Latest / Making The Impact - A Dance Competition Podcast / Fundraising For Competitive Dance

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Fundraising For Competitive Dance · Making The Impact - A Dance Competition Podcast

0:07
SPEAKER_04: Have you ever wondered what goes on behind the table at a dance competition?
0:10
SPEAKER_04: Exactly what are the judges looking for anyway?
0:13
SPEAKER_04: This is Making the Impact, a dance competition podcast.
0:15
SPEAKER_04: Each week we'll cover a different topic related to the world of competitive dance from the perspective of the judges behind the table.
0:26
SPEAKER_04: We all know by now that dance is an expensive activity.
0:29
SPEAKER_04: From costumes to tuition to competition fees, it all adds up.
0:33
SPEAKER_04: Today on Making the Impact, we're looking at the many ways studios and families can fundraise to support their dancers and offset some of the costs that come with pursuing competitive dance.
0:44
SPEAKER_02: Hello, Dance World, and happy Thanksgiving from Making the Impact.
0:48
SPEAKER_02: I'm your host, Courtney Ortiz, and I'm here with my co-host, Leslie Mueller.
0:52
SPEAKER_04: Happy Thanksgiving, Court, and Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.
0:56
SPEAKER_04: Courtney, what are you thankful for this year?
0:58
SPEAKER_02: I'm thankful for getting my body back to being healthier and taking the time to do that and having the time to do that.
1:09
SPEAKER_02: I'm trying to focus on my injuries that I've accumulated through the years and focusing on taking time to make my health better.
1:20
SPEAKER_02: So I'm very thankful for the resources and the access to the healthcare that I have in New York City to do that and my physical therapist at the moment.
1:28
SPEAKER_04: Good for you.
1:29
SPEAKER_04: Yes.
1:29
SPEAKER_04: I'm so happy you are in PT and hopefully, you know, just gonna feel better and learn more about how you can move better.
1:38
SPEAKER_04: Because as we age, you know, you have to do things differently.
1:40
SPEAKER_04: You have to, I can't get out of bed the same way I used to.
1:43
SPEAKER_04: I can't put my feet on the floor the same way I used to.
1:45
SPEAKER_04: So just learning more about your body.
1:47
SPEAKER_04: And like you said, the resources we have here in the Tri-State area are just I'm so I'm super grateful for that as well.
1:53
SPEAKER_04: Okay.
1:54
SPEAKER_04: What are you thankful for, Leslie?
1:56
SPEAKER_04: I'm thankful that I'm married and that the wedding went so well that you were there and you documented all of it.
2:06
SPEAKER_04: I was like the the secret videographer of the wedding.
2:10
SPEAKER_04: Yes, I didn't even have to hire anybody.
2:11
SPEAKER_04: Courtney just did it for me for free.
2:14
SPEAKER_04: Yes, the wedding was beautiful.
2:15
SPEAKER_04: I don't know that we've recorded an episode talking about the wedding yet.
2:19
SPEAKER_04: We haven't.
2:20
SPEAKER_02: This is your first recording back as a married woman.
2:23
SPEAKER_04: It is.
2:24
SPEAKER_04: I'm Leslie Singe now.
2:26
SPEAKER_04: I will probably be Leslie Mueller professionally, but on paper, I'm Leslie Singe.
2:30
SPEAKER_02: Are you?
2:31
SPEAKER_02: So there's Mueller's gone per like legally.
2:34
SPEAKER_04: Leslie Leslie Mueller Singe is will be what it is.
2:37
SPEAKER_04: Okay.
2:37
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
2:38
SPEAKER_02: Okay.
2:38
SPEAKER_04: But I'm not gonna like I'm not changing my email address.
2:41
SPEAKER_04: My Instagram will be the same.
2:42
SPEAKER_04: Like I've been Leslie Mueller for 40 years.
2:44
SPEAKER_04: So legal people will know me as my new name.
2:47
SPEAKER_02: But do you have to get a new like ID and passport?
2:49
SPEAKER_04: Uh to get new everything and I haven't started well, maybe as of this release date, I will have started that, but as of this recording, I have not started that.
2:56
SPEAKER_04: And I'm exhausted just thinking about it.
2:58
SPEAKER_02: Oh my gosh.
2:59
SPEAKER_02: But everybody out there, if you were following along, all of our fans who have been listening to Leslie and I chat your ear off for seven seasons on the podcast.
3:09
SPEAKER_02: And many of you had been following along on the wedding festivities and journey.
3:14
SPEAKER_02: It was a beautiful day in Savannah, Georgia.
3:18
SPEAKER_02: The weather was absolutely perfect, the venue was so pretty, and Leslie looked gorgeous as a bride.
3:25
SPEAKER_02: And we had the best time.
3:28
SPEAKER_02: The food was amazing, the company was amazing.
3:31
SPEAKER_02: There were so many making the impact guests that were at in attendance at the wedding.
3:37
SPEAKER_04: So many dancers, so much dancing.
3:39
SPEAKER_04: And I have to say, choreographer Chloe Robert, Dr.
3:42
SPEAKER_04: Chloe Roberts, IDA judge, choreographed our wedding dance and was very proud of my husband Matt, who is not a dancer.
3:50
SPEAKER_04: But we had seven rehearsals, we learned a Roomba, and he nailed it.
3:55
SPEAKER_04: And she like could not get over how well he did.
3:57
SPEAKER_04: And I couldn't either.
3:58
SPEAKER_04: It was amazing.
3:59
SPEAKER_02: He did so good.
4:00
SPEAKER_02: Like, didn't he?
4:01
SPEAKER_02: Yes.
4:02
SPEAKER_02: I mean, the lifts were great, effortless, knew how to transition you down.
4:07
SPEAKER_02: I feel like you were more nervous than Matt was, honestly.
4:10
SPEAKER_02: You're stressed about your dress.
4:12
SPEAKER_04: I was str my dress was very heavy, y'all.
4:14
SPEAKER_04: Uh, you have to make sure you have a dress rehearsal.
4:16
SPEAKER_04: And we had a dress rehearsal and a tech rehearsal.
4:19
SPEAKER_04: Literally.
4:19
SPEAKER_04: Yes.
4:20
SPEAKER_04: And everybody works together to bustle that dress so that we could rehearse.
4:24
SPEAKER_04: Because yeah, it was probably a good that dress was probably a good seven or eight pounds.
4:28
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
4:28
SPEAKER_04: So like you add that onto a human being, like that's a lot.
4:31
SPEAKER_04: It is.
4:32
SPEAKER_04: Trying to do chenas.
4:33
SPEAKER_04: Right, trying to do chênes and this dress keeps going.
4:36
SPEAKER_04: So yes, always have a dress rehearsal and a tech rehearsal before your wedding.
4:39
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, but it was great.
4:40
SPEAKER_04: And I have a beautiful, you can see the dance on my Instagram.
4:44
SPEAKER_04: It is there.
4:45
SPEAKER_04: And again, also shout out to Squirrel Trench Auto Morris Party, who edited that song.
4:50
SPEAKER_04: Just using all the IDA contacts.
4:52
SPEAKER_02: Yes, we are.
4:53
SPEAKER_02: And we love it.
4:54
SPEAKER_02: So congratulations on an amazing wedding.
4:58
SPEAKER_02: I hope it was everything you dreamed of.
4:59
SPEAKER_02: And I was so happy to be there by your side.
5:02
SPEAKER_04: It was it was great.
5:03
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, so highly recommend getting married.
5:05
SPEAKER_04: Yay!
5:06
SPEAKER_02: Thankful for love, everyone.
5:08
SPEAKER_02: We're thankful for love.
5:10
SPEAKER_02: Well, over here in Thanksgiving Land and Podcast World, we are thankful for fundraisers today on making the impact because dance is expensive, but we have some guests who know a thing or two about how to fundraise and make that dance experience a little less expensive.
5:30
SPEAKER_02: So we can't wait to learn from them on this chat.
