Great news! This was a good day for donations for One Billion Rising! Thank you all so much for your contributions!
Here's what came in:
Indiegogo: $400 lots of $50 donations - yay!
Individuals: $215.50 including entry fees for Women Rise!
Total: $615.50 Terrific for one day! Thank you to each of you.
We also got a wonderful offer from AlterNatives that they would donate a portion of their sales. AlterNatives is a fair trade store that was founded 15 years ago to
support widows who were survivors of political violence. Their Facebook
page is: Alternatives Boutique Carytown. We just found this out a few hours ago and are working to see if we can make it happen. If you're interested in volunteering to help us out this Sunday, we could definitely use the manpower! If you decide to go to Carytown to buy V-Day gifts, I hope you'll stop by AlterNatives and thank them for their support!
Please keep it comin'! We're getting every closer! Every penny makes a difference. Thank you.
Still needed: $4416.12, or $2416.12 if we have to use the Action Alliance's money - we're hoping to GIVE them money, though, NOT use theirs! We want them to be able to use their funds to help victims of violence directly.
Showing posts with label donations. Show all posts
Showing posts with label donations. Show all posts
Monday, January 28, 2013
Finances of One Billion Rising
Friends,
Some of you who are numbers people have asked what exactly we're raising money for as we keep publishing requests for donations! Good question! I thought it might be helpful to answer your questions as thoroughly and accurately as I can so you can know what we're using your generous donations for.
Here's the scoop:
One Billion Rising RVA is a completely grassroots effort. That means that five of us: me, Alba Jaramillo, Janett Forte, Kelsey Bedolli, and Julie Willard, decided to take on creating an event to celebrate women and to bring awareness to the violence being perpetrated against women all over the world. Our desires to end violence against women have turned into this event which is slated to take place Thursday, Feb 14th, from 11-2 at the Richmond Coliseum. We have many, many volunteers in place to help us out and need about 70 more for the day of the event. (Sign up here if you're interested in volunteering.) None of us are being paid to do this work.
Because we're a bunch of overachievers on the committee, and because we couldn't imagine a more perfect location for the rally, we have chosen to have it at the Richmond Coliseum. Given how rainy/snowy/freezing rain it's been recently, having it indoors is looking more and more like the PERFECT decision! The Coliseum's management is so supportive of our event that they have made the decision to give us the use of the building for FREE. Thank you, Coliseum! We are unendingly grateful.
They, however, have costs they are unable to waive. I'm not sure it's quite appropriate for me to list them all here, but if you're really interested, you can email me at susansingerart@msn.com, and I will share them with you. They are costs are ones such as personnel to man the Coliseum, police, fire, and EMS to be at the event, cleaning, the stage and sound system, etc. We have agreed to have many volunteers to take over as many of the tasks as possible to keep costs to a bare minimum. The Coliseum has been absolutely fantastic to work with to help us keep costs down. Despite that, the costs come to $6314.12, subject to change if our needs change (we don't expect them to - we hope they won't - unless we suddenly realize we might have 20,000 instead of 10,000, in which case our costs would rise significantly!)
This is the main bulk of what we need to earn. We also are printing buttons to sell at the event. Our wonderful button maker, Jennifer Yane, is bartering with us so we can keep those costs low. That will be $100. We would like to make Tshirts and are working on finding a way to do that without upfront costs. Or we need someone to donate the shirts. If you have a lead on that, please get in touch. I know people are going to want T shirts from the event, and it would be a good way to make some money to help support us, but we don't have funds to put forward to get them! A Catch-22! Frustrating!
We may have expenses related to Ms. Kadeer's visit should she choose to stay overnight. Those are unknown at this time, but would probably run close to $400 for meals, hotel, and transportation costs. The other speakers are local so that isn't an issue.
We have to pay for liability insurance for the Coliseum. There is no choice there. We are researching the policy and expect it to cost $750, hopefully no more.
