Setting Goals
This is one of the hardest parts of the fundraising process. Set your goal too low, people don't take you seriously. Set it too high, people can't see how their smaller donations can help make a dent in such a large number and choose not to donate.
Start by making a list of the people you think will likely donate. The amount of each donation will range greatly depending on the circle of people you are reaching out to, so next take a brief inventory of your community. Will you be reaching out largely to your family? To college students? Young professionals? Other artists? You want to gear your campaign and your goal to the average donation you think you can get from your community. College students and recent graduates are not going to have a lot of extra money hanging around, so perhaps $10 is a good average donation there. Young professionals and other artists are likely to be more generous, but still have a limit on their spending ability, so $20 might be average. Once you've figured out how much you think you've got in the bag already add a little for unexpected donations and you've got your starting goal.
Now it's time to think about your reach goals. Once you reach your goal (which we hope you will) people will stop donating. (You said you needed $500 and you reached $500, you must not need my money, right?) However, if you set reach goals you can keep those donations coming in for the duration of your campaign. The easiest way to set a reach goal is to revisit that math you did in setting your original goal and compare it to the donations you actually got. Did your donations come from a bunch of people not on the list? That's great! You can recalculate how much you might still expect/hope to get from the folks on your list and set that as your reach goal.
There are no rules about the number of reach goals you can set. There's also nothing wrong with not reaching your goal at all. Everything you do is a tremendous help to Monkeyhouse and we are incredibly grateful for every dollar!
Start by making a list of the people you think will likely donate. The amount of each donation will range greatly depending on the circle of people you are reaching out to, so next take a brief inventory of your community. Will you be reaching out largely to your family? To college students? Young professionals? Other artists? You want to gear your campaign and your goal to the average donation you think you can get from your community. College students and recent graduates are not going to have a lot of extra money hanging around, so perhaps $10 is a good average donation there. Young professionals and other artists are likely to be more generous, but still have a limit on their spending ability, so $20 might be average. Once you've figured out how much you think you've got in the bag already add a little for unexpected donations and you've got your starting goal.
Now it's time to think about your reach goals. Once you reach your goal (which we hope you will) people will stop donating. (You said you needed $500 and you reached $500, you must not need my money, right?) However, if you set reach goals you can keep those donations coming in for the duration of your campaign. The easiest way to set a reach goal is to revisit that math you did in setting your original goal and compare it to the donations you actually got. Did your donations come from a bunch of people not on the list? That's great! You can recalculate how much you might still expect/hope to get from the folks on your list and set that as your reach goal.
There are no rules about the number of reach goals you can set. There's also nothing wrong with not reaching your goal at all. Everything you do is a tremendous help to Monkeyhouse and we are incredibly grateful for every dollar!
Monkeyhouse Programs
Here are images and text about some of our programs. Feel free to use it for your campaign!
Choreography Mentorship Program
The goal of the Choreography Mentorship program is to help emerging choreographers as they transition from an academic dance life to a professional one. They receive studio space for both Musings (a space for improvisation and play to investigate a choreographic idea) and rehearsal; mentoring in choreography, design and all the administrative work involved in producing a new work; the opportunity to set work on a company and a whole lot more.
Money raised for this program will go towards the rental of rehearsal spaces, one of the largest costs of this program outside of personnel; costumes and other design elements; paying dancers; and funding resources such as choreographic and design mentors.
How can you support the Choreographic Mentorship Program besides making a monetary donation? We are always looking for ways to subsidize rehearsal costs. If you have a studio or space suitable for dance rehearsals that you can donate, we would love to talk with you! We would also love to offer additional resources to our choreographers such as video/photography of their work. Do you have an idea of how we could work together? Let us know! We also can always use your support. Tell people about the program. Come see the choreographers as they are showing works in progress or in performance.
Blog posts about the Choreography Mentorship Program:
Introduction
And More...
Money raised for this program will go towards the rental of rehearsal spaces, one of the largest costs of this program outside of personnel; costumes and other design elements; paying dancers; and funding resources such as choreographic and design mentors.
