Project Paper trail, based in New York City, takes an innovative and ground-breaking approach to using the Internet to share the on-going creative process for a new dance work and simultaneously seeking financial support to pay dancers and studio fees during rehearsals.
Asriel has turned the traditional (non-functional) dance funding model upside down. He has been seeking financial support primarily from individual donors to pay for specific rehearsals. On his donate page, you'll see that he needs about $200 for one four-hour rehearsal. To date, he has raised $8,852.23 from 79 donors--see which donors have supported which rehearsals. And his overall goal is to reach the $20,000 mark.
Getting back to Deborah's comment from yesterday, here's what she wrote:
Ben Asriel's Project Paper Trail has one of the most open, transparent fundraising components of any dance site, but he also features a ton of behind-the-scenes artistic material in the form of videos and dancers' journals. I think the wealth of artistic material online can spur people to contribute; after all, given Ben's funding and online structure, donors can see more concretely what it is they are supporting.
This idea of being very open and transparent about the creative and fundraising elements of making dance is very intriguing to me. I'm very curious to see how other dancers might build upon this Internet-based model or are already pursuing similar approaches. Please share your own stories or other projects that you know about.
You can listen to a podcast that Eva YaaAsantewaa conducted with Benjamin Ford Asriel about Project Paper Trail.
Flip Video Cameras Can Enhance Dance Fundraising Efforts
The terrible economy is leading more dance companies to send out fundraising solicitations to their email and other lists.
Every time I receive a solicitation, I have the same three questions:
1) How come you didn't create a video in which you speak directly to me and other people whose financial support you are seeking?
2) Why don't you link to videos within your solicitations that show the performances, educational and outreach efforts that you are currently engaged with? And,
3) Why not connect your fundraising efforts to new types of dance video content that is created specifically for your online audience?
Flip Video
It is now easier and less expensive than ever to shoot, edit and upload video.
Many dancers, teachers and studios are using these video cameras:
- In a Tweet, Catherine Paull linked to three videos that she shot with her Flip, including this clip for the Logrea Dance Academy in Westchester, New York:
- In my Wednesday post, "Hip Hop Dance Festival at PS 165 in Flushing, Queens," I wrote about the wonderful performances by mostly third through fifth graders. To document this program, dance teacher and festival organizer Kathleen Isaac bought a couple Flip cameras and gave them to her students to videotape the program and conduct interviews. And,
Of course, you don't have to use a Flip video camera to shoot video. But the Flip in conjunction with free and low-cost video editing software, and free video hosting sites (YouTube, Vimeo and others) means that there are virtually no barriers to creating fun, compelling videos to enhance your fundraising efforts.
Creating Video Content Specifically for the Internet
As I asked in my third question above, why not create dance video content specifically for your online audiences and tie these dance videos directly to your solicitation efforts? For example, you might say, "Every week during the spring and summer, we will be sharing a new dance video at outdoor locations in and around our city. We'd love your financial support as we prepare to produce our site-specific dance programs."
Just a thought. The weather is getting nice. Flip cameras are cheap. It's time to take on the economy!
Are you using videos to enhance your fundraising efforts? Please share your stories.
Fundraising with YouTube -- Charity: Water & Anaheim Ballet
Last Firday, TechCrunch wrote about YouTube's new call to action overlay ad program for nonprofits. This program gives nonprofits the ability to use overlay ads on their own videos to drive viewers to the donation page on their websites. There is no cost for qualified organizations to participate in this program.
Here's a screen shot of the call to action overlay ad from Charity: Water that appears shortly after their video is started:
And here's the Charity: Water video. It looks like overlay ads only run when watching the video on YouTube. I wonder why that's the case:
YouTube Nonprofit Programs
You can learn about YouTube's nonprofit services including their call to action overlay ads and the Google checkout "Donate" button program on their Nonprofit Program page.
Among the organizations to use the Donate button is the Anaheim Ballet. You will see the request for donations button on the left side of the Anaheim Ballet YouTube channel, and on the individual pages for their videos:
Take a look a look at the video page for their newest video "Ballet: Alyssa '09":
I'll see if Anaheim Ballet would like to share how much they have generated in donations from this program and if they have advice about YouTube's nonprofit offerings.