The total costs are:
$6314.12
100.00
400.00
750.00
$7564.12 at the outside, assuming nothing else comes up.
Our fundraising efforts have been moving in several directions.
1. Indiegogo is a web-based fundraising outfit sort of like Kickstarter. We launched a campaign there to raise $1500, hoping to specifically cover some of the costs of the Coliseum. We didn't put the entire $6314.12 on there because they take a percentage of the gifts - 3% if we reach our goal, 6% if we don't. We didn't want to overreach our goal, and we wanted to create an option where folks could easily donate. I realize it's a bit confusing why the amount there is different than the $7500 we mention elsewhere. I hope this clarifies that! To donate to indiegogo, please use the following link: http://www.indiegogo.com/OBR-RVA?c=pledges Our campaign there is going quite well. We're up to $415 as of today, 1/28. We need $1085 more to meet our goal.
2. Individual fundraising efforts - each of us volunteers has sent out appeals to our dear, beloved, generous friends and families and they have been most kind, donating either through indiegogo or through the Action Alliance Website. If you would like to donate through them, PLEASE be sure to write "One Billion Rising" or the donations will NOT come to this campaign. They're a wonderful organization, so please feel free to donate to them as well if you feel so moved, but please be sure to note OBR or One Billion rising in the comments section if you want to donate to cover the aforementioned expenses. In addition to what has come through indiegogo, we have raised $990 through these efforts. Thank you!
3. Organizational fundraising efforts - we have written letters to various organizations and corporations asking them to support our efforts. Two have responded with $500 donations each, for a total of $1000. Thank you!
As you can see, as of today, we have raised $2405 so far, $4405 if we count the Action Alliance's donation (below). In addition to continuing those efforts, here is what we are continuing to do to raise more funds:
1. Sponsorship efforts - individuals, non-profits, small businesses, or corporations may rent banner space or a booth the day of the event. We are currently working on raising awareness of this possibility so we can raise these funds. If you or anyone you know would like to rent a booth or space to hang a banner, please contact Julie Willard at VirginiasRising@gmail.com.
2. Contributions will be collected the day of the event. We will have many volunteers at the event to ask people to contribute a buck or two (or more) to help pay for the event.
3. Many of the proceeds from the Beyond Barbie events will go to help pay for the Coliseum.
4. Half of the proceeds from Women Rise! (the art show at Crossroads Art Center being held in conjunction with this event) will go towards One Billion Rising.
5. The Action Alliance has generously agreed to donate $2000 towards the event should it be needed. We very much hope that won't be necessary so that they can retain those funds to help victims of violence in the many many ways they already do.
6. Many of the proceeds, after expenses, from the Vagina Monologues will go to One Billion Rising to help cover costs.
Our hope is that we will exceed our fundraising efforts greatly so that we can make a large donation to the Action Alliance on behalf of the women and men of Richmond who wish to see an end to Violence against Women. The Action Alliance is the umbrella organization which coordinates the 70+ shelters and agencies throughout Virginia. They do wonderful, powerful work, exactly what we're trying to help with by putting on One Billion Rising!
Please feel free to share this information with whomever you would like. We intend to be fully transparent with our finances. We would be very grateful if you felt led to give us a donation so we can cover these expenses. Currently we have a private person who has agreed to be the guarantor for the costs of the Coliseum and has agreed to take the loss if the costs aren't covered. We do not want to see that happen. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for your generosity. We hope it will directly help someone end and/or heal the horrors in their lives and they will have YOU to thank.
We need to raise $3159.12 more by Feb 14.
to donate: link to indiegogo: http://www.indiegogo.com/OBR-RVA?c=pledges
to donate: link to Action Alliance's donation page: https://app.etapestry.com/hosted/VirginiaSexualDomestic/OnlineDonation.html
If you would like to volunteer to help with the event, please click here to sign up!
Some of you who are numbers people have asked what exactly we're raising money for as we keep publishing requests for donations! Good question! I thought it might be helpful to answer your questions as thoroughly and accurately as I can so you can know what we're using your generous donations for.