How can you support the Choreographic Mentorship Program besides making a monetary donation? We are always looking for ways to subsidize rehearsal costs. If you have a studio or space suitable for dance rehearsals that you can donate, we would love to talk with you! We would also love to offer additional resources to our choreographers such as video/photography of their work. Do you have an idea of how we could work together? Let us know! We also can always use your support. Tell people about the program. Come see the choreographers as they are showing works in progress or in performance.
Blog posts about the Choreography Mentorship Program:
Introduction
And More...
Musings
Musings are a space for improvisation and play to investigate a choreographic idea. This year we began a series of Musings specifically designed to mentor dancers who hope to transition to choreographers as well as emerging choreographers about choreographic ideas, how to use improvisation as a choreographic tool and to develop collaboration between choreographers and performers.
Money raised for this program will go towards studio rentals and administrative costs. Because we all work lots of jobs we are only able to hold Musings on weekends, the most expensive time for rentals. The more that can be done to subsidize that cost, the more Musings we will be able to hold.
How can you support Musings besides making a monetary donation? We are always looking for ways to subsidise rehearsal costs. If you have a studio or space suitable for dance rehearsals that you can donate, we would love to talk with you!
Blog posts about Musings
Money raised for this program will go towards studio rentals and administrative costs. Because we all work lots of jobs we are only able to hold Musings on weekends, the most expensive time for rentals. The more that can be done to subsidize that cost, the more Musings we will be able to hold.
How can you support Musings besides making a monetary donation? We are always looking for ways to subsidise rehearsal costs. If you have a studio or space suitable for dance rehearsals that you can donate, we would love to talk with you!
Blog posts about Musings
#geochoreography
#geochoreography is a program geared towards choreographing how we interact with our everyday lives. Monkeyhouse provides regular prompts to encourage a more active approach to the world around us. Prompts focus on the use of all your senses (“Document all the blue things you see” “Close your eyes for five minutes. Document everything you hear.” “Describe the taste of a meal in detail”), how you interact with other people (“Make a baby laugh” “Compliment everyone you meet for a day.” “Casually use the words ‘pickle’, ‘cement’ and ‘languid’ in a conversation.”), what you consider art (“What are three pieces of art you have in your home?” “Go to a museum and mimic some aspect of a piece of art” “Draw a map of your childhood home”), and how you can control your daily experiences (“Wear all your favorite articles of clothing in one day. What happens?” “Run errands dressed in formal wear. What changes?” “Say yes to things you would normally say no to. What happens?”). How do you choreograph your day?
Donations to #geochoreography will help fund programs such as Chore-o-dor (a site specific event that studies and documents the way a space is used, then creates opportunities for the community to choreograph how they move through the space) and other collaborative community events. Funding also helps Monkeyhouse provide resources to keep the #geochoreography prompts growing.
How can you support #geochoreography other than making a monetary donation? The easiest way to support #geochoreography is to participate! Find us on social media or search for #geochoreography and engage with the prompts! Send us your documentation to be featured or share the prompts with your community.
More about #geochoreography
Donations to #geochoreography will help fund programs such as Chore-o-dor (a site specific event that studies and documents the way a space is used, then creates opportunities for the community to choreograph how they move through the space) and other collaborative community events. Funding also helps Monkeyhouse provide resources to keep the #geochoreography prompts growing.
How can you support #geochoreography other than making a monetary donation? The easiest way to support #geochoreography is to participate! Find us on social media or search for #geochoreography and engage with the prompts! Send us your documentation to be featured or share the prompts with your community.
More about #geochoreography
New Works
In addition to working with new emerging choreographers, Monkeyhouse has a handful of company choreographers we regularly work with. New works can be set on the company, on students from colleges and universities or within the community.
Money donated to the generation of New Works will go towards paying choreographers and dancers; costumes, music rights and other design elements; rehearsal space and more.
How can you support the generation of New Works other than making a monetary donation? Support a choreographer! Come see their work. Participate in a post show discussion. See a Skort (showing of works in progress) or sit in on a rehearsal! Choreographers want to hear from YOU!
Money donated to the generation of New Works will go towards paying choreographers and dancers; costumes, music rights and other design elements; rehearsal space and more.
How can you support the generation of New Works other than making a monetary donation? Support a choreographer! Come see their work. Participate in a post show discussion. See a Skort (showing of works in progress) or sit in on a rehearsal! Choreographers want to hear from YOU!
