The Big Power of a (Small) Fundraising Concert

About a month ago, while I was packing up my car with sound equipment at the conclusion of a small benefit concert for Walter’s Walk, a counseling and mental health non-profit in North St. Louis County, I had this conversation with myself: 

Self: You just put in about five hours on this event today, as did a number of other people. You booked the acts and helped publicize the event. You and the organization called on friends to perform and work for free. At the end of the night, about 40 people showed up and really enjoyed the show, and you raised about $1,000. That’s a “good night” for this series, which you have been helping run for the past six years. But it’s a drop in the bucket of what this organization (and so many like it) needs. So was it worth it?

Me: Yep. Let’s do it again. Or, in the immortal words of baseball great Ernie Banks, “let’s play two!” 

Whether you’re an executive director, board member, volunteer, or events planner of a non-profit, I understand you may not agree with me on this. You have to make wise decisions about allocating your time, staff and available resources toward fundraising events for your organization, and you may think that this kind of event just doesn’t give you the bang for the buck. You know your organization and its needs far better than I do, so you’re probably right. But allow me to give you a few reasons why I think these kinds of events are impactful, especially for small and relatively young organizations. 

1. They build community. For me, this is the most essential reason. Concerts and similar arts-related events are designed by their very nature to bring people together in the same room, focus them on the same thing (the music at the front of the room) and give them the opportunity to meet new friends, interact with staff and performers, and consider their own impact on the community. For this to work, you need to have a team of welcoming volunteers who understand and appreciate this aspect of the event. Make sure that those who sell tickets at the front door are some of your very best ambassadors, and make sure no one leaves the concert at the end of night a stranger. Learn their names and invite them back. Get their email addresses, of course. Building a nice 20 to 30-minute intermission into the show helps a lot, as does food and drink.  
2. They build your donor base. Generally, we charge only $10 admission for our concerts, which usually feature local songwriters and musicians who perform for free or cheap because they know and want to support the work we’re doing. That’s not a lot of money, but that’s not all we’re after. These events have helped us find larger donors, board members and volunteers, not to mention clients for the services we provide. At that night’s concert, the executive director read a letter from a client who often comes to concerts. He came to Walter’s Walk because he could pay what he could afford and was never made to feel any less of himself because of that. He’s gotten better because of the services he received, and with his letter he enclosed $100 cash, a huge amount of money for him, which he had been saving up for over a year. Is that a lot of money? You know it is. Because it will likely encourage someone else to give much more, because they are able to give much more. It will encourage me and my musician friends to keep doing this. It will encourage new board members and volunteers to join the work. That’s the power of $100 gift and a good story. 
3. They introduce people to what you do. People come for the music, but we make sure they know who we are and what we do. The executive director always speaks for a few minutes before the intermission and gives a brief history, tells the audience about upcoming events, classes and opportunities, and maybe shares a story like the one above. No one is hit over the head or pressured for donations (although they’re encouraged, of course, to buy a raffle ticket or put a little extra in the donation basket). People come (at least for the first time) to hear music, but they leave with a little more information and the knowledge that this organization is here for them or someone they know.
4. They are fun. Please make sure this is true. To quote Maya Angelou, “I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” This doesn’t mean all “happy clappy” songs, of course. Many people feel more alive when they listen to live music, so we give them songs that resonate with their own lives in one way or another. But we make them laugh, too, and sometimes give them a chance to sing along. We allow them to leave feeling better about the world than when they came in. We all need that right now.
5. They are proof that doing something (even small) is much better than doing nothing at all. In truth, we all need to remember that, not just those who lead or volunteer at non-profits. If we want to make the world just a little bit better than we found it, we ought to be getting up out of bed each day and looking around for something to do. The most paralyzing thought we can have is that our effort is too small to matter. When that happens, we do nothing at all. 

In her book, “What I Found in a Thousand Towns: A Traveling Musician’s Guide to Rebuilding America’s Communities — One Coffee Shop, Dog Run, & Open-Mike Night at a Time,” (Basic Books), songwriter and activist Dar Williams reminds us that citizenship is not a spectator sport:  

“When we let our curiosity and interests, and a little trust, lead us outside our doors and onto the village green, we will flourish as citizens and so will our towns. We don’t just feel good today or tomorrow when we become involved; we accumulate a sense of meaning.”

Steve Givens is associate vice chancellor and chief of staff in the Office of the Chancellor at Washington University in St. Louis. As a volunteer, he serves as a trustee of the Aquinas Institute of Theology and the Bridges Foundation, in addition to serving as artistic director of the Songwriter’s Showcase at Walter’s Walk.