5:33
SPEAKER_02: But before we do, let's hear from our sponsors.
5:38
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5:43
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5:49
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5:52
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6:03
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6:11
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6:15
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6:19
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6:27
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6:33
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6:41
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6:48
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6:58
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7:11
SPEAKER_02: All right, dance world, we are here and we are back with our next Making the Impact episode over here, and we're talking today all about something that I can't speak on at all.
7:22
SPEAKER_02: And that is fundraising for dance.
7:24
SPEAKER_02: Now, you're probably wondering why can't you speak on that, Courtney?
7:27
SPEAKER_02: Well, I'm not a dance mom and I'm a dance teacher, but I'm not teaching regularly in the studios.
7:34
SPEAKER_02: But I will have to say that as someone who is heavily immersed in the competitive dance scene, as a teacher, as a judge, as a convention teacher, this hobby for many is not cheap.
7:45
SPEAKER_02: So we as parents that are here joining us today, the parents who are here today joining us on the podcast have discovered ways to help fundraise for their studios and other dance parents to make this hobby or sport or act or extracurricular activity that their kids are doing a little bit more affordable for all because those competition fees just keep going up.
8:08
SPEAKER_02: And so do the costume expenses and so does your tuition.
8:11
SPEAKER_02: So dance is a very expensive sport and hobby.
8:16
SPEAKER_02: But I'm so excited to learn from these guests who are also making the impact die hard fans, who we casted from our Facebook group.
8:25
SPEAKER_02: So I can't wait to meet them, get to know them, and learn from them about fundraising today.
8:30
SPEAKER_02: The very first guest that I'm excited to welcome actually recommended this topic.
8:35
SPEAKER_02: So we always poll our fans and say, if you have a topic that you're dying to hear on making the impact, let us know.
8:40
SPEAKER_02: Shoot us a message, email us.
8:42
SPEAKER_02: And fundraising for dance was the topic of choice from her.
8:47
SPEAKER_02: So I'm thrilled that she was available for our recording time and date.
8:51
SPEAKER_02: And she is coming to us from Pennsylvania.
8:54
SPEAKER_02: She is a dance mom, and I can't wait to learn more.
8:59
SPEAKER_02: And I'm excited to welcome Christine Brochus to the pod.
9:03
SPEAKER_02: Welcome, Christine.
9:04
SPEAKER_00: Hello, thank you for having me.
9:06
SPEAKER_00: I'm very excited to be here.
9:07
SPEAKER_00: I love listening to the podcast.
9:09
SPEAKER_00: Me and my daughter in the car on the way to dance listen to the podcast all of the time.
9:15
SPEAKER_00: And the tips and hearing just from you guys is great and we love it.
9:19
SPEAKER_00: I am a dance parent.
9:21
SPEAKER_00: As you mentioned, my daughter's been dancing for six years.
9:25
SPEAKER_00: I started as a cheer coach and did a lot of fundraising and stuff and started a cheer organization there.
9:31
SPEAKER_00: And now at our current studio, I have been the acro teacher for the last five years as well.
9:37
SPEAKER_00: So I love fundraising and it's a lot of what I do there at the studio.
9:43
SPEAKER_00: So it's exciting to be here.
9:45
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
9:46
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, we can't wait to learn more.
9:48
SPEAKER_04: And when you when you kind of pitched yourself, we were like, oh yeah, she's she's the one.
9:52
SPEAKER_02: Yes.
9:53
SPEAKER_02: Yes, because there's a lot of logistics, it sounds like, when it goes into how to properly fundraise.
9:59
SPEAKER_02: So I am um excited to hear about your experience behind that.
10:03
SPEAKER_02: And also, just cure out of curiosity, so you came from the cheer world.
10:08
SPEAKER_02: Did you plan to become an acro teacher?
10:11
SPEAKER_02: Or no?
10:12
SPEAKER_00: It just happened.
10:14
SPEAKER_00: No, it happened.
10:15
SPEAKER_00: Um, there are a lot of differences, and I've learned a lot in that transition.
10:20
SPEAKER_00: Cheer, you're doing stuff on a mat and sneakers, and you have to learn the safety aspect of doing things on a hard floor.
10:27
SPEAKER_00: So there's additional steps of getting a skill in cheer than there is in dance, right?
10:32
SPEAKER_00: You can go nail it on a spring floor, but are you landing it correctly?
10:37
SPEAKER_00: Like it's one thing I stress, toe ball heel, right?
10:40
SPEAKER_00: Landing them correctly so that you can have the correct landing on a hard floor.
10:45
SPEAKER_00: So there is a lot of differences, and then a lot more of the flexibility aspect, you know, it comes into play too, which sometimes I try to stay away from more so at the studio because it isn't my expertise because I am more tumbling.
11:00
SPEAKER_00: So um I do have support there as the acro teacher in those types of skills at the studio.
11:06
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, tumbling.
11:08
SPEAKER_02: That's what we had at my studio when I was growing up.
11:10
SPEAKER_02: It was not called acro, it was called a tumbling class.
11:14
SPEAKER_02: Exactly.
11:14
SPEAKER_02: You know, and now I think that it's kind of blended into acro dance, which involves flexibility and contortion and hypermobility and all those extra elements.
11:24
SPEAKER_02: You're not just learning how to flip anymore, you're learning how to do all these other things.
11:27
SPEAKER_02: So yeah, a whole new world.
11:29
SPEAKER_02: But that's awesome.
11:30
SPEAKER_02: And I know that acroteachers are very much in demand at a lot of studios.
11:33
SPEAKER_02: So I'm glad that you could fill that void at your studio and for your dancer.
11:36
SPEAKER_02: And glad that you're here to join us today.
11:39
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
11:40
SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
11:40
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for having me.
11:41
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
11:42
SPEAKER_02: All right.
11:42
SPEAKER_02: Our next special guest is another dance parent and dance teacher and making the impact fan.
11:48
SPEAKER_02: They are joining us from Kansas.
11:50
SPEAKER_02: And I'm excited to welcome to the pod, Megan Woods.
11:54
SPEAKER_02: Welcome.
11:56
SPEAKER_02: Excited.
11:56
SPEAKER_02: Yes.
11:57
SPEAKER_02: So thrilled to have you here and can't wait to learn from you.
12:00
SPEAKER_02: Thank you for reaching out and pitching yourself for this episode.
12:03
SPEAKER_01: Of course.
12:04
SPEAKER_01: I told um my daughter when you had a message that uh I would be on the show.
12:08
SPEAKER_01: I told my daughter, and she's like, Really?
12:10
SPEAKER_01: And I was like, Yeah.
12:11
SPEAKER_01: So she I think she's just excited to hear um how this goes.
12:15
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
12:15
SPEAKER_02: It is, I mean, it just makes me so happy to know that there are dancers listening with their parents.
12:21
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
12:22
SPEAKER_02: Because I think that like Leslie, like, tell me if you feel the same.
12:25
SPEAKER_02: But when we started this podcast, like I was kind of hoping that dancers would listen.
12:29
SPEAKER_02: Like that was the goal for me.
12:31
SPEAKER_02: Teachers and dancers, I didn't think that so many dance parents would would love this as much as they do, which is great.
12:39
SPEAKER_04: I definitely agree.
12:40
SPEAKER_04: I thought we were gonna get more teachers and maybe playing it in class or like taking a day and like, here's a topic we should listen to on our the week after competition or something.
12:48
SPEAKER_04: But yeah, no, the amount of parent support is really, really exciting.
12:52
SPEAKER_04: And yeah, we're just grateful that you guys all listen with your kids.
12:56
SPEAKER_04: I think that's really cool.
12:57
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
12:57
SPEAKER_01: I pick and I kind of pick and choose, you know, like I'll listen to something first, and then I feel like I feel like it is a good one for her to listen to, then I'm like, hey, come listen.
13:06
SPEAKER_01: Or like I might be listening to it in the car and she jumps in from a pickup and she kind of joins in.
