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Please describe <br />efforts by your <br />organization to <br />generate revenue. <br />W omen’s Voices Chorus is a mature organization, with the stable <br />leadership, consistent staff and board oversight, long term membership, <br />and loyal fan base which have allowed us for 30 years to cover our annual <br />operations expenses, currently about $50,000, through membership dues, <br />cash donations, sustaining donors, ticket sales, program ad sales, <br />fundraising events, and occasional grants. Choir membership dues are <br />currently $150 per year. W VC dues have not been raised since 2008, <br />reflecting the desire to welcome members of all economic situations; at the <br />same time, many members are generous donors, which has essentially <br />instituted a broad sliding scale. In light of recent years’ shortfalls in <br />membership and concert income, the board is currently considering raising <br />tuition to $175, and reiterating to auditioners and members the availability <br />of (confidential) funds for anyone who needs them. <br />The current Fund Development chair on the W VC Board has a 20-year <br />grant-writing career at UNC, has worked hard to increase individual <br />fundraising and is working to increase the percentage raised from non- <br />members. Individuals’ donations to W VC have averaged $23,340 per year <br />over the past three years. In FY23 we have received about $25K from <br />individual donors. A large portion of the donations come from our 27 <br />sustaining donors (both members and non-members), who donated over <br />$12,000 in FY23. Of the rest, most comes from our annual fall solicitation <br />letter to our mailing list (with a 3-year average of $5700; $7300 in FY23) <br />plus gifts from new donors. <br />In a typical year, we also generate on average $14,000 from concert ticket <br />and program ad sales. These numbers (of course) went down during the <br />pandemic (as did member dues income and number of sustaining donors). <br />Concert income is rebounding, although not back up to historic levels. In <br />FY23, we expect about $12,000 in concert revenue. W e wish to continue <br />providing concert video recordings for free. <br />Traditionally, W VC has not kept all income to itself. Although we have no <br />formal grantmaking activity we regularly hold benefit concerts for local non- <br />profits. Beneficiaries over the years have included the Compass Center for <br />W omen and Families; UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center; <br />CASTLE, the Center for Acquisition of Spoken Language Through Listening <br />Enrichment; Arts for Life; Arthritis Foundation; Interfaith Council Community <br />House; Kids Summer Meals Program of the Food Bank of Central and <br />Eastern North Carolina; and the Augustine Literacy Project. These events <br />are very important to members, as are "run-out" concerts to local elder- <br />care homes and other venues with audiences who may not be able to <br />attend our concerts in person. <br />The DEIA Committee has discussed broadening the range of organizations <br />with whom to partner in this way. One organization mentioned has been <br />Arise Collective (formerly the Interfaith Prison Ministry for W omen), an <br />organization that provides comprehensive wraparound support for formerly <br />incarcerated women. Arise Collective is led by a former W VC member, and <br />we would like to consider a fundraising concert for or with the women in the <br />program. This would not generate revenue but could expand our regional <br />impact. <br />DocuSign Envelope ID: 56ECA0F1-08AA-4A90-B1A0-B9B7C934B889