This financial roundtable facilitated by Steve Barnett began with having all attendees introduce themselves and to which VDC community they belong. A lively discussion followed including VDC weekend fees, national dues, sponsorship, financials for hosting an annual gathering, and scholarship possibilities, with the majority of the roundtable focusing on fundraising.
Some communities are able to offer scholarships for team members who want to serve but are not able to afford the cost for the weekend. Other scholarships may be offered for someone who has many pilgrims to sponsor, but cannot afford to pay for each pilgrim.
Fundraising ideas for VDC communities include internal (VDC Community) fundraisers and external (all can participate) fundraisers. Internal fundraisers include raising funds at Ultreyas, with examples including, bake sales, good will donations, raffles or “opportunity drawings,” envelope campaigns, and digital campaigns using various platforms. One VDC community who had their 100th weekend coming up, celebrated with a “100th Anniversary” where they had an event with a ticket price where hundreds of folks attended and enjoyed the occassion.
A question was asked as to how to broaden our donation opportunities to all folks. These ideas included finding companies (such as donuts or other food items) who do campaigns where a portion of their sales go to the nonprofit. The John Deere Classic may be an opportunity where amounts for each birdie are given for the non-profit. One community held a karaoke fundraiser at a local public venue, which was open to be attended by anyone. Possibly a church venue or other non-public venue could be an option to host a similar or other special event. Another community has a fabulous opportunity at the Gas Light Theater in Tucson, where the theater sells VDC tickets at reduced amounts, so that VDC receives a portion of each ticket sale. This event is extremely well attended and is an enjoyable, successful fundraiser.
A fun opportunity came up where the Southern Arizona Lutheran Tirosh which has the acronym of “SALT” did a fundraiser where the fundraiser is a challenge to have the lay director lick a salt lick. This raised over $2,000.
The Tirosh is a wonderful way to introduce young folks to our VDC community. The Tirosh is for folks from 15 years old to 20 years old. It is an energetic weekend with some different activities, such as having a paper chain made, which represents all of the volunteer hours and resources that went into preparing the weekend for the pilgrims. The pilgrims are wrapped with the paper chain as a tangible way to feel this support.
This exchange of ideas regarding financial issues with VDC was an insightful way to hear from different communities and try out some of these ideas for each individual community.
By Kathy Kingston
