Hey Y'all Hope things are well,
I was thinking about how we can increase the impact OnPoint has on our community when this DM landed in the OnPoint Instagram:
I have not accepted this sponsorship.
I also have not *completely* written it off because I have a very juvenile sense of humor.
… But I think OnPoint deserves a bit more dignity than this sponsorship can get us.
TL;DR for the rest of email:
OnPoint is looking for ways to maintain and grow our budget for donation matches and paying the various people that are doing this work for free right now, and I'd like your help deciding how we can do that. Help us out by filling out this form:
We had a really exciting first in July: we exceeded the match amount we have for charity of the month! And despite that we still raise $1800, that’s wild.
I love this and y'alls generosity, but it also meant we weren’t able to match dollar for dollar everyone’s donations for the first time too.
And by “we,” I mean me. The match has been coming from my personal bank account this entire time.
Let me explain.
Giving to local charities has always been very important to me. I saw funding the donation match through OnPoint as a way to increase the impact that my donations were already making.
Smaller non-profits don’t always get the media attention and donations they deserve for all the work that they do. I've been happy to fund OnPoint’s donation match to help shine a light on these non-profits and raise money for them. I have no regrets contributing as much as I have to the betterment of my community.
But I have to admit that funding the donation match personally isn't sustainable and I can’t shoulder this on my own anymore.
In addition, we currently are unable to pay performers or co-producers. Both are as essential as me inputting together the amazing show you see each week. And, of course we couldn't do the show without being given our space for free.
The performers and venues have all been very generous giving us their space and time, but this should be compensated.
So I began thinking about sponsorship and other methods of funding the show. I've been conflicted on sponsorship for a while regarding OnPoint. It has always been self funded so I could support the charities that I and the community want, book the performers I want, and generally be independent. And I don't want a sponsor to get in the way of that.
But I can't do any of those things without slowly draining my savings.
There are 3 Options I’ve thought of for funding, likely we will do a combination of these three but I would appreciate feedback:
1. A Patreon: A crowd funded platform where for a small monthly fee you can support the show in exchange for some kind of benefit, either full recordings of the shows, premium spots of your team on the show, or help in producing your own show.
2. A small percentage of the donations collected at each show is taken to cover operating expenses. (I really don’t want to do this one, but if others think it’s a good idea I’ll do it)
3. Business sponsorship: Ideally this would be a small local business (or multiple) who would be able to provide some funding to be used in the donation match
I want your opinion on this. I want this to be a community decision and I don't want to make the show feel like its becoming too corporate or lessen the impact we have on community. I want this to be our show, however we end up funding it.
-Noah