Hey all,
Sorry I didn't get this out sooner, I have a whole lot going on at work
this week/month.
I've updated the email (below) with y'all's comments. A couple points:
-I like Jessica's idea of a follow up email reminding people of all the
ways they can help. And if I do that, then I'm fine shortening the
announcement at break to essentially "hey, I sent a thing, read your
email". Kayln also had the idea of having a hard copy of the email at
rehearsal too in case people aren't on the email list, so I'll try to bring
that to rehearsal tomorrow (and if there are any people not on the email
list, I'll tell them how to sign up)
-For the grant $$ numbers, I've updated based on Mike's input. I thought
there were two relief grants we got, one from the BBB for the 20k and
another from the city for less.... but I'm too lazy to look that up right
now, so I just simplified what I said a little bit to include all relief $$.
If everything looks good, I'll try to send this out either at lunchtime or
early this evening, and then announce at break tomorrow night.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hi band,
In an effort to be more transparent, below is a summary of where we
received and spent money for our 2021-2022 financial year. As a reminder,
due to the pandemic, we only played Spring and Independence day concerts
during that year - our expenses for this current year will be higher.
A couple of things to note about the numbers:
1. We operated at a $4,000 deficit last year. Obviously, to be
sustainable, we need to break even each year.
2. The City of Austin is restructuring its arts grant program starting
this year. In the (pre-pandemic) past, we were receiving ~$13k in grant
money from the city each year. During the pandemic, the grants were very
limited the first year, and no grants were given out the second year.
Thankfully, we were able to apply for and receive some pandemic Arts and
Cultural Relief grants, which brought in over 20k in the past 2 years.
With the restructuring of the grant program this year, we are expecting to
get much less, if any, grant money from the city.
*This essentially means we need to find ways to either reduce our spending
or start bringing in an additional $10k each year.*
*So... what are some things you can do to help?*
1. If you're not already, please support ACWE through Amazon Smile.
Every time you purchase something from Amazon using the
smile.amazon.com site instead of amazon.com, Amazon will donate a small
percentage of your purchase amount to the charity you specify. Start using
Amazon Smile to support ACWE here: https://smile.amazon.com/ch/74-1844898
2. Check with your employer to see if they do any kind of corporate
donations or matching that could benefit ACWE. In the past, some companies
have given donations to organizations where employees donated their time
(aka came to rehearsal)
3. Spread the word about ACWE and our concert dates to your friends,
family, coworkers, neighbors, general acquaintances, and even strangers!
Having more people attend our concerts brings more community awareness to
our group.
4. If you or any of those friends, family, etc that you know are willing,
please consider making a financial donation to ACWE. We are a registered
501(c)(3) nonprofit organization and all donations are tax-deductible.
5. Let me (Melissa) or anyone on the board know if you have any ideas for
fundraising.
If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to me either via email (
acwetreasurer@xxxxxxxxx) or in person at rehearsal.
Thanks!
Melissa Kunkel
ACWE Treasurer
ACWE Financial Statement
9/1/2021 - 8/31/2022
Income
Grants $5,965.15
Concert Donations $1,335.81
General Donations $796.84
Member Dues '21-'22 $2,669.81
Member Dues '22-'23 $306.25
Misc. Income $109.00
Total Income $11,182.86
Expenses
Concert Space Rental ($2,371.95)
Rehearsal Space Rental ($800.00)
Storage Unit Rental ($2,436.64)
Music Purchase/Copies ($1,859.97)
ACWE Shirts ($826.25)
Other ACWE materials ($1,313.31)
Staff ($700.00)
Social Events ($161.69)
Insurance ($3,414.00)
TCMF ($1,571.24)
Misc. Expenses ($3.51)
Total Expenses ($15,458.56)
Net ($4,275.70)
Checking account as of 8/31/2021 $37,829.87
Checking account as of 8/31/2022 $31,824.92
Paypal account as of 8/31/2022 $306.25
Cash reserves on 8/31/2022 $1,423.00
Total Monetary Assets $33,554.17
On Mon, Nov 7, 2022 at 9:13 PM Jessica Johnson <jessica.a.johnson@xxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
Nice work, Melissa! I think including the info about AmazonSmile,
corporate matching, and tax-deductible donations in a second email (sent a
day or two after the financial report, maybe) as a follow-up would be a
good idea.
