There’s a problem that faces all non-profits at some point: how to replace crucial equipment while maintaining your current commitments. In the case of AJoy, we had inherited risers from our previous incarnation as Lakeside Chorus but these risers were almost 50 years old and not up to the modern choreography AJoy was performing. They creaked louder than our knees and never quite seemed to squeak in the right key. New risers would cost about $18,000 or almost half of AJoy’s yearly budget!
What’s a small chorus of 45 members to do?
In our case, we decided to take a cue from the local BHS choruses. Many of the men’s choruses receive grants from various civic organizations so AJoy delved into the complexities of grant applications. If you’ve never had the privilege of writing one, imagine turning your tax return into a college application essay: you are trying to turn the numbers of your organization into an attractive package that the grantor thinks is worthy of their monies and time. We had two individuals who really dove into the possibilities and ended up with a $2500 grant from 4Culture.
This was an amazing start but that still left over $15,000 to fundraise. We’d known we would need to replace the risers so we’d been saving money each year but we were still $10,000 short. We decided to follow the AJoy motto of “Yes, and ?” and took our needs to the chorus. Our treasurer created a thermometer to show the members that we had a good start but not nearly enough to buy the risers. She also created a piggy bank with pictures of the chorus and a picture of a cute cat just for good measure for member’s loose change.
We limited the fundraising to just six weeks with the intention that we’d evaluate how we’d raise the rest of the money. Each week, we’d reveal the thermometer to show how much we’d fundraised so far. The thermometer started off very bland and boring but each week, glitter, gems and other decorations were added by our non-crafty treasurer. Half the fun of the chorus was watching the results of her attempts to be creative! She swears she will never use glitter glue again and still has glitter in the carpet 
in her kitchen but it was all worthwhile.
Each week, our members put checks in the riser fund envelope and put all their spare change into the piggy bank. The very first week, the chorus brought in $600 and 3 chorus members pledged $500 each. The next week brought in $1250. One week brought in $115 in change from those bowls of change we all seem to accumulate! Each week was just an amazing commitment to the future of AJoy.
Almost every member of AJoy contributed something to the fund and even some past members donated. The end result was that this chorus of amazing, talented, and committed women raised about $18,000 including the 4Culture grant and all the matching funds from their companies. The generosity of Microsoft, Boeing, Google, and the Gates Foundation contributed almost a third of the monies raised, and we really couldn’t have done this without them.
We said good-bye to the workhorse, Lakeside risers in January.
The new risers arrived in pieces and were assembled at a January 15 work party.
