organizations where I live to see how they fund themselves.

None of them run car wash days, Bingo games, or other unrelated businesses as a way to make sure they can make ends meet. They rely on ticket sales, corporate underwriting of specific events, individual giving, and corporate/foundation grants. So let's consider how drum corps can (or can't) qualify for those things. A common factor:

• Grants from major foundations have pivoted from general operating support for mainstream institutions towards funding specific initiatives geared to  showcasing voices that have been historically marginalized. Quoting from the the MacArthur Foundation (largest in IL) - "Larger-sized grants are awarded to organizations whose mission is centered on Black, Latinx, Indigenous, and Asian voices and/or organizations that are focused on other historically marginalized identities, such as people with disabilities and people on the LGBTQIA+ continuum."

In every case, with the exception of organizations who have Board members who are also muckety-mucks at major corporations, the big dollars aren't going to arts companies they way they used to, but they ARE going to community based social service organizations. Organizations that resemble (shock) what drum corps was back until the DCI national tour became not just the norm, but the only thing that was keeping drum corps alive at all.

So what could be done to reverse the trend and build a local funding base?

Build a local membership base. Spend more time being of your community - local instructors and designers teaching local kids, who are paying nothing to a few hundred dollars a year to do it. In short, ditch the national touring model altogether in favor of smaller, lighter, cheaper local drum corps. But here's where a nasty sticking point comes up.

The drum corps membership now is almost exclusively kids who come from middle and upper class households where they have fully funded arts programs and music programs in their high schools. It excludes, by design (if unintentionally), potential members who are coming from communities that don't already have excellent quality music programs that can prepare the potential members for the "do it great right now" process that is modern day drum corps auditioning. The focus on giving program designers groups of kids who can achieve those designers' highest design goals has necessarily excluded pretty much any kid living in a low-income area from ever getting on the field in the first place.

There are some corps that have opened up their business models to include marginalized member programs or community based initiatives as side projects, but the question is whether they'd ever be willing to commit to opening up their PRIMARY product to the same community-focused service, even if it means focusing on individual development of the members rather than how close to 100 the staff can pimp the 10 minute show. 

Short of DCI adopting a rule that at least 50% of the members have to live within 100 miles of a corps' home base, I don't see anything else that will start the process toward making corps local again, the necessary first step toward building local funding bases that can support them moving forward.

And so they'll beat on, blah blah blah.

Edited October 20, 2023 by Slingerland

[LabMaster]

5 hours ago, Jeff Ream said:

a well run show depending on the venue rented, how many bands you get, and how organized the show committee is can make 10-15k. work to get donations from the community for food. sell a ton of ads for your QR code program. don't go gonzo on trophies. in my years administrating for a local circuit, the hosts were beyond organized, and made money even on bad weather days. 

There!  Exactly the detail I was hoping could be offered.  Thanks very much.  

[LabMaster]

5 hours ago, DWW11 said:

This is going to sound snarky but i mean it with all due respect. If i wanted to find someone to talk to about writing/getting grants, i would simply start on the internet. 

Not snarky at all.  Is there any specific search to look for?  Like grant writing (writers) in general?  Are there grant writing companies like there are resume’ writing companies?

[LabMaster]

4 hours ago, Gantang said:

You are clearly passionate, and I will not poo-poo your post, but I have some interesting (I hope) insight into this portion. First of all, there has to be a benefit to the corporation. Bill Cook was an outlier because he became passionate about the activity, AND he could write the check on his own volition. The marketing budgets for most companies are one of the smallest budget lines. If a corps can't demonstrate a strong ROI, the company has no incentive. My wife is a CEO and her marketing department is inundated by organizations with their hands held out looking for donations. The local United Way reached out their hand yesterday, but the 2023 community giving coffers are empty. There can be no more giving until January. There is a finite amount of money to be spread around.

DRUM CORPS IS A NON-ENTITY IN THE GRAND SCHEME

I was at a dinner earlier this year with the CEO of a $1.5 billion financial institution in a city with a DCI corps. I asked her if she was familiar with the organization. She wasn't, and she had never heard of drum corps.  I explained the activity a bit and told her that her city arguably has the premier drum corps in the activity. 

The CEO's financial institution is in Concord. Concord only has 126,000 people and Blue Devils has been on the major drum corps map since 1973. That's 50 years of publicity that the Devils have brought to Concord, yet they are not even a blip on the radar in their home city. Imagine how insignificant corps are to communities around the country. Corporate sponsorship is a pipe dream. 

 

Sometimes just asking could do it.  Had anyone from BD ever approached them?  BAC has a great relationship with Putnam Investments. Maybe there is an employee in some corporations that could introduce a corps to the Corp. A former rifle worked for John Hancock Insurance and got a $10,000 donation one year.  Other corporations give to local groups, supporting the arts. They may only need to be made aware of a corps.

[Jeff Ream]

52 minutes ago, LabMaster said:

There!  Exactly the detail I was hoping could be offered.  Thanks very much.  

thats for a school running it. they generally get their own stadium free. an independent group not so much. granted DCI shows charge more than most band shows do, that could eat a lot of profit

[DWW11]

1 hour ago, LabMaster said:

Not snarky at all.  Is there any specific search to look for?  Like grant writing (writers) in general?  Are there grant writing companies like there are resume’ writing companies?

I just did a quick search on “apply for non-profit grants” and found all kinds of hits. Here’s one on nerdwallet: “15 Grants for Nonprofits: How to Get Free Funding in 2023”. 