Jessica
On Nov 7, 2022, 8:36 PM -0600, Warren Gill <mymaestro@xxxxxxxxx>, wrote:
Wow, excellent work!
Personally, I think you can shorten the announcements to, "I sent you all
an e-mail to discuss our finances. Please read it, and ask me any questions
you have... and by the way, pay your dues by check or PayPal."
Any more than that, people are already checked out and headed for the door
(or their virtual door, the cell phone).
- correct/add numbers per Mike Bell's response
- probably should say "the pandemic" rather than covid
Peace,
W
On Mon, Nov 7, 2022 at 5:13 PM Melissa Kunkel <mkunkel725@xxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
Hi board,
Here's a draft of the email I'd like to send to the band about our
finances last year. Let me know if there are any changes you'd like me to
make or anything you think I should add. I put the numbers at the end of
the email (since it's just the summary, it felt weird only putting that in
a google doc) to make sure people actually read the words. It's not a
short email, so please let me know if you have any ideas on how to
encourage people to actually read it, haha.
Once I send this out, it would be nice to announce the basics of the
email during rehearsal break. I know we're trying to keep breaks short
before performing at Zilker, but essentially I'd like to say:
a) read the email
b) City grants will be limited/nonexistant this year, so we need $$
c) start using Amazon Smile and check with your employer if they do any
kind of corporate matching/donations
d) let the board or Melissa know if you have any other ideas for
fundraising or saving $$
e) talk to Melissa if you have any questions
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hi band,
In an effort to be more transparent, below is a summary of where we
received and spent money for our 2021-2022 financial year. As a reminder,
due to covid, we only played Spring and Independence day concerts during
that year.
A couple of things to note about the numbers:
1. We operated at a $4,000 deficit last year. Obviously, to be
sustainable, we need to break even each year.
2. The City of Austin is restructuring its arts grant program starting
this year. In the (pre-pandemic) past, we were receiving ~$10k in grant
money from the city each year. That grant program was very limited last
year (we got $600) since it is funded by hotel taxes and hotels weren't
making much money then, but we were able to apply for and receive an Arts
Community Relief Grant from the city for $5.3k, in addition to the normal
arts grant.
With the restructuring of the grant program this year, we are expecting
to get much less, if any, grant money from the city.
*This essentially means we need to find ways to either reduce our
spending or start bringing in an additional $10k each year.*
*So... what are some things you can do to help?*
1. If you're not already, please support ACWE through Amazon Smile
Every time you purchase something from Amazon using the
smile.amazon.com site instead of amazon.com, Amazon will donate a small
percentage of your purchase amount to the charity you specify. Start using
Amazon Smile to support ACWE here: https://smile.amazon.com/ch/74-1844898
2. Check with your employer to see if they do any kind of corporate
donations or matching that could benefit ACWE. In the past, some companies
have given donations to organizations where employees donated their time
(aka came to rehearsal)
3. Let me (Melissa) or anyone on the board know if you have any ideas
for fundraising.
If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to me either via email (
acwetreasurer@xxxxxxxxx) or in person at rehearsal.
Thanks!
Melissa Kunkel
ACWE Treasurer
ACWE Financial Statement
9/1/2021 - 8/31/2022
Income
Grants $5,965.15
Concert Donations $1,335.81
General Donations $796.84
Member Dues '21-'22 $2,669.81
Member Dues '22-'23 $306.25
Misc. Income $109.00
Total Income $11,182.86
Expenses
Concert Space Rental ($2,371.95)
Rehearsal Space Rental ($800.00)
Storage Unit Rental ($2,436.64)
Music Purchase/Copies ($1,859.97)
ACWE Shirts ($826.25)
Other ACWE materials ($1,313.31)
Staff ($700.00)
Social Events ($161.69)
Insurance ($3,414.00)
TCMF ($1,571.24)
Misc. Expenses ($3.51)
Total Expenses ($15,458.56)
Net ($4,275.70)
Checking account as of 8/31/2021 $37,829.87
Checking account as of 8/31/2022 $31,824.92
Paypal account as of 8/31/2022 $306.25
Cash reserves on 8/31/2022 $1,423.00
Total Monetary Assets $33,554.17