The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Looking at new ways…
The overall economy, the weather and foundations distributing less grant money have all had a major impact on local non-profits this summer. While some organizations are feeling lucky and doing better than they expected, others are still struggling and looking for creative ways to attract dollars.
“The days of putting out a letter asking for a donation to simply support something like the Center for the Arts are over,” explained Center executive director Jenny Birnie. “We all need to do more focused fundraising and ask the community what they want and then provide it.”
The national and local economic downturn has certainly had the largest impact on area non-profit organizations. “It is tough for people in this economy and we know that,” said Crested Butte Land Trust executive director Ann Johnston. “It is not the same as it has been in the recent past and people are doing different things. But Crested Butte people are different and they appreciate all the work of the various non-profits. A lot of people are scaling back and that impacts all of us.
“It’s been interesting because it’s been unpredictable,” said Johnston. “We have had some campaigns where lots of people responded but with smaller than expected donations. And we have had other campaigns where fewer people than we thought responded but with larger gifts than we anticipated.
There’s a lot of uncertainty out there. No one knows what to expect,” Johnston said.
Crested Butte Music Festival administrative director Marilyn Krill had expected the summer fundraising efforts to be pretty dismal. Local sponsorships were down significantly and grants from foundations were drying up. But the festival had a very surprising and successful gala fundraiser last month, despite the fact that half the number of people who attended in 2008 came to the event in 2009. “The good news is that we are in better shape than we thought we would be,” Krill said. “We were definitely nervous at the start of the summer but we did very well at the gala. People were very responsive to particular projects and donated money to help fund specific things like the Opera Young Artist Program and the opera itself. That put us in a surprisingly good position.”
How that translates to next year’s music festival is yet to be determined. The board and staff will look at next year’s festival and decide on things like whether to make it longer or shorter, and whether to add or cut events.
“Donations to the festival have stayed relatively stable,” Krill said. “What really went down were the local sponsorships and outside grants. Thank goodness for the gala fundraiser.”
A similar fundraiser was held last Sunday for the Adaptive Sports Center with the Crested Butte Open. That, too, was successful and garnered a lot of donations.
“We had great numbers and great attendance and great support,” said Adaptive development director Ella Fahrlander. “We will probably end up a bit down from last year’s event, which was a record for us, but we are appreciative of the great support we received. We had more golfers at the tournament than last year and that helped.
“So far I’d say we are doing okay, despite the obvious challenges,” Fahrlander continued. “We are looking to grow our program a bit this year, which requires a bit of an increase in fundraising and I think we are on track to do that.”
Over at the Crested Butte Heritage Museum, the two major summer fundraisers were swept up in the rain and that hurt the organization’s coffers. “The Black and White Ball got caught in the rain for the first time and it definitely kept people away,” said executive director Glo Cunningham. “And the kickball tournament started the day off with huge thunder and rain throughout the day. The museum was definitely impacted by the weather.
“But we hope to make up some of that with this Saturday’s Dueling Diva’s concert,” Cunningham continued. “We are collaborating with the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory to bring a great concert to the community.”
The concert will be indoors at the Center for the Arts and is an example of one way in which non-profits are trying to get creative in their fundraising. One of the divas, opera singer Elizabeth Bond, is donating her time to the concert.
“It’s the first time we have teamed up with another organization to try to raise money in this manner,” explained Cunningham. “It’s a big-ticket item but we hope that since two good organizations will be benefiting from the concert, people will be more likely to go. Collaboration is important and it is another creative way for people to help.”
Allison Kuhne, development director of RMBL agrees. “Glo and I felt it was a good opportunity to have an event that benefits more than one non-profit,” she said. “We thought this would be a nice way to see collaboration that benefits two great organizations and see a great show.”
Overall at RMBL, Kuhne said contributions are coming in slower than they’d like, but some of the donations are surprisingly larger than anticipated. “We are seeing some positives out there,” she said. “I think even in these rough economic times, non-profits have to stay connected to their donors and make sure they know they are still important to us, even if they are having a hard time contributing.”