13:11
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes she's like, I don't want to listen to dance right now because she had just gotten tired of dance.
13:15
SPEAKER_01: I get it.
13:16
SPEAKER_01: We get it.
13:17
SPEAKER_01: Especially closer to competition season is usually when she's like the most excited um to listen to it.
13:22
SPEAKER_04: Awesome.
13:23
SPEAKER_04: That makes total sense.
13:24
SPEAKER_01: Love it.
13:24
SPEAKER_02: Well, Megan, if you could share a little bit more about you.
13:27
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
13:28
SPEAKER_01: So I am a dance mom and a dance teacher from Kansas.
13:31
SPEAKER_01: I actually started dancing later in life.
13:34
SPEAKER_01: I was 12 when I started dancing, and really my mom I played sports growing up, and I was the only girl in a family of boys.
13:42
SPEAKER_01: And so my mom had said, Megan, what do you want to do when you get to high school?
13:44
SPEAKER_01: And I was like, Mom, I think I want to be on the dance team.
13:47
SPEAKER_01: That sounds cool.
13:48
SPEAKER_01: And so she took me to our local studio.
13:50
SPEAKER_01: And I live in a pretty small town, and we're a military town.
13:54
SPEAKER_01: So there was just one studio to go to.
13:56
SPEAKER_01: So she took me there and I started dancing and um started dancing in seventh grade by eighth grade, tried out for the high school dance team and had made it.
14:04
SPEAKER_01: Nice.
14:05
SPEAKER_01: So just continued to dance through high school.
14:07
SPEAKER_01: I did dance um collegiately at a very small university in Missouri, and I danced for a season and um ended up transferring to a different university.
14:16
SPEAKER_01: And so when I transferred, I kind of took a long hiatus from dance and didn't do much except for maybe choreograph something for my sorority here and there, but didn't dance again until my daughter turned three and I had signed her up at the same studio that I grew up dancing at.
14:32
SPEAKER_01: Um so it was really sweet for her to have the same teacher that I had had growing up.
14:36
SPEAKER_01: Um, and then met um some really sweet friends who were teachers.
14:40
SPEAKER_01: They had, you know, known that I had danced growing up, and so they said, Would you mind teaching a class here and there?
14:45
SPEAKER_01: Um, so slowly started, you know, one season with one dance that I taught and then grew into more.
14:52
SPEAKER_01: Right now we are at a new studio.
14:54
SPEAKER_01: This is our second year being open.
14:56
SPEAKER_01: So I helped our owner um as much as I can.
15:00
SPEAKER_01: And I am the director of our adapted arts program.
15:03
SPEAKER_01: So I founded um adapted arts for our studio.
15:06
SPEAKER_01: We where anybody can dance at any age, any ability or disability.
15:11
SPEAKER_01: Um, and really my my job is um I dance, I teach dance for fun and I teach dance because my kids love it.
15:18
SPEAKER_01: But I'm actually a speech pathologist during the day and homeschool my kids.
15:22
SPEAKER_01: So I kind of wear a lot of hats.
15:23
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
15:24
SPEAKER_01: And so that's kind of what sparked um our adapted arts program is uh my time as a speech pathologist.
15:30
SPEAKER_02: Wow.
15:30
SPEAKER_01: Cool.
15:31
SPEAKER_01: Amazing.
15:31
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, you do wear a lot of hats.
15:34
SPEAKER_02: Yes, awesome.
15:35
SPEAKER_02: And you help fundraise in the process of all of it.
15:39
SPEAKER_01: You know, yes, a little bit here and there.
15:42
SPEAKER_01: We we try and set things up where we can when we can.
15:45
SPEAKER_02: Sweet.
15:46
SPEAKER_02: Awesome.
15:46
SPEAKER_02: Well, we're so happy to have you both here on this episode.
15:50
SPEAKER_02: So let's jump in and learn about fundraising.
15:53
SPEAKER_04: Yes, all right.
15:54
SPEAKER_04: Well, um, I want to start with Christine.
15:57
SPEAKER_04: You so you've been fundraising in different capacities in different organizations for a while.
16:01
SPEAKER_04: I how did you get started with like the cheer organization?
16:04
SPEAKER_04: Did somebody ask you to do it?
16:05
SPEAKER_04: Did you volunteer to do it, or did you have prior experience before that?
16:09
SPEAKER_00: So I was a cheerleader, that's where I started.
16:12
SPEAKER_00: And then I I moved to a small town.
16:15
SPEAKER_00: I I grew up at the beach in New Jersey in this big town.
16:18
SPEAKER_00: And and then I moved uh to a very rural town in Benton, it's called Benton in Pennsylvania, and they didn't have much here.
16:28
SPEAKER_00: So I founded a cheer organization and with the goal of everything being as low cost as possible.
16:35
SPEAKER_00: I remember when I was younger, my parents struggling to pay.
16:38
SPEAKER_00: All-star cheer is expensive extremely.
16:42
SPEAKER_00: And um, so my goal was to find the cheapest uniforms that still can compete in the all-star world and you know, the best budget shoes, but then also offering fundraising at the same time because I didn't want to have to turn anyone away.
16:57
SPEAKER_00: And, you know, being a smaller area, you know, you want to be able to also take what you can get because you know, there's not as many people here.
17:05
SPEAKER_00: So that's really where it started.
17:07
SPEAKER_00: But I also have done stuff with like the parent teacher organization.
17:11
SPEAKER_00: Um, I have two sons, so with youth football.
17:15
SPEAKER_00: So kind of all across the board, there's been fundraising.
17:18
SPEAKER_00: And then we started um, my friend started a dance studio, and when I when she started it, fundraising was a big thing on her mind as well.
17:29
SPEAKER_00: So we kind of dove right in when the studio started and started fundraising right away.
17:34
SPEAKER_02: Cool.
17:35
SPEAKER_02: Nice.
17:35
SPEAKER_04: All right.
17:36
SPEAKER_04: Well, so that's that is pretty extensive.
17:37
SPEAKER_04: And like you said, you know, all of the when you're in a smaller area, you definitely have to take advantage of every opportunity, you know, to be able to gain your customers and keep them because there's there's other things to do, you know, and every piece sometimes people are choosing the cheapest thing to do.
17:54
SPEAKER_04: Exactly.
17:54
SPEAKER_04: Exactly.
17:55
SPEAKER_00: But everyone should have the opportunity if we can help it.
17:58
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, absolutely.
17:59
SPEAKER_04: Megan, what's your experience like from the beginning of fundraising in your life?
18:04
SPEAKER_04: Um, were you fundraising when you were dan on dance team?
18:07
SPEAKER_01: So our dance team would do a fundraiser.
18:08
SPEAKER_01: I think my very first year we sold Yankee candles, which trying to um hustle grandparents and aunts and uncles to buy Yankee candles doesn't profit much.
18:17
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
18:17
SPEAKER_01: Um, but then we switched, we found sponsors to and and and really we would go to companies um and find sponsors to help cover the uniform for the year and dance camp for the year.
18:30
SPEAKER_01: And that was a much easier way to meet.
18:32
SPEAKER_01: But we also had a very set amount, maybe$500.
18:35
SPEAKER_01: I honestly can't remember.
18:37
SPEAKER_01: And so it was a lot easier to get to that goal because I just knew I'm like, I just need so many people to get to that price.
18:46
SPEAKER_01: And then but then we would fundraise for little things, you know, for church and for my daughter does pageants.
18:52
SPEAKER_01: So we did a little bit for pageants, and we would just really start small and we live in a smaller community, so it's a lot harder to fundraise and to ask the same fa uh friends and family for money.
19:05
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
19:06
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, I remember that from my cheerleading.
19:08
SPEAKER_04: We fundraised for cheerleading and but not for dance because we just didn't do all that.
19:11
SPEAKER_04: We didn't do all as much as everybody does now.
19:13
SPEAKER_04: But you know, we it's hard when you don't have a lot of people to ask.
