I might have posted this idea before, but in view of the latest article of “The Cost of Your Ticket” is No Way to Raise Money, I think I want to put the idea out again.
Raising funds in addition to the cost of the tickets is challenging for us. The audiences are already supporting us with their ticket purchase, and attempts to let them know that their ticket purchase is not enough is, like the article suggests, a little guilt trip that doesn’t really work.
It is good for the audience to know the costs of creating art, yet there is a better way to suggest further support to cover costs. Round up!
You can incorporate a round up in several different ways. Here are a few of my ideas on this topic:
- Add a donation option onto your ticket order that will round up to the next dollar amount. Or at least have a basic donation option if you do not have the technology to do the rounding up for you.
- Create a separate special ticket amount that creates the round up automatically that includes the donation.
- Sell full price tickets with language that communicates that these special tickets will support the organization and the art further.
- Create a sliding scale ticket pricing option so the audience member sees a range of possibilities. This option has worked for a few of my clients! Believe it or not, many audience members purchased the more expensive prices to support the artists.
- Become a part of the grocery store round up days – several grocery stores are starting to include this type of fundraising during regular check outs.
I am reminded of that conversation with the subscriber I had many years ago. She asked me, “Don’t you need the money?”
Many patrons want to help beyond the ticket price. Discounted tickets are great for getting new people to try our arts, however, it may not be the best option for our loyal patrons who want to increase their support. Many times we do not give them the extra options to do so.
Think about rounding up as a solution, a patron friendly way to suggest paying as close to full price (the real value of the arts experience) as possible. The audience members who are loyal just may surprise you!
Cheers to happy and loyal audiences,
Shoshana
Shoshana Fanizza
Chief Audience Builder, ADS