And one way to do that is for non-profits to offer more events like the Dueling Divas, fundraising dinners or guest speakers.
Land Trust development director Kim Bosler said the two big summer events for the Land Trust were successful and she gave partial credit to the weather. The Crested Butte Wine and Food Festival and the Caddis Cup were both very successful. “We were encouraged by the participation in both,” she said, “and the weather certainly helped us a lot during the Elk Avenue event during the Wine and Food Festival. It was spectacular.”
The Monday evening Alpenglow concerts might be the best example of event fundraising. When the Center for the Arts was having trouble with a spring fundraising drive, the board tied it to Alpenglow. “We went to the community and asked for their support for this specific event and they supported us,” she said. “It’s more than music—it’s a social event. During these tough economic times, I think people are enjoying the Monday evening scene and it’s free. It’s been important to the community. People love Alpenglow.”
Birnie said this year’s has been the most successful Alpenglow series in its 17 years. Record crowds show up every Monday. “It’s been huge every week and we haven’t had one rain-out,” she said.
So as fundraising has become more difficult, the Center is reevaluating everything. Staff has been cut from five people to three. “Last winter season we did 14 productions and this coming year we will probably do half that many,” Birnie said. “We’ll make firm decisions after evaluating the summer season. We are trying to evaluate the Center’s core products and Alpenglow is obviously one of them. Another is the Chefs on the Edge event, which we will be doing this year on August 24. We are looking at everything as a result of the economic situation.”
Mountain Theatre executive director (and opera diva) Elizabeth Bond said that like the Alpenglow concerts, people have been attending the theater’s productions this summer in part because it affords an inexpensive escape from economic realities. She and the board are also exploring further event-type fundraisers. “We are looking for additional ways to use our theater to raise money,” she said. “For example, this Sunday we are holding a Broadway Hits Review at the Mallardi Theatre. In September we will have an historical retrospective about the Mountain Theatre. It will be a fundraiser event. We hope to collaborate with the ski area in September and do a preshow teaser for As You Like It at the Ice Rink at the base area on September 27.”
Bond will perform a solo show at the Gunnison Arts Center August 14 to help raise money for the GAC. The same concert will be held the next day at the Union Congregational Church to raise money for the Mountain Theatre.
The Music Festival collaborated with the theater on the production of The Music Man. “We are all in the same boat and try to help each other. We are trying a few new things to raise money like the various events,” she said. “We are also trying to give a few sweeteners to our Mountain Theatre members, like discounted tickets.”
Bond says the theater is hanging in there “pretty good.” But she admitted the summer started off slow. “We had a sluggish start to the year but people are responding to the opportunity for affordable entertainment to get cheered up,” she said of the summer season. “Of course we could use a $5,000 gift since some of our regular contributors haven’t donated,” she continued. “That would certainly help, but we understand the times right now.”
Cunningham said the hard times weren’t unexpected but that doesn’t make things any easier. “Our grants from foundations are off probably 50 percent and regular contributions are slower than we expected,” she said. “It’s not the best of years for anyone in terms of money, but I am still optimistic. We are continuing to look for ideas. It’s tough. I think about how to raise money for the museum all the time now, which I never had to do in the past. It is going to be tough to make the budget and we cut the budget 15 percent when we saw the economy turning. It’s time for people to think about the importance of the local non-profits and help them out more than ever.”
Cunningham said the store in the museum is doing better than expected this summer. She credits new merchandise that is affordable to visitors and locals.
The Land Trust’s Johnston said that as much as anything, it is the uncertainty that can be frightening to the local organizations. “It’s unnerving to the non-profits because it is harder to plan,” she said. “The foundations have all been hit hard and that impacts all of our grants. I just feel grateful that people who live and visit here value the work that all the non-profits do for the area.”