[scheherazadesghost]

On 10/20/2023 at 8:41 AM, DWW11 said:

This is going to sound snarky but i mean it with all due respect. If i wanted to find someone to talk to about writing/getting grants, i would simply start on the internet. 

Also, hi! What would y'all like to know? @Slingerland outlined some important info that's accurate on this page above me.

Have been awarded small grants for my own work, medium grants for institutions, and worked for orgs in various roles with budgets in the low millions, all in youth arts education, in various states across the US. Happy to provide pointers or starting points. Already pointed out some grants that CA corps could begin pursuing in another thread.

Edited October 21, 2023 by scheherazadesghost
typo

[scheherazadesghost]

22 hours ago, Gantang said:

You are clearly passionate, and I will not poo-poo your post, but I have some interesting (I hope) insight into this portion. First of all, there has to be a benefit to the corporation. Bill Cook was an outlier because he became passionate about the activity, AND he could write the check on his own volition. The marketing budgets for most companies are one of the smallest budget lines. If a corps can't demonstrate a strong ROI, the company has no incentive. My wife is a CEO and her marketing department is inundated by organizations with their hands held out looking for donations. The local United Way reached out their hand yesterday, but the 2023 community giving coffers are empty. There can be no more giving until January. There is a finite amount of money to be spread around.

DRUM CORPS IS A NON-ENTITY IN THE GRAND SCHEME

I was at a dinner earlier this year with the CEO of a $1.5 billion financial institution in a city with a DCI corps. I asked her if she was familiar with the organization. She wasn't, and she had never heard of drum corps.  I explained the activity a bit and told her that her city arguably has the premier drum corps in the activity. 

The CEO's financial institution is in Concord. Concord only has 126,000 people and Blue Devils has been on the major drum corps map since 1973. That's 50 years of publicity that the Devils have brought to Concord, yet they are not even a blip on the radar in their home city. Imagine how insignificant corps are to communities around the country. Corporate sponsorship is a pipe dream. 

 

I'll have to respectfully disagree with you there. I was in nonprofit development for a stint. My whole job was securing corporate sponsors. It's not a pipe dream. NPs rely on corporate sponsors just as much as they do grants. Just checked the aforementioned previous employer and their top tier of donors, who give $10k or more give them no less than $180k each year. According to the latest available SCV numbers, that's half the tour food budget right there.

But this is why I've been harping in other threads on demonstrating value (or ROI in nonprofit speak,) 'cause in that way, you're correct. But it doesn't come down to people knowing and understanding drum corps entirely. If you can prove that your website and your live events pull in enough eyeballs, you can secure small corporate donors. It'd be a silly strategy for anyone to go for the billion dollar companies. LOL VMAPA was criticized (after attempts, AFAIK) for going to the Googles, Metas, and other giants in Silicon Valley and being rejected. That's just silly. You go for the smaller companies first, just like grants. You have to prove to them your worth, consistently over time, and then the big hitters will begin to trust you.

But again, NPs rely on corporate sponsors all day every day. It's not a pipe dream. There just doesn't seem to be many in the drum corps world who know what they're doing in this regard. It's not rocket science though.

Edited October 21, 2023 by scheherazadesghost

[Gantang]

51 minutes ago, scheherazadesghost said:

It's not a pipe dream. 

I may be picking nits here, but I consider a sponsorship to cover the entity's cost. IE Penske Racing. It is possible to secure minor donations, but that requires a FT person working 12 months a year to cobble together $10K at a time. While $180K is nothing to sneeze at, it is a drop in the budgetary bucket for a World Class corps.

From a Jeff Ream post from May 2, 2022, referencing an interview with Tim Hinto, "the average cost to house, feed, transport and of course things like insurance is $9800 per kid", for a budget of $1,470,000. With a $5,000 dues, that still leaves $750,000 to operate for a season. 

Edited October 21, 2023 by Gantang

[GUARDLING]

23 hours ago, Gantang said:

You are clearly passionate, and I will not poo-poo your post, but I have some interesting (I hope) insight into this portion. First of all, there has to be a benefit to the corporation. Bill Cook was an outlier because he became passionate about the activity, AND he could write the check on his own volition. The marketing budgets for most companies are one of the smallest budget lines. If a corps can't demonstrate a strong ROI, the company has no incentive. My wife is a CEO and her marketing department is inundated by organizations with their hands held out looking for donations. The local United Way reached out their hand yesterday, but the 2023 community giving coffers are empty. There can be no more giving until January. There is a finite amount of money to be spread around.

DRUM CORPS IS A NON-ENTITY IN THE GRAND SCHEME

I was at a dinner earlier this year with the CEO of a $1.5 billion financial institution in a city with a DCI corps. I asked her if she was familiar with the organization. She wasn't, and she had never heard of drum corps.  I explained the activity a bit and told her that her city arguably has the premier drum corps in the activity. 

The CEO's financial institution is in Concord. Concord only has 126,000 people and Blue Devils has been on the major drum corps map since 1973. That's 50 years of publicity that the Devils have brought to Concord, yet they are not even a blip on the radar in their home city. Imagine how insignificant corps are to communities around the country. Corporate sponsorship is a pipe dream. 

 

This has also been my experience. I was also a development director for a non profit and sat on a board of another., for a group that actually served people in the community.  Grants  for sure available, donations or involvement was another story. The competition  with the likes of United Way , the Heart Association etc etc was quite daunting.  Special events were difficult ,especially for actual dollars. 1st question was always whats in it for us ( and a good deed wasn't a good answer) what exposure do we get etc. Granted , there are companies looking to dispose of dollars BUT look for what a return is.

Edited October 21, 2023 by GUARDLING