A common quandry seems to be “I need everything – what should I assign as my campaign goal?” It’s a great question, and every performing organization or ensemble is going to have their own unique needs and wants.
Let’s consider the following scenario:
The band director is headed into the season and has some budget to spend, but not enough to cover all bases.
- One aging tuba can no longer be repaired – $7K for a new one
- A set of colorguard flags – $1K for flags and poles
- $1,500 for a Jarvis Cart
- $1,000 for general repairs
- $2,000 for additional instructional staff
While I do not believe there’s a “one-size-fits-all” solution here, I would point out the following considerations for crowdfunding purposes:
– The tuba is a great goal, but it’s a horn that (1) student will play. It’s tough to rally support for a fundraising goal when just one student comes away with a shiny new instrument.
– Flags are also worthwhile as an investment. With General Effect heavily influencing the judging sheets in most marching band circuits, a fresh set of flags that tie into the show theme can be a big boost.
– A Jarvis Cart (most groups will use more than one) can be considered “mission-critical” equipment.
– “General Repairs”, no matter how badly the repairs are needed, would be a tougher goal to support.
– The instructional staff that could be added is certainly integral to the education of the students, but care would need to be taken to emphasize the staff that has already been budgeted via the school board budget. In other words, you would want to minimize the appearance of “Shouldn’t the school board pay for teachers and instructors?”.
There is also another option. Consider lumping together more than one of the above! If you were inclined to combine the top 4 items on the list above (tuba, flags, cart, repair) and call it an “Equipment Drive”, it would be specific enough to generate a response yet broad enough to engage just about every kid in every section within the total band program. You really could justify the need as “Every student in the band will benefit…”
(Note – as a band booster myself, I’d be much more likely to get behind a goal involving the ENTIRE program rather than a smaller section my child DOESN’T perform with…)
And $10,500 isn’t a terribly difficult financial target to meet, when you crowdfund the campaign with FansRaise!
