I'm going to change hats from finance to fundraising in this note.  I reported to you at the annual meeting that we had a really good year financially last year and yet we came up short in our individual contributions and honestly, we are a little bit behind again this year.  Our budget calls for two separate line items for dollars to come from you, the members of the DAC. One from Individual Contributions $15,000 and the other is a Year End Fundraising campaign also for $15,000.  These numbers have been much higher in the past, but we had a major drop in both items during the pandemic.

I know that you all know how nonprofits work, so forgive me if this is repetitious. Nonprofits don't pay income tax to the Federal or State government.  In exchange for that privilege, we also don't ask either of those bodies for money.  The government insists that we show in our annual tax return that we deserve this nonprofit status, because we are supported by the community at large.  The government wants us to show that people are willing to pay to support the organization.  We are allowed to have income from almost anywhere, but 73 percent of all income needs to be in direct support of our mission, and 33.3 percent needs to come specifically from gifts, grants, contributions, and membership.  We are so proud to have over 800 members, but those membership fees bring in less than 8% of our income.

You can see where I am headed.  We need to raise some money.  Each month in the newsletter, I will update our progress.  We are just starting the annual campaign, so don't worry that we haven't raised any money yet.  I know that you'll want your dollars to go to the right category so please be specific, if you want your money in the Year End Annual Campaign.  

Thanks a million!

Janet Ogden Brackett