ON BUDGETS AND FUND-RAISING

taken from Newsletter #2 by www.Children-of-Promise.com

Too many public school directors fall into a simple financial trap. They expect all capital outlay funds to come from the district. So, they complain that the school won't provide adequate follow spots.

Humble suggestion: Just as you budget $X for costuming, and $X for printing programs, budget some monies from every production to go toward hardware.

Now, listen to this rationale. You're the director, I'm the parent. You hit me up for an ad to the program. Ok. $25 bucks! No big deal. But, ask me, nose-to-nose, where I'd rather have my money spent -- on costume rental, printing a fancy program, buying makeup, anywhere else

when, after the money is spent and the show is over, I can't ever see that money again?

-- or --

Would I like to cough up $50 and be able to see where the money has been spent? And, I'll be able to see that $50 next year and the year after that and...some more years long after that --

Make sure you let us parents know that our money is going somewhere, doing something, for kids for the next twenty-or-so years to come. I can see that follow spot I bought, the amplifier I bought, the blue cyc, the surround speakers...

Hmmm... Maybe next year I'll give ya a hundred..