19:17
SPEAKER_04: And I like the concept of asking companies, you know, for sponsorship rather than just individuals to buy a candle or wrapping paper.
19:24
SPEAKER_04: We sold a lot of wrapping paper.
19:25
SPEAKER_01: Or for popcorn or whatever, whatever it is, the small items.
19:30
SPEAKER_02: I'm curious to know because like I said, I'm very unfamiliar.
19:34
SPEAKER_02: So obviously it sounds like that there can be individual fundraising that you do on your own as your own entity um for through your own family.
19:43
SPEAKER_02: But then is there also fundraising that can be done as a group collective through the studio?
19:48
SPEAKER_02: And how does that work?
19:50
SPEAKER_02: Can you do both at the same time?
19:52
SPEAKER_02: Or do you have to choose one or the other?
19:54
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
19:55
SPEAKER_01: So for our studio, um, most of the fundraising is individual because we are a smaller company team.
20:03
SPEAKER_01: Um, so the majority of our studio is recreational.
20:06
SPEAKER_01: And so when it comes to fundraising, we'll say if there's a large opportunity, like if there's an opportunity that comes up, we'll say, hey, company dancers, if you want to be involved, you can, but we never require anybody to do fundraising.
20:19
SPEAKER_01: It's really on a case-by-case individual basis.
20:22
SPEAKER_01: But anybody is welcome to fundraise independently as much as they want.
20:28
SPEAKER_00: Ours is more group-based.
20:30
SPEAKER_00: We, because most of our fundraising is game of chance and raffles and stuff like that, it has to be done as a group to be covered under that license.
20:40
SPEAKER_00: But we do a lot of events, we do a lot of raffles.
20:45
SPEAKER_00: We we don't sell as much.
20:47
SPEAKER_00: We have not, that has not been as beneficial to us.
20:50
SPEAKER_00: I mean, always love a Krispy Kreme donut fundraiser.
20:53
SPEAKER_00: But I have found that those types of fundraisers are from much, much larger groups.
20:59
SPEAKER_00: Uh, for instance, like at the parent-teacher organization, we, you know, do very well with that.
21:04
SPEAKER_00: But we typically have between only about 15 to 20 people participating in our fundraisers.
21:10
SPEAKER_00: So the sales usually do not go go as well for us as the big events and the raffles.
21:17
SPEAKER_04: Now, when you do raffles, like tell me how what that process is like of how are you getting items for the raffles.
21:23
SPEAKER_02: Yes.
21:24
SPEAKER_04: And how does that money that you make get distributed for your team?
21:30
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so we've done many different raffles.
21:32
SPEAKER_00: We've done um, we've done uh meat raffles where we raffle off a pig or a cow or the okay, Pennsylvania.
21:42
SPEAKER_00: Yes, exactly.
21:45
SPEAKER_00: My mind is blown right now.
21:46
SPEAKER_00: Like the the first winner won half of a cow.
21:50
SPEAKER_00: Um, and then the second winner, the second and third winner won like a quarter of the cow, so it was like a whole cow raffled off.
21:56
SPEAKER_00: So we've done right now, actually, we're doing a gift card.
22:00
SPEAKER_00: Raffle where we are selling$20 tickets and uh in the month of November, and then every day in the month of December, we pick a winner and you win at least a minimum of a$25 gift certificate.
22:14
SPEAKER_00: So what we've asked is we've asked of all of our families.
22:17
SPEAKER_00: We first say, hey, who wants to participate?
22:19
SPEAKER_00: And they let us know.
22:20
SPEAKER_00: And then we just we figure out how many that is, and we say, okay, we need for this instance, we say, okay, everyone needs to get two gift certificates that are at least$25 or gift cards.
22:32
SPEAKER_00: They can either be donated or you can purchase them yourselves.
22:35
SPEAKER_00: And then we just ask everyone to sell 20 tickets, and then they get the profit off the 20 tickets.
22:41
SPEAKER_00: So that's how in this situation it's covered.
22:44
SPEAKER_00: But for the the cow, what we did is we took the full price of the cow and we divided it up by how many people were participated.
22:53
SPEAKER_00: So maybe you had to sell 40 tickets, and the first 10 tickets went to paying for the cow, and then the other 30 tickets became profit.
23:03
SPEAKER_04: So now are you reaching out to a farmer?
23:06
SPEAKER_00: Like, where does this cow come from?
23:08
SPEAKER_00: I need more information.
23:09
SPEAKER_00: So we have we have actually a local place that butchers cows.
23:14
SPEAKER_00: That's their business.
23:15
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
23:15
SPEAKER_00: And we they did give us a deal.
23:18
SPEAKER_00: A lot of times when you talk to them, they did give us a deal.
23:21
SPEAKER_00: But it's the same thing with anything.
23:22
SPEAKER_00: Like we do sportsmen's raffles and they work with us for them as well.
23:26
SPEAKER_00: We always try to get donations for anything that we possibly can.
23:31
SPEAKER_00: Um, we do bingos and we need sponsors for bingos.
23:36
SPEAKER_00: Everyone, we ask everyone to go out and get a hundred dollar sponsor to participate in the raffle or in the bingo.
23:43
SPEAKER_00: So either they're getting sponsors or part of their sales or whatever they're selling is covering the cost of the prizes.
23:50
SPEAKER_00: Wow.
23:50
SPEAKER_02: This is really interesting.
23:52
SPEAKER_04: Would you say that most of your company members participate?
23:57
SPEAKER_00: Uh, so our competition team is about 25 total.
24:01
SPEAKER_00: Uh, we usually get probably about 75% participation, but it really depends on each person, right?
24:08
SPEAKER_00: So if my daughter, I'm paying like over a thousand dollars for every competition.
24:13
SPEAKER_00: Oof.
24:14
SPEAKER_00: Someone may only be paying uh, you know,$200 for a competition.
24:19
SPEAKER_00: Right.
24:19
SPEAKER_00: So we set our our fundraisers out at the beginning of the year in our competition contract so that everyone can decide what level of effort they want to put in or they need to put in.
24:31
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
24:31
SPEAKER_00: So, you know, for me, I'm doing every single one.
24:34
SPEAKER_00: For someone who, you know, maybe has a mini and they're only doing, you know, a group dance and maybe a duo, they may just do one or two and they may be able to cover their entire comp season and comp fees.
24:46
SPEAKER_02: I think that's cool how it's laid out like at the top of the year.
24:48
SPEAKER_02: So you can already know that there's options on ways to fundraise through the studio.
24:53
SPEAKER_02: I think that's really clever and smart.
24:54
SPEAKER_02: I don't know if that's something that all studios do.
24:57
SPEAKER_02: I'm not, I have no idea.
24:59
SPEAKER_02: So maybe all of our listeners out there, like head to our Facebook community and let us know if this is something that exists at your studio, or maybe it's something that should exist at your studio, because I I do think that it is it it is nice to know that okay, we're gonna have four different fundraisers throughout the year, you know, based on you're attending five different competitions, based on how many souls you have, how many groups you have, you know, like it is helpful to know that there are ways to save or hope to save with just participating in a fundraiser.
25:31
SPEAKER_02: So like I'm also assuming that someone has to kind of lead the charge with this, and it's usually volunteer parent that is doing that.
25:40
SPEAKER_02: And is is the studio involved in all at all?
25:43
SPEAKER_02: Like is the owners involved in this?
25:45
SPEAKER_02: How does that work?
25:46
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so for for us, it's a little bit of both.
25:49
SPEAKER_01: Our like fundraiser that we did this year, it was myself and my studio owner is the one who organized it and sent it to parents.
25:57
SPEAKER_01: Um, but we also had another fundraiser that was actually just for the studio.
26:02
SPEAKER_01: Um, so all the funds went back to the studio versus individual people.
26:07
SPEAKER_01: It was um to, you know, to we wanted to have a scholarship account, we wanted to have uh like a continuing education account that our teachers can use that funds if they need to.