Here's the scoop:
One Billion Rising RVA is a completely grassroots effort. That means that five of us: me, Alba Jaramillo, Janett Forte, Kelsey Bedolli, and Julie Willard, decided to take on creating an event to celebrate women and to bring awareness to the violence being perpetrated against women all over the world. Our desires to end violence against women have turned into this event which is slated to take place Thursday, Feb 14th, from 11-2 at the Richmond Coliseum. We have many, many volunteers in place to help us out and need about 70 more for the day of the event. (Sign up here if you're interested in volunteering.) None of us are being paid to do this work.
They, however, have costs they are unable to waive. I'm not sure it's quite appropriate for me to list them all here, but if you're really interested, you can email me at susansingerart@msn.com, and I will share them with you. They are costs are ones such as personnel to man the Coliseum, police, fire, and EMS to be at the event, cleaning, the stage and sound system, etc. We have agreed to have many volunteers to take over as many of the tasks as possible to keep costs to a bare minimum. The Coliseum has been absolutely fantastic to work with to help us keep costs down. Despite that, the costs come to $6314.12, subject to change if our needs change (we don't expect them to - we hope they won't - unless we suddenly realize we might have 20,000 instead of 10,000, in which case our costs would rise significantly!)
This is the main bulk of what we need to earn. We also are printing buttons to sell at the event. Our wonderful button maker, Jennifer Yane, is bartering with us so we can keep those costs low. That will be $100. We would like to make Tshirts and are working on finding a way to do that without upfront costs. Or we need someone to donate the shirts. If you have a lead on that, please get in touch. I know people are going to want T shirts from the event, and it would be a good way to make some money to help support us, but we don't have funds to put forward to get them! A Catch-22! Frustrating!
We may have expenses related to Ms. Kadeer's visit should she choose to stay overnight. Those are unknown at this time, but would probably run close to $400 for meals, hotel, and transportation costs. The other speakers are local so that isn't an issue.
We have to pay for liability insurance for the Coliseum. There is no choice there. We are researching the policy and expect it to cost $750, hopefully no more.
The total costs are:
$6314.12
100.00
400.00
750.00
$7564.12 at the outside, assuming nothing else comes up.
Our fundraising efforts have been moving in several directions.
1. Indiegogo is a web-based fundraising outfit sort of like Kickstarter. We launched a campaign there to raise $1500, hoping to specifically cover some of the costs of the Coliseum. We didn't put the entire $6314.12 on there because they take a percentage of the gifts - 3% if we reach our goal, 6% if we don't. We didn't want to overreach our goal, and we wanted to create an option where folks could easily donate. I realize it's a bit confusing why the amount there is different than the $7500 we mention elsewhere. I hope this clarifies that! To donate to indiegogo, please use the following link: http://www.indiegogo.com/OBR-RVA?c=pledges Our campaign there is going quite well. We're up to $415 as of today, 1/28. We need $1085 more to meet our goal.
2. Individual fundraising efforts - each of us volunteers has sent out appeals to our dear, beloved, generous friends and families and they have been most kind, donating either through indiegogo or through the Action Alliance Website. If you would like to donate through them, PLEASE be sure to write "One Billion Rising" or the donations will NOT come to this campaign. They're a wonderful organization, so please feel free to donate to them as well if you feel so moved, but please be sure to note OBR or One Billion rising in the comments section if you want to donate to cover the aforementioned expenses. In addition to what has come through indiegogo, we have raised $990 through these efforts. Thank you!
3. Organizational fundraising efforts - we have written letters to various organizations and corporations asking them to support our efforts. Two have responded with $500 donations each, for a total of $1000. Thank you!
As you can see, as of today, we have raised $2405 so far, $4405 if we count the Action Alliance's donation (below). In addition to continuing those efforts, here is what we are continuing to do to raise more funds:
1. Sponsorship efforts - individuals, non-profits, small businesses, or corporations may rent banner space or a booth the day of the event. We are currently working on raising awareness of this possibility so we can raise these funds. If you or anyone you know would like to rent a booth or space to hang a banner, please contact Julie Willard at VirginiasRising@gmail.com.
