Hand in Hand

Credit: Ryan Maxwell Photography

A post by Patti Knapp, Business & Development Director
August 1, 2019

We try to come alongside people and interact with our supporters so that they know that we see them, we’re with them, and we’re in this together.

–LINDSAY KOLSCH
CFO of To Write Love on Her Arms

I love this quote because it expresses the best of what nonprofit development can be. Raising funds is never one-sided — that is, “they give, we do” — because success depends on everyone connected with an organization working together towards a common goal. And of all organizations, the Washington Revels community understands what it means to walk the same path, hand in hand.

As we take a few more steps together into this new fiscal year, there is much to report — and to be proud of! Since January the list of Revels activities and events seems to have to multiplied with each passing month — in addition to our monthly Community Sings & Dances, Parades, and Ensemble Performances, we’ve seen Revels Day of Service blossom into a monthly program, reaching up to 400 people in a single afternoon; and in June World Story Time concluded a record-setting year with the highest attendance yet and an enhanced slate of arts enrichment activities!

We’ve also been working to innovate and improve Revels’ fundraising activities. On May 22nd, many of you joined us for Do More 24, a social day of giving like Giving Tuesday. You offered your time (and your social media profiles) to help us spread the word about our programs and to share your stories of why Revels matters to you. No fundraising email written by our staff could match the power of your testimonials — and they worked! In the first year that we really tried to give Do More 24 a go, we beat our goal and engaged new donors in the process.

Credit: Ryan Maxwell Photography

And maybe our most “visible” success was the Fall 2018 Power2Give campaign we ran to raise funds for the Revels Costume Team’s beautiful Elizabethan costumes that you saw in this past Christmas Revels. The Revels community stepped up in so many ways to help us secure matching funds from the Arts and Humanities Council of Montgomery County: by sharing our costume campaign; by making matched donations, of course; and when the matching funds ran dry, by stepping up to meet the challenge of Diane & Terry Winslow’s generous donor match — and our goal!

My deepest thanks to each of you who contributed to Revels this year, whether as donors, audience members, chorus members, committee members, vendors, or volunteers. Know that I truly understand that our successes would not have been possible (and are never possible) without your efforts. As Business & Development Director, my hope is that we continue working together to find new ways to help our great community soar.

Believe with me that the best is yet to come!

Patti

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