26:17
SPEAKER_01: Um so that was organized by parents.
26:20
SPEAKER_01: That's nice.
26:21
SPEAKER_01: And then sometimes it's it's just a free-for-all.
26:24
SPEAKER_01: But we do have a little bit of everything.
26:26
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
26:27
SPEAKER_01: Interesting.
26:27
SPEAKER_04: I love the idea of fundraising for the studio because like you know, it's it's a newish sort of thing, I think, to have a continuing education offering for your teachers.
26:39
SPEAKER_04: Um, I think that's really a really nice perk of working at a studio that does that.
26:43
SPEAKER_04: Um, but it's got that money's got to come from somewhere, you know.
26:45
SPEAKER_04: So that's a nice, a nice idea.
26:48
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
26:48
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
26:49
SPEAKER_01: We wanted to um set up uh it would be great if we could set up a nonprofit for that.
26:53
SPEAKER_01: Um, we're kind of working through that right now.
26:55
SPEAKER_01: Um, but right, so right now it's an account that the money from we did a bake sale during uh our town hosts this really big fun Oktoberfest for a weekend.
27:05
SPEAKER_01: And so we uh our studio performs uh it's advertised as a Bavarian dance as a but we wear derndals and we um turn on a German song and we just do a fun little dance.
27:16
SPEAKER_01: Our whole studio can come.
27:17
SPEAKER_01: So our teeny tiny three-year-olds all the way up to our senior dancers.
27:20
SPEAKER_01: Um and so then that afternoon we host a bake sale.
27:24
SPEAKER_01: So we ask our dancers and their families to bake goods and we do let them know ahead of time.
27:29
SPEAKER_01: We're like, hey, this is this is for our whole studio.
27:32
SPEAKER_01: Anybody can participate because I think a lot of times it just comes off as fundraisers are for the company dancers.
27:37
SPEAKER_01: Right.
27:38
SPEAKER_01: And so then it feels very singled out and we just wanted it to be open.
27:42
SPEAKER_01: We want our family, our studio to feel like a family that really anybody can be involved and we want that participation from the recreational families and not just the company families.
27:50
SPEAKER_01: And so we um we had a great um parent headed up, and then a couple other parents um volunteer their time for that as well to organize it.
27:59
SPEAKER_01: And then the money that we received because the studio wasn't putting in any money.
28:04
SPEAKER_01: The Oktoberfest let us set up our table for free, whereas vendors usually have to pay a couple hundred dollars to set up.
28:10
SPEAKER_01: And the the Oktoberfest is actually on our main street and our studio is on the main street.
28:17
SPEAKER_01: So it was really easy for us to transfer food over.
28:21
SPEAKER_01: And but but like I said, we did let our studio know ahead of time, like this is funds for our studio.
28:26
SPEAKER_01: Um, so as when because we don't want people to think, well, I'm doing the work, how come that fund isn't coming back into my account?
28:34
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
28:34
SPEAKER_01: And so we say, hey, we want this to be, we want to be able to have a scholarship for a family who might need it, or we want a scholarship for our adapted dances, or we want the ability our teachers to be able to attend a CEU or to travel somewhere, whereas we might not be able to, you know, without that scholarship.
28:58
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29:04
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30:43
SPEAKER_02: So how does that work logistically?
30:46
SPEAKER_02: I know that you mentioned non nonprofit, Megan.
30:49
SPEAKER_02: I know that Christine, you said something about licenses earlier.
30:53
SPEAKER_02: So how does that work when it comes to a group fundraiser through an uh a studio?
31:00
SPEAKER_02: Is the studio even like name business attached to that?
31:05
SPEAKER_02: Or is it just like a volunteer parent group?
31:08
SPEAKER_02: And then how does how do the funds get distributed evenly?
31:12
SPEAKER_02: Or you know, what if it's not going in just to like a fun pool where you're gonna have a scholarship?
31:18
SPEAKER_02: What if it does want to go towards this is gonna cover my solo entry fee or this is gonna cover my costume expense?
31:26
SPEAKER_02: How like how how so what are the logistics of that?
31:29
SPEAKER_00: I don't yeah.
31:30
SPEAKER_00: So it's important to decide what you what you how you want it set up.
31:35
SPEAKER_00: So it a booster club is really the route to go, in my opinion.
31:39
SPEAKER_00: And this laws are different in every state.
31:42
SPEAKER_00: So for Pennsylvania to be able to get a game of chance license, you need to be, in effect, for a year, a nonprofit with bylaws.
31:52
SPEAKER_00: Then you are able to apply for this game of chance license so you can do raffles.
31:58
SPEAKER_00: Now, that doesn't mean that you have to wait a year to fundraise.
32:00
SPEAKER_00: You can do things that aren't game of chance, like selling products, or you know, you can do a babysitting night, or you I saw one person they did one group, they did something where they worked with like a waste company and they got a bunch of dumpsters, and they did like uh like you paid a fee and you could drop off, like you know, if you have yeah, you're junk and you could just drop it off to the dumpsters, and I guess the the the company, you know, donated the dumpsters to them so they made full profit.
32:31
SPEAKER_00: So just because you don't have the game of chance yet doesn't mean that you can't start fundraising, it just can't be certain types of fundraising.
32:40
SPEAKER_00: So I always recommend if you know your studio wants to start fundraising, first thing you should do is set up a booster club that's nonprofit so you can start on that year.
32:51
SPEAKER_00: And it's very important to have bylaws as well because they ask for them when you go to apply for the license.
32:57
SPEAKER_00: Then you get a game of chance license, which allows you to do the raffles and do all of that.
33:03
SPEAKER_00: And it has lots of rules that come with it that you just need to make sure, like, for instance, on the ticket, every ticket needs to be numbered.
33:10
SPEAKER_00: And the ticket that the person keeps has to have the same number as the ticket that's um handed in.
33:17
SPEAKER_00: It has to have the game of chance license number on it, what the prize is.
33:20
SPEAKER_00: So there's lots of rules that come with that, and then also you have to have, if you're gonna do bingos, an additional bingo license as well.
33:29
SPEAKER_00: But you can buy these licenses for the whole year, or you can buy just a one-month license.
33:35
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
33:35
SPEAKER_00: So you don't, so you can pick, like, okay, we know we do a lot of fundraising, so we will get the game of chance for the whole year.
33:43
SPEAKER_00: Where others, you know, may just be, okay, we're only going to do one, so we'll just get it for a month.
33:48
SPEAKER_00: It's more cost-effective than we have.
33:50
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
33:50
SPEAKER_04: And I just want to chime in and mention to our listeners that none of this is legal advice.
33:54
SPEAKER_04: Our lovely guests are speaking from experience.
33:56
SPEAKER_04: So if you are looking into doing these things, please consult a legal advisor in your state.
34:01
SPEAKER_04: Definitely.
34:02
SPEAKER_01: We love a disclaimer.
34:03
SPEAKER_01: When you're looking at a nonprofit becoming a 501c3, finding that legal advice too, because there are so many particulars that go into that that we we haven't yet, we would want to.
34:16
SPEAKER_01: But every time we start, you know, the season comes up.
34:19
SPEAKER_01: Um yeah.
34:20
SPEAKER_04: So then you gotta rehearse and you gotta buy the costumes and the yeah.
34:23
SPEAKER_01: So, but just knowing from our other business, you know, needing to have a board and a specific account, it I would find somebody who is well versed in that who can help you with that.
34:35
SPEAKER_01: And then having a 501c3 is gonna be beneficial in many ways because we've tried to do like those restaurant fundraisers, like come into our restaurant and you get 10% of the profit that night, whatever it is.
34:47
SPEAKER_01: You can't do that unless you have a 501c3.
34:50
SPEAKER_04: Wow.
34:51
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
34:52
SPEAKER_04: So it's deeper than just let's sell some Krispy Kreams.
34:55
SPEAKER_04: Like there's a lot that goes into all kinds of fundraising, obviously.
34:58
SPEAKER_00: It depends on on the type.