2. Contributions will be collected the day of the event. We will have many volunteers at the event to ask people to contribute a buck or two (or more) to help pay for the event.
3. Many of the proceeds from the Beyond Barbie events will go to help pay for the Coliseum.
4. Half of the proceeds from Women Rise! (the art show at Crossroads Art Center being held in conjunction with this event) will go towards One Billion Rising.
5. The Action Alliance has generously agreed to donate $2000 towards the event should it be needed. We very much hope that won't be necessary so that they can retain those funds to help victims of violence in the many many ways they already do.
6. Many of the proceeds, after expenses, from the Vagina Monologues will go to One Billion Rising to help cover costs.
Our hope is that we will exceed our fundraising efforts greatly so that we can make a large donation to the Action Alliance on behalf of the women and men of Richmond who wish to see an end to Violence against Women. The Action Alliance is the umbrella organization which coordinates the 70+ shelters and agencies throughout Virginia. They do wonderful, powerful work, exactly what we're trying to help with by putting on One Billion Rising!
Please feel free to share this information with whomever you would like. We intend to be fully transparent with our finances. We would be very grateful if you felt led to give us a donation so we can cover these expenses. Currently we have a private person who has agreed to be the guarantor for the costs of the Coliseum and has agreed to take the loss if the costs aren't covered. We do not want to see that happen. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for your generosity. We hope it will directly help someone end and/or heal the horrors in their lives and they will have YOU to thank.
We need to raise $3159.12 more by Feb 14.
to donate: link to indiegogo: http://www.indiegogo.com/OBR-RVA?c=pledges
to donate: link to Action Alliance's donation page: https://app.etapestry.com/hosted/VirginiaSexualDomestic/OnlineDonation.html
If you would like to volunteer to help with the event, please click here to sign up!
Saturday, July 9, 2011
Donate Profits or Pay the Artists?
Yesterday I wrote about the down side of charity auctions and being an artist. Today I'll address an issue which has come up as I've been working on the performance series, Beyond Barbie.
In doing the work to plan the series, I've been interested to find that people sometimes ask me which non-profit we'll be giving our proceeds to. When I tell them that the profits will be divided among the performers, they are sometimes surprised. I think they feel that a project with this sort of emphasis on women's issues should support women's charities or other good causes.
I can understand their feelings. I also strongly believe that artists should be supported for the work they do. And this project is being put on primarily by artists and performers who are giving of their time and talent to entertain, inform, and engage audience members who will attend. It's an interesting concept to think that we should donate our proceeds to non-profits instead of use that income to support ourselves and our art, much of which is helping change the world in ways non-profits typically do.
Just to bring it into focus personally, in January I chose to quit my well-paying job so that I could pursue my art full time because I have a passion to change how people feel about women's bodies and the way the media portrays us. I don't have anyone paying me for this work. I have to raise my own salary through perseverance and dedication to my ideals. I am spending 25-35 hours/week to put on this series while also preparing for my own huge art show, Not Barbie. I don't have another source of income, so to be able to do this, I need to get compensated. If I don't, I simply can't afford to do it.
A woman wrote me expressing her desire that we should give 50% of our profits after expenses to a [very excellent, well-respected, very deserving] local charity. Here is what I responded to her:
Have you personally had an experience as an artist/creative where you felt your work was undervalued or misunderstood for the contribution it is to society?
In doing the work to plan the series, I've been interested to find that people sometimes ask me which non-profit we'll be giving our proceeds to. When I tell them that the profits will be divided among the performers, they are sometimes surprised. I think they feel that a project with this sort of emphasis on women's issues should support women's charities or other good causes.
