Working the Corporate Buck (for PSI)
by Heather Knowles Cottington
Des Moines, Iowa Slammaster
Fundraising is a task, a chore, a bore, on the top of many of our mental lists. How are we going to raise money for our monthly slam? How do we respond to the need for more money for PSI itself, so we can continue to support this art form we love; continue to play the game with our friends on a national level? I would like to share a couple of my own monetary stories with everyone out there, and hopefully you can also benefit.
Once I started my slam in Des Moines, I decided a few things in regards to money. We operate on a zero budget. Our show is free to attend, free to slam, and also we never compete for money. I want to keep Marc's original emphasis in place. It really is about the poetry in Des Moines. You will not walk away with cash if you win: only a box of Hot Tamales if you are lucky. Our feature performers are paid by passing the hat and by giving them the opportunity to sell any merchandise they bring. This is the only area I wish I had a budget for-features definitely deserve more than they usually get. We are lucky (so I hear) to have a great venue that does not charge us. In fact, they welcome us with open arms: probably because we have taken their slowest night of the month and made it their most profitable regular feature. Our venue owner gives us free drinks for the judges and 3 finalists every month, occasional prizes like pounds of coffee, and even the meal for the feature. It's a great set-up.
I spent several years working in the world of books (as many of us do while our English degrees gather dust). Not the "being picked up by a major publisher" world of books, but the "do you have the one about the girl and her dog, and it's about this big, and it was a best seller? Oh, and I think the cover was green-ish". From this experience I knew some of the opportunities our friends at Barnes & Noble have to offer. I sat down with my buddy Molly, who happens to be the Community Relations Coordinator at our local B&N. I originally asked her to help us by donating some books or gift cards for prizes. She instead suggested that we do a bookfair.
Bookfairs are fund-raisers for non-profit (only) organizations, and are more of an event. Not only do we raise money, but we also promote community awareness of our show. We set up the date and time (weekends are obviously the best) and I put my people (friends, regular poets, family members) into place. B&N did the in-store advertising (posters, newsletter, and she always sends her info to the local papers), and we showed up for 2-3 hours, handed out vouchers to customers as they walked in the door, spent some time performing and talking about our slam on their make-shift stage, and had a grand old time. The way it works: you hand vouchers out to everyone you can as they walk in the door, and explain that you are doing a fund-raiser for the (insert city/team name here) Poetry Slam. The customers hand those vouchers to the cashier as they check out, and we get a certain percent of sales (10% I think) during that time frame. It does not cost the customer a dime, but it benefits us. Most folks are more than happy to do it, plus it gives you an opportunity to perform, spread the word, and talk to a zillion people you may have never reached before.
When it's all said and done, B&N cuts the check to PSI and then your local slam gets to take advantage of the Grant Back program. PSI takes 10% for its purposes, and the rest makes its way into your Grant Back account. For Des Moines, I think our dollar amount ended up being over $700 for those few hours. I have since used that money to pay for venue certification (2 years), my PSI membership (2 years), our registration to Nationals last year in Minneapolis, and several PSI memberships here that we awarded as prizes during the recent membership drive.
The most recent opportunity I had to take advantage of corporate giving opportunities is a Volunteer Grant Program offered through my work. My company matches the hours that employees, retirees, board members or spouses volunteer for nonprofit organizations with financial grants to those organizations. I simply paid attention to my employee handbook and saw that it not only had a matching gift program (where it matches whatever I donate monetarily to a non-profit cause), but also this program. This grant program puts a dollar amount on the time I spend volunteering for PSI. I figured myself at five hours per month (probably low!), times 12 months of the year (60 hours) and filled out a one-page form with PSI's information. I had to send it to Steve Marsh to be certified and signed, and he simply returned it to our corporate benefits office. He had a check in his hand (around $500 I heard!) for PSI within the month.
I didn't expect to have that money to use in my Grant-Back account. I was just filling it out because I knew PSI's need for funds, and I certainly was going to take advantage of being compensated for my time donated to our fine organization. If they're going to give it, I'm going to take it (for PSI). Steve put 10% of it into Des MoinesGÃÃ Grant Back account, so that will help defray next year's registration/certification costs. In the future, should I be able to make a monetary donation on my own to PSI, I will certainly fill out the matching funds form and turn it in as well. That way my gift of, say, $50.00, can turn into $100.00, with minimal effort.
I encourage everyone who cares about Poetry Slam, Inc. to be resourceful in their possibilities for donations. Many companies in the corporate world are generous with their benefits, and we should let them give to our cause. Like I said, it probably took me less than five minutes to fill out that form and pop it in the mail to the PSI headquarters, and now they are $500.00 better off for it. I didn't invent this form of giving, but I am taking full advantage of it. My heart truly lies in writing poetry, creating art and helping people enjoy and appreciate it. My finances (3 kids, a mortgage and car payment) dictate otherwise. At least this way I feel better about getting up at six every morning, putting on my khakis and heading out into rush hour traffic.