35:00
SPEAKER_00: You don't, I don't want to discourage anyone like that, you know, you can't at all.
35:04
SPEAKER_00: It's just if we do find more profit from when we're giving away prizes, though.
35:10
SPEAKER_00: That's people want want, you know, a chance at something.
35:14
SPEAKER_00: So we have found prof found much more uh it's been more beneficial to go that route and get the game of chance license.
35:22
SPEAKER_04: It feels like too.
35:23
SPEAKER_04: I mean, I've I've contributed a lot to those kinds of fundraisers in, you know, with people I know in the area.
35:29
SPEAKER_04: And even you can even contribute from out of state.
35:31
SPEAKER_04: It's like I've got friends in Georgia who have kids that dance, and I'm like, here's my$20 for this raffle ticket.
35:36
SPEAKER_04: Maybe I'll win it.
35:37
SPEAKER_04: Like, you know, and then it's almost it's just easier to do that sometimes than to like go to your bake sale.
35:43
SPEAKER_04: If I'm not at your event, I can't go to your bake sale, but I can contribute to your raffle, you know, as a consumer from anywhere.
35:51
SPEAKER_02: So I'm sitting here thinking about, you know, obviously these are really creative ways on on how to raise money for a specific activity or even as an individual.
36:02
SPEAKER_02: But how is this different than a GoFundMe?
36:05
SPEAKER_02: Is it more because it's fun and there's potential to win and there's a prize and there's a gift attached?
36:12
SPEAKER_02: Or could could individuals at a studio set up their own GoFundMe account and say, We need help with expenses?
36:21
SPEAKER_02: Can anyone help donate?
36:23
SPEAKER_02: Do we see are they similar?
36:25
SPEAKER_02: Are they different?
36:26
SPEAKER_02: Any anything to share?
36:28
SPEAKER_01: Kind of I mean, can they?
36:29
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I don't see why not.
36:30
SPEAKER_01: I've I've never done a GoFundMe, but I think sometimes they do, they just don't call it a GoFundMe.
36:36
SPEAKER_01: They might do the sponsor my calendar, sponsor my uniform.
36:40
SPEAKER_01: Like, have you seen those pictures on social media?
36:43
SPEAKER_01: And it's like their uniform is blocked off.
36:45
SPEAKER_01: They're like$10 gets me a sleeve and$20 gets me a sleeve.
36:48
SPEAKER_02: Really?
36:49
SPEAKER_01: And so, yeah.
36:50
SPEAKER_01: So it's cute.
36:51
SPEAKER_01: I think that it's cute.
36:52
SPEAKER_01: And I think it is a GoFundMe in a sense, without setting up a GoFundMe account necessarily.
36:58
SPEAKER_01: As a as a mom and as a teacher, I don't want um our dancers just posting on Facebook or really our parents saying, Hey, help us.
37:08
SPEAKER_01: I want everything to be a learning opportunity and a growing opportunity.
37:13
SPEAKER_01: So our big fundraiser that we did for the first time this year was a sponsor or company fundraiser, where this was just specifically for our company dancers.
37:22
SPEAKER_01: They did not have to participate, but they could.
37:24
SPEAKER_01: And they went out into businesses, kind of like I did with Dance Team in high school, but they asked friends and family and businesses, hey,$50, we will put your logo on our website.
37:35
SPEAKER_01: We will put your name on a shirt.
37:37
SPEAKER_01: So we had company shirts made, and then on the back it said, thank you for sponsoring us.
37:42
SPEAKER_01: And then we had levels.
37:44
SPEAKER_01: So$100, your logo goes on our shirt, and$50, your name gets printed on our shirt.
37:49
SPEAKER_01: And we wear those shirts at every convention, every community of parents, and then every competition.
37:55
SPEAKER_01: So then it's advertising for them.
37:57
SPEAKER_01: So then those companies can write it off in that way.
37:59
SPEAKER_01: But I was very specific with my dancers, and especially my daughter, right?
38:02
SPEAKER_01: Because I'm a I'm a mom, other moms can do um different things.
38:06
SPEAKER_01: But in our rules, we said, um, you I want you to go ask.
38:10
SPEAKER_01: And um, I want you to write a handwritten thank you note when you are done.
38:15
SPEAKER_01: So not just, hey, I'm pulling money, but I want you to go learn.
38:19
SPEAKER_01: So for my daughter, she's the one who had to go in and ask the company.
38:23
SPEAKER_01: So we what and and we live in a small town.
38:25
SPEAKER_01: So a lot of the businesses that we used were friends and family or people that we just knew, people that we have used for business ourselves.
38:32
SPEAKER_01: So my two daughters, so my nine-year-old and my five-year-old would walk into the businesses together with their with their form that we had given to dancers to say, this is the informational you're gonna hand the companies.
38:44
SPEAKER_01: And I wanted my girls to use their voice and to be confident in themselves and say, I am on the activated arts company team.
38:51
SPEAKER_01: Would you consider sponsoring us?
38:53
SPEAKER_01: These are the levels.
38:55
SPEAKER_01: You know, my daughters would say, I'm doing solos and duets and group dances, and we would really appreciate your support.
39:01
SPEAKER_01: Um, and for the most part, they I don't know that they ever got told no.
39:05
SPEAKER_01: But you know, when you're cute and you're wearing your dance chest.
39:07
SPEAKER_01: Of course, you're like$50.
39:09
SPEAKER_01: It's really easy to be told no to on social media because you can just keep scrolling.
39:14
SPEAKER_01: But when you're walking into a business, number one, you're building character development, but it's a lot harder to say no to.
39:20
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
39:21
SPEAKER_01: And so that was our most successful.
39:23
SPEAKER_01: And I'm hoping, you know, our dancers kind of learned a little bit.
39:26
SPEAKER_01: And so we had a chart that we made our dancers fill out like a Google Doc of who they asked.
39:30
SPEAKER_01: So we didn't have dancers asking the same businesses.
39:34
SPEAKER_01: Um, and also if you are a family who owned a business, not to have other dancers go ask that business.
39:41
SPEAKER_01: And then we had you had to mark yes or no, did you write your handwritten thank you no and deliver it?
39:46
SPEAKER_01: Um, that was that was important to me as a mom and a teacher.
39:49
SPEAKER_01: Like I didn't want this just to be a collect money thing.
39:52
SPEAKER_01: I wanted you to be able to learn something from it.
39:54
SPEAKER_04: Wow.
39:54
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, I love that.
39:55
SPEAKER_04: I mean, I'm I grew up, I just got married and I'm in the midst of writing all the thank you notes because you know, it's just it's a little something, it's a little thing from the past that not everybody does anymore.
40:05
SPEAKER_04: But when you get a handwritten thank you note, even for something like a$50 donation, like it just feels good and it feels like the right thing to do.
40:12
SPEAKER_04: So I I really appreciate that.
40:13
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's kind of a lost art.
40:15
SPEAKER_01: Like nobody who like who handwrites thank you notes anymore, really.
40:18
SPEAKER_02: It's it's a special touch that I I I'm glad to see that like you are instilling in your kids, in your students to remind them that like not everything needs to be typed up on a computer and messaged and it doesn't feel as genuine.
40:35
SPEAKER_02: And and I don't know.
40:37
SPEAKER_02: I mean, I I love getting uh handwritten notes.
40:40
SPEAKER_02: It's just the time it took someone to and also have your personal touch of your own cursive, which I don't think kids learn anymore, but uh handwriting I'd say.
40:50
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
40:51
SPEAKER_02: So that's really great.
40:52
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and even what a skill to teach your kid.
40:54
SPEAKER_01: Like, how many, how many kids right now know how to write a handwritten thank you note?
40:57
SPEAKER_01: So it's just another skill to add to your box that you know how to do now.
41:00
SPEAKER_01: Totally right.
41:01
SPEAKER_04: Well, and that it's just not, you know, like, okay, we dance.
41:04
SPEAKER_04: Why does anybody care?