I can understand their feelings. I also strongly believe that artists should be supported for the work they do. And this project is being put on primarily by artists and performers who are giving of their time and talent to entertain, inform, and engage audience members who will attend. It's an interesting concept to think that we should donate our proceeds to non-profits instead of use that income to support ourselves and our art, much of which is helping change the world in ways non-profits typically do.
Just to bring it into focus personally, in January I chose to quit my well-paying job so that I could pursue my art full time because I have a passion to change how people feel about women's bodies and the way the media portrays us. I don't have anyone paying me for this work. I have to raise my own salary through perseverance and dedication to my ideals. I am spending 25-35 hours/week to put on this series while also preparing for my own huge art show, Not Barbie. I don't have another source of income, so to be able to do this, I need to get compensated. If I don't, I simply can't afford to do it.
A woman wrote me expressing her desire that we should give 50% of our profits after expenses to a [very excellent, well-respected, very deserving] local charity. Here is what I responded to her:
I can certainly understand your desire to help make a difference to nonprofit agencies in the area. I am aligned with that, for sure. I also believe that artists deserve to get paid for the work they do, and the artists involved in Beyond Barbie are working very hard to make a difference just as folks in non-profits do.
My belief is that artists are a vital part of any civilization. Artists help others become aware of the status quo and what about it needs to change. If you think about any era of civilization, from the ancient to the present, you probably think about the art from that time, because it is the art that shows us what we need to know about the civilization.
Artists rarely get funding from the government or from private foundations. They work behind the scenes, often living close to the edge because their commitment to their art is strong enough that they must do it, regardless of the cost. Artists have a vision and work to realize it. That is really no different than what non-profits do. For example, I want to change how women feel about their bodies - I want advertisers to change how they portray women - I want to help us all accept our differences and give up judgment of others. Those are laudable efforts. I could incorporate into a non-profit, come up with a mission statement, rent an office, hire workers, and work in many ways to get this message across. Instead I am choosing to get my message across through my paintings and through this series. Is that any less effective than what a non-profit would do? or any less worthy of support?
The night of our series on Birth - women will be telling their stories and sharing their joys and heartaches. Those stories, more than anything else I can think of, will effectively help women see that they have a choice in birthing options and that all can be good. It can lead to healing for those women whose births were less than what they wished they would be. Counseling could help them. Support groups could help. And I believe that this night of storytelling and sharing their own experiences will do a world of good, even without a non-profit.
The night on Abuse - we will have professional storytellers (Megan Hicks and Linda Goodman) there who have put their hearts and souls into creating stories about abuse with the intention of helping people understand what abuse is and how it affects people, and to give them hope for healing. Yes, [the charity you're recommending] is fantastic. It is a god-send for women living in abusive situations. I support it wholeheartedly. AND perhaps there will be women who attend our program that evening who will feel called to go to [that charity] because they recognize themselves in the stories we're telling. These stories can directly prompt people to action they might not have know how to take otherwise. We will have lists of resources for them to use, wonderful non-profits and therapists, etc., if they chose to take the next step. My assertion is that the women who have taken the time to process their own lives to the point where they can tell their stories, or the stories of their mothers and grandmothers or friends or lovers, deserve to be honored for their services, and in our society, money is one way of honoring people. They should get support so they can continue to tell their stories so they can continue to make a difference.
I believe each evening we've planned has a similar ability to help people. [...] My heartfelt belief [is] that what we're doing is as important as much of the work that non-profits do. Beyond Barbie isn't a money-making scheme. It's a reaching out to community to offer our stories and our hearts to others to help them understand us and heal themselves. Non-profits are a vital part of our society because there are few other ways for the hurting in our midst to get help and support. My husband has worked in the non-profit sector for years, and I was a teacher for 25 years, so I'm very familiar with them. Right now I am taking direct action to make a difference, AND I am ready to monetarily honor those who help me do it, to the extent the ticket sales make that possible.
Have you personally had an experience as an artist/creative where you felt your work was undervalued or misunderstood for the contribution it is to society?
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