Whether you are looking to make an audition recording, study in Italy, buy a piano for your teaching studio, or start yourown children’s touring opera company, funding is often necessary for a range of projects. If you’re not independently wealthy and you haven’t found a grant that meets all your needs, then fundraising is your best bet.
Getting Your Act Together: Taking Care of Basics
In order to speak convincingly with others about your project—people who may not be musicians themselves—you need to be able to communicate well, describing the project, your goals and needs, and the specifics of the budget. A project map is a detailed description of your intended venture, with your goals, qualifications, timeline, and the resources needed. The more concrete and detailed you are with this, the easier it is to get others excited about your project and interested in contributing. Write it all down to clarify your thoughts.
1. What is the goal of your project? What specifically do you want to accomplish?
2. Why are you doing this project? What need or problem does your project address?
3. What specific activities will take place as part of your project?
4. What is your “track record” so far?
5. Who will help or participate in the project?
6. When will it be completed?
7. What is your desired outcome?
8. How much money is needed? Write out a detailed budget listing all expenses.
Fundraising 101
People are typically resistant to the idea of doing their own fundraising. Most are horrified at the thought of asking others for money. They think of this as “begging.” But talk to any experienced fundraiser and you will hear a very different definition. The crucial ingredient of fundraising is what’s known as development work—and this is all about connecting with people and building relationships (something many singers are exceptionally good at). Essentially, fundraising is helping people connect their interests and values to a relevant project they care about.
Why Do People Give?
Think about your own behavior. If you’ve ever participated in a walk-athon, put money in a church collection plate, tutored a child, donated blood, or contributed to a political campaign, ask yourself why.
People give for a number of reasons. For some, it’s because they have a personal connection to the project, the organization, or the person making the “ask.” Some are inspired to give because a project or organization reflects with their own ideals, their personal values. Others contribute, in part for social reasons—to be acknowledged as a valued partner in a worthy endeavor.
When you have contributed to a cause, how did it make you feel? You probably felt good! People like to help and they like to see positive results. So when the student you tutor passes an exam, or the church you perform the benefit concert for meets its fundraising goal, most likely you feel proud to be part of the process.
When people give time, money, or expertise to a cause they care about, they get something important in return. They get to feel good about themselves. This is the real ROI (return on their investment). Self-worth is a great reward. As you imagine your future fundraising campaign, remember that fundraising is an exchange. When you ask people to contribute, you are offering them something valuable in return.
It’s Personal: People Give to People
The number one reason people will contribute to your fundraising campaign is because of their relationship with you. So who are your prospective supporters? They are your extended network, friends, family, your lawyer, accountant, hairdresser, former teachers, and more. These may be people you share common interests with, who have similar values, ideals, and goals. They are people with a capacity to give and an inclination to help. This is not about being fake or kissing up to people you hardly know. This is about genuine relationships. The more you and your project matter to a prospective donor, the more they will be willing to give.
As you read this, you may be thinking, “But I don’t know any rich people. The people closest to me either don’t have anything to give or won’t.” The truth is, the vast majority of people in your network have some discretionary funds, money they use on a variety of non-necessities. There are people in your network who could contribute $500 to a project they believe in without it adversely affecting their finances. For some people, $50 is the limit of their comfort zone; for others, it may be $5,000. The bottom line is people won’t give unless they’re asked. Nothing ventured, nothing gained!
The Development Continuum
To put this into perspective, people contribute in proportion to their sense of involvement. The more invested they are in you and your project, the more likely they will be to invest financially. The development continuum below is a useful way to gauge the level of involvement of your supporters. And the continuum illustrates the process—the how, why, and when people become donors. This concept comes from workshops that fundraising gurus David Bury and Steve Procter have presented for the Chamber Music America and Association of Performing Arts Presenters conferences.
On the chart below (p. 46) are headings representing the possible relationship stages between you and members of your network. Farthest to the left is “ignorance,” which is the category for people who are as yet unaware of you, your music, or your project. Development work is essentially about moving people, over time, from left to right along the continuum. From awareness or lukewarm interest in you and your project, to involvement, to commitment and, finally, to “ownership.” Don’t be put off by that last word. It doesn’t mean people in this category “own” your project or you. Rather, this is the category for your strongest supporters and allies, your advisory board. These are the people who will feel a sense of partnership, pride, and identification with the success of your project.
Your Development Continuum
Using the chart below as a worksheet, write in the names of those in your network’s inner circle, placing each name under the category appropriate for the current state of your relationship. You probably have 20-25 good contacts, people who have expressed some degree of interest in you and your future. Include your extended family, former teachers, and anyone else who cares about you and your career. Think about family, neighbors, colleagues, and old friends.
Not sure where to place members of your network on the continuum chart? At the awareness stage, people have attended one or more of your concerts or bought your CD. This should make apparent the need to collect emails at every performance, since without a mailing list to alert folks about upcoming performances and other news, you cannot move them along the continuum.
The most important way to move people along the continuum is to get them to your performances, talk to them afterward, and invite them to participate in support activities appropriate to your level of relationship. It’s all about getting people actively involved. Once you have your strategic network contacts listed in the appropriate spot on the chart, the next step is to plan what development activities will help you to develop these relationships further, to move people toward the right.
With your list of closest supporters, choose a few to have individual meetings with. Ask to take them out for coffee or lunch, and explain you want to get their advice about a project you have in mind. It’s best to do this in person, so you can get their full attention and response to your project.
You do need to feel comfortable describing the project to your potential donor. Part of the development process is educating your network about your career plans. Non-musicians are often unaware of the costs and procedures of producing concerts, making recordings, or advancing a music career. They most likely don’t know why it’s important to go to festivals or why you might need a better instrument. Your presentation should include a summary of your career path, your successes so far, and a description of how this project fits into your overall career plan. Include a detailed budget of all anticipated costs plus a listing of the resources you already have in place.
The goal of these meetings is to gather support and ideas and, in doing so, to deepen the level of involvement of your supporters. Be prepared for advice and suggestions and be open to these. Have your adviser listen to your project description, get interested, take out a checkbook, and say, “How much do you need?” That’s wonderful, but it doesn’t always happen like this. Instead, your adviser may suggest changes to your project or plan or may refer you to others for additional advice. Or your conversations may yield volunteers for hosting and organizing a benefit house concert. But in order to have any results, you need to have the inperson meetings.
Fundraising consultant Steve Procter writes, “Beyond inviting supporters to lunch, the other powerful development tool is your artistry in action. Everything you do—concerts, school programs, coaching of ensembles—is a development opportunity. The surest and most powerful way for people to get on board is to see you doing your work. All that’s required is that you make a personal invitation.”
Do It Right!
There’s an old saying in fundraising: you have to have the right person ask the right prospect for the right amount for the right reason at the right time. In other words, if you haven’t written to or spoken with your Aunt Ida in 10 years, and she gets a phone call or letter from you out of the blue asking her to cough up $5,000, it probably won’t go over well. This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t ask her at all, but you need to first re-establish a relationship with her.
The success of your fundraising campaign depends on these factors, the Five How’s, as in How . . .
1. . . . much money you need to raise.
2. . . . much time you have to raise it.
3. . . . compelling your project is (how appealing it is to the people in your network).
4. . . . you present your project.
5. . . . often you interact with the people in your network.