41:05
SPEAKER_04: Why should business a care that I dance?
41:07
SPEAKER_04: Well, it's because I came in and explained to them what I do, and there's like that community building, and then there's the thank you.
41:13
SPEAKER_04: Like it's all part of one big circle of like a community, and especially in a smaller town, it's like, you know, your daughter might go work for that company one day as a part-time job, you know.
41:22
SPEAKER_04: So it's all about community.
41:24
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and and we're representing our community, right?
41:26
SPEAKER_01: Like we are we are part of our of Kansas and our town, and we are going out and representing it, and we hope that we're representing it well, and now we can, you know, now we're advertising for you.
41:37
SPEAKER_01: So we're really representing our town.
41:39
SPEAKER_01: Right.
41:40
SPEAKER_02: So I'm curious, and I don't feel like that we need to share like numbers, but I'm just curious to give some perspective to our listeners out there to just hear like success stories of the fundraising just personally, based on maybe last season or the season before or whatever it may be.
41:56
SPEAKER_02: And obviously, as we know, every season's different with what it looks like, as far as how many events are we attending, how many dances are our dancers in, what are we fundraising for?
42:04
SPEAKER_02: But based on your efforts, what have you seen come from the fundraising?
42:09
SPEAKER_02: How much did it truly help you in your dance season pay off particular expenses or help fund your dancer's hobby?
42:16
SPEAKER_00: For us, if you were to participate in the five fundraisers that we put out this year, so we're doing we did in September Sportsman raffle event, we're doing the gift card raffle now.
42:28
SPEAKER_00: We do Super Bowl Squares in January, in March, we'll do a bingo, and in May we'll do a Wild Wild West, which is like a night at the races meet sportsman's raffle type thing.
42:39
SPEAKER_00: And you bet on horses.
42:40
SPEAKER_00: But if you do all five, you most likely will bring in a around one to two thousand for the year.
42:49
SPEAKER_00: Wow.
42:50
SPEAKER_00: That's a lot.
42:50
SPEAKER_00: That's significant.
42:51
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's very it's very helpful.
42:54
SPEAKER_00: It it it just it depends on different factors, though.
42:57
SPEAKER_00: A lot of things come into it.
42:58
SPEAKER_00: You hope to make that much, but I think that's a solid number.
43:02
SPEAKER_00: I think it could be higher than that, depending, you know, how the events go.
43:07
SPEAKER_00: But I think it's just good planning and finding what's right for your area, right?
43:13
SPEAKER_00: Like those work for us, but other things may work better.
43:18
SPEAKER_00: You know, there might not be a cow place that you can go buy a cow, you know.
43:24
SPEAKER_00: So it's it's really important to be willing to try out different fundraisers and figuring out what works for you and knowing that it's not going to work for everyone.
43:34
SPEAKER_00: Like there's ones that we don't get to do, which I hear are great, where a lot of the sports teams, like even minor sports teams and major sports teams, you can go and volunteer at their concession stands and you get money back for volunteering at their stands.
43:53
SPEAKER_00: So you essentially get paid for it.
43:54
SPEAKER_00: And I I'm not quite sure how that works, but I've heard people being very profitable from those.
44:00
SPEAKER_00: You know, like we have a a a team, it's about an hour away, but it's a minor league baseball team, and a lot of parents I know who live up that way will do the volunteering so that they get, you know, money back for, you know, their dance world or tier world or whatever it may be.
44:16
SPEAKER_01: That is cool.
44:17
SPEAKER_01: We know people, we're about 20 minutes from a major D1 university.
44:20
SPEAKER_01: And so there are clubs and organizations in our town that will go and they run the concession stand for that event.
44:27
SPEAKER_01: And so they don't have to bring their own stuff, they just have to work it.
44:30
SPEAKER_01: And so the that there's oh, I think there's always pros and cons to every uh fundraiser that you do.
44:36
SPEAKER_01: I know that one, the one thing that I hear is you have to if you want to do it, you have to do every event for that season.
44:42
SPEAKER_01: So if you do football, it's a big commitment and it's a long day.
44:46
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
44:46
SPEAKER_01: And so for us, it wasn't worthwhile to do that because it it would just take like we don't have the weekends or the weeknights to give to coming to although we love this university.
44:58
SPEAKER_01: So would it be great to go to the football games all the time?
45:01
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
45:02
SPEAKER_01: But it's just that time commitment of being able to be there like so much, so many hours before the game, so many hours after the game, and then throughout the game.
45:11
SPEAKER_01: But we have had we've had great fundraisers and we've had fundraisers that have kind of flopped.
45:16
SPEAKER_01: We, you know, our fundraiser that we did the company sponsorships, we had a couple girls who raised together like three or four thousand dollars.
45:25
SPEAKER_03: Nice.
45:26
SPEAKER_01: And then, and then for my girls, we raised about seventeen hundred dollars, which is great.
45:31
SPEAKER_01: And and kind of like what Christine was saying, we mapped out for our families like if you're on this team, this is the dances that you're doing, this is the competitions we're going to, this is how much everything costs.
45:42
SPEAKER_01: So if you're adding it all up, this is what you're gonna pay, plus the two conventions that we require everybody to go to and the company jacket.
45:50
SPEAKER_01: Um, so add up your cost and you figure out how much you need.
45:55
SPEAKER_01: And then we we do try and say, like, please don't overfundraise because then what's the point of doing that?
46:02
SPEAKER_01: And then we sit down and uh we put it into their accounts for them.
46:07
SPEAKER_01: So like our online system that we use is where they sign up for classes, pay tuition.
46:12
SPEAKER_01: So we just put a positive balance into their account.
46:16
SPEAKER_01: Um, and they, you know, they might say it can just pull tuition, it can pull like that money is just to be in my account for whatever.
46:23
SPEAKER_01: And if a fee comes up, then we'll just pull it.
46:26
SPEAKER_01: So then it's not like this is only for a costume, this is only for competition.
46:30
SPEAKER_01: It's just in their account and it's used however.
46:33
SPEAKER_01: So like maybe they have a positive balance of 2000 and they just let their tuition run out of it.
46:38
SPEAKER_01: And then when convention comes, they'll charge convention out of it.
46:41
SPEAKER_01: And when it runs out, it runs out, and then you start putting money back into it.
46:44
SPEAKER_01: Or you can say, you know, I I'm gonna come in and charge my tuition every month.
46:48
SPEAKER_01: So don't use my um fundraising money um for tuition.
46:53
SPEAKER_01: I want it like specifically.
46:55
SPEAKER_01: So that's what my family does.
46:56
SPEAKER_01: We say, we want our money specifically for conventions and competitions because in my brain, that's how I know what we need to pay for.
47:04
SPEAKER_04: Yep.
47:05
SPEAKER_01: And then I don't have to, when the time comes and they're like, hey, you got, you know, we've got I've got two daughters and who are dancing, which this is our first year with two daughters dancing and the fundraising, which is much more necessary because with just one daughter, I was like, it's fine.
47:20
SPEAKER_01: With two daughters, I'm like, oh my gosh, how does anybody pay for this?
47:24
SPEAKER_01: One is a mini.
47:25
SPEAKER_01: So she has, you know, two group dances and a solo, but my oldest daughter has several group dances, two solos and a duet.
47:33
SPEAKER_01: And so like both of them, both of them together.
47:36
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, oh my gosh.
47:37
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
47:38
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
47:38
SPEAKER_02: Wow.
47:40
SPEAKER_02: That's that's really interesting.
47:41
SPEAKER_02: And I I like that you're uh able to distribute the funds how you how you see fit and how where you want it to go, if that is competition fees, because you're paying tuition every month no matter what, or you wouldn't even be able to go to that competition, you know.
47:56
SPEAKER_02: So like the tuition can just get be on that auto withdrawal or whatever, bill pay, but then the bonus is a competition fee or a costume or uh a convention.
