One Last Gift for YAC

Wayne Andrews, director of the Yoknapatawpha Arts Council. Photo by Mike Stanton, fairtrade-photos.com

Arts Council seeks even small donations to close out 2012

By Wayne Andrews, Director, Yoknapatawpha Arts Council
yacdirector@gmail.com