Des Moines, Iowa Slammaster
Fundraising is a task, a chore, a bore, on the top of many of our mental lists. How are we going to raise money for our monthly slam? How do we respond to the need for more money for PSI itself, so we can continue to support this art form we love; continue to play the game with our friends on a national level? I would like to share a couple of my own monetary stories with everyone out there, and hopefully you can also benefit.
Once I started my slam in Des Moines, I decided a few things in regards to money. We operate on a zero budget. Our show is free to attend, free to slam, and also we never compete for money. I want to keep Marc's original emphasis in place. It really is about the poetry in Des Moines. You will not walk away with cash if you win: only a box of Hot Tamales if you are lucky. Our feature performers are paid by passing the hat and by giving them the opportunity to sell any merchandise they bring. This is the only area I wish I had a budget for-features definitely deserve more than they usually get. We are lucky (so I hear) to have a great venue that does not charge us. In fact, they welcome us with open arms: probably because we have taken their slowest night of the month and made it their most profitable regular feature. Our venue owner gives us free drinks for the judges and 3 finalists every month, occasional prizes like pounds of coffee, and even the meal for the feature. It's a great set-up.
I spent several years working in the world of books (as many of us do while our English degrees gather dust). Not the "being picked up by a major publisher" world of books, but the "do you have the one about the girl and her dog, and it's about this big, and it was a best seller? Oh, and I think the cover was green-ish". From this experience I knew some of the opportunities our friends at Barnes & Noble have to offer. I sat down with my buddy Molly, who happens to be the Community Relations Coordinator at our local B&N. I originally asked her to help us by donating some books or gift cards for prizes. She instead suggested that we do a bookfair.
Bookfairs are fund-raisers for non-profit (only) organizations, and are more of an event. Not only do we raise money, but we also promote community awareness of our show. We set up the date and time (weekends are obviously the best) and I put my people (friends, regular poets, family members) into place. B&N did the in-store advertising (posters, newsletter, and she always sends her info to the local papers), and we showed up for 2-3 hours, handed out vouchers to customers as they walked in the door, spent some time performing and talking about our slam on their make-shift stage, and had a grand old time. The way it works: you hand vouchers out to everyone you can as they walk in the door, and explain that you are doing a fund-raiser for the (insert city/team name here) Poetry Slam. The customers hand those vouchers to the cashier as they check out, and we get a certain percent of sales (10% I think) during that time frame. It does not cost the customer a dime, but it benefits us. Most folks are more than happy to do it, plus it gives you an opportunity to perform, spread the word, and talk to a zillion people you may have never reached before.
When it's all said and done, B&N cuts the check to PSI and then your local slam gets to take advantage of the Grant Back program. PSI takes 10% for its purposes, and the rest makes its way into your Grant Back account. For Des Moines, I think our dollar amount ended up being over $700 for those few hours. I have since used that money to pay for venue certification (2 years), my PSI membership (2 years), our registration to Nationals last year in Minneapolis, and several PSI memberships here that we awarded as prizes during the recent membership drive.
The most recent opportunity I had to take advantage of corporate giving opportunities is a Volunteer Grant Program offered through my work. My company matches the hours that employees, retirees, board members or spouses volunteer for nonprofit organizations with financial grants to those organizations. I simply paid attention to my employee handbook and saw that it not only had a matching gift program (where it matches whatever I donate monetarily to a non-profit cause), but also this program. This grant program puts a dollar amount on the time I spend volunteering for PSI. I figured myself at five hours per month (probably low!), times 12 months of the year (60 hours) and filled out a one-page form with PSI's information. I had to send it to Steve Marsh to be certified and signed, and he simply returned it to our corporate benefits office. He had a check in his hand (around $500 I heard!) for PSI within the month.
I didn't expect to have that money to use in my Grant-Back account. I was just filling it out because I knew PSI's need for funds, and I certainly was going to take advantage of being compensated for my time donated to our fine organization. If they're going to give it, I'm going to take it (for PSI). Steve put 10% of it into Des MoinesGÃÃ Grant Back account, so that will help defray next year's registration/certification costs. In the future, should I be able to make a monetary donation on my own to PSI, I will certainly fill out the matching funds form and turn it in as well. That way my gift of, say, $50.00, can turn into $100.00, with minimal effort.
I encourage everyone who cares about Poetry Slam, Inc. to be resourceful in their possibilities for donations. Many companies in the corporate world are generous with their benefits, and we should let them give to our cause. Like I said, it probably took me less than five minutes to fill out that form and pop it in the mail to the PSI headquarters, and now they are $500.00 better off for it. I didn't invent this form of giving, but I am taking full advantage of it. My heart truly lies in writing poetry, creating art and helping people enjoy and appreciate it. My finances (3 kids, a mortgage and car payment) dictate otherwise. At least this way I feel better about getting up at six every morning, putting on my khakis and heading out into rush hour traffic.
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