48:08
SPEAKER_02: So I feel like that is in my head the best way to look at how to use that money because those almost feel like electives in a way, like bonus things to dance, right?
48:20
SPEAKER_02: Like your dancer wants to dance and it there is a cost to dance, to show up at the studio and take XYZ classes, a monthly tuition.
48:27
SPEAKER_02: You're paying that no matter what.
48:29
SPEAKER_02: That might be where people stop and need fundraising for that.
48:33
SPEAKER_02: But then there's people who are gonna take the the incentives, the electives and the bonus opportunities that are involved in the dance studio, which then also may incur in fundraising needs.
48:42
SPEAKER_02: So yeah, that's great.
48:43
SPEAKER_01: And I think you kind of mentioned the because this is it makes fundraising kind of hard, right?
48:48
SPEAKER_01: Because you're choosing to dance, you're choosing to sign up for these competitions.
48:53
SPEAKER_01: And, you know, I think sometimes there's this look that you're like, you're choosing to do this.
48:58
SPEAKER_01: So if you can't pay for it, right, then maybe don't sign up for this many classes versus so I think it is a nice balance of how do you fundraise enough without you know, doing a fundraiser every month.
49:10
SPEAKER_01: And now it just looks like I'm asking people to pay for my daughter's activities.
49:16
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
49:16
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
49:17
SPEAKER_04: Well, that's where the GoFundMe I'm glad you yeah, I'm glad you brought that up about the GoFundMe because I've seen a few of those around where it's like, and that's what I feel when it's a GoFundMe.
49:26
SPEAKER_04: I feel a little like you could just not do all the solos, you could just take the classes.
49:30
SPEAKER_04: Right.
49:30
SPEAKER_04: But when it when it does involve a little bit more of a, well, there's something in it for me, or there's potentially, you know, a give and take of like I'm supporting you yet, I'm getting a possibility of a prize or a you know, banana bread.
49:42
SPEAKER_04: Right.
49:42
SPEAKER_04: Feels a little bit better.
49:43
SPEAKER_04: But so you said, how do you, I mean, if it seems like y'all could just have very like lovely studios, like everybody sounds nice and like, oh, we're gonna fundraise and we're not gonna overfund raise.
49:52
SPEAKER_04: But what happens when you do have a surplus of fundraising if it was an individual who like ended up having an extra$500?
49:59
SPEAKER_04: Like what happens with that money?
50:01
SPEAKER_00: So at our studio, we only allow you to use your fundraising for competition fees, costumes, and travel expenses.
50:09
SPEAKER_00: We um we again are in a very small town.
50:12
SPEAKER_00: We have to travel at least two hours to any competition.
50:17
SPEAKER_00: And we do, we are a team that does nationals every year.
50:20
SPEAKER_02: Okay.
50:21
SPEAKER_00: And um, we try to do, you know, every other year one close.
50:25
SPEAKER_00: So like this year we're going to the Poconos, next year uh we'll go to Florida, or we may go to Virginia Beach, or we'll we'll travel a little farther every other year.
50:35
SPEAKER_00: And we don't make it mandatory.
50:37
SPEAKER_00: So just so we're clear there.
50:39
SPEAKER_00: But you know, we are, you know, we so we stick to those things.
50:44
SPEAKER_00: So by doing that, we stick to the accounts.
50:48
SPEAKER_00: And then what happens is if someone leaves and they have money left in their account, then that's dispersed between everyone else's account.
50:57
SPEAKER_00: You forfeit any money that's left and you carry that money over from year to year.
51:03
SPEAKER_00: You know, if you know, if someone, you know, wants next year to already be ready and set up to go, they will be.
51:10
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
51:11
SPEAKER_01: That's great.
51:12
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
51:12
SPEAKER_01: We just let ours roll over.
51:13
SPEAKER_01: I don't know that we've really had an instance where there has just been extra funds in somebody's account.
51:19
SPEAKER_01: Uh, but we we I think in the one instance we did, we let it roll over, or maybe somebody got uh had like a competition refunded fee.
51:29
SPEAKER_01: And so then like that when we sign up for that competition, it's just there.
51:34
SPEAKER_01: Um and so we just we end up just breaking it out of the total that that way it's not just sitting because uh maybe that person didn't dance with us anymore, but for some reason we just had this extra money in our account through the certain competition, and so we just had two soloists dancing at that competition that the year, and so we just took the money from that, subtracted it from their total, and then just you know, divided it again.
51:57
SPEAKER_01: Gotcha.
51:58
SPEAKER_02: Nice.
51:59
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
51:59
SPEAKER_04: Interesting.
52:00
SPEAKER_04: Well, friends, is there anything we haven't covered?
52:02
SPEAKER_04: Like, like we said, we we are learning.
52:04
SPEAKER_04: So is there something we didn't bring up that you think is important for listeners to know?
52:08
SPEAKER_01: I think it's really important when you're deciding to do a fundraiser.
52:12
SPEAKER_01: Number one, how much work is it and is it beneficial?
52:15
SPEAKER_01: Because there are times when you're doing a fundraiser and maybe it's a craft sale and you have spent days and hours putting together these crafts and it didn't make you any, or it might have made you money, but how much money did you spend buying all the craft supplies?
52:29
SPEAKER_01: And so whenever you're deciding what fundraiser to do, make sure it's beneficial for you.
52:34
SPEAKER_01: Something that is gonna be quick and maybe doesn't take that much work and you're gonna get a lot of return in exchange.
52:41
SPEAKER_01: The people who do bake sales and they bake everything.
52:44
SPEAKER_01: Well, how much did all of your baking supplies cost?
52:47
SPEAKER_01: How much time did you sit out on the street and sell your food?
52:51
SPEAKER_01: Um, whatever it is.
52:52
SPEAKER_01: If it's beneficial, that's awesome.
52:53
SPEAKER_01: Maybe you had a grandparent donate the baking supplies or whatever it is.
52:57
SPEAKER_01: But that's when um when uh our owner and myself or my husband and I are talking about a fundraiser, that's when we stop and say, Well, could I just go work somewhere for two hours and make the same amount of money?
53:08
SPEAKER_01: Why, you know, which is better, the fundraising, or maybe just taking a couple extra hours at the office.
53:14
SPEAKER_01: And so, yeah, that's how we have to just sit down and decide.
53:18
SPEAKER_00: I think expectations and obligations was the thing that we learned the earliest within fundraising, is that, you know, a lot of times you'll hear, well, I did more than they did.
53:28
SPEAKER_00: Why do they get the same amount of profit and stuff?
53:31
SPEAKER_00: So, and we did have to learn from that.
53:33
SPEAKER_00: And one thing I like to say is, you know, you can't always expect what you expect.
53:37
SPEAKER_00: So I know I'm gonna go in hard and and fundraise as hard as I can, but others may not.
53:42
SPEAKER_00: So by setting those expectations right up front and saying, you need to do X, Y, and Z, I think it it helps everyone to know what they're going into and know, again, those exceptions across the board.
54:00
SPEAKER_00: Because a bingo, you have to sell a lot of tickets, you have to then work the event, you have to make baked goods, you have to um find sponsors, you have to bring a basket.
54:12
SPEAKER_00: So that's maybe a lot for a person, but with a you know, a raffle, you're just selling 20 tickets.
54:17
SPEAKER_00: So by sell setting those expectations from day one before the fundraiser starts, I think has helped us tremendously because we don't have any ill will from anyone inside the fundraiser because everyone has the same expectation, or they don't get the get the proceeds from the fundraiser.
54:40
SPEAKER_02: Thanks for tuning in to our latest episode all about fundraising in dance.
54:45
SPEAKER_02: Special shout out to our guests, Christine and Megan, for joining us on this chat.
54:50
SPEAKER_02: Be sure to follow them on Instagram.
54:52
SPEAKER_02: You can find Christine at Steve Brochit02 and Megan at Maggie Bethwood.
54:59
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55:06
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55:27
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55:32
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56:48
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56:58
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57:00
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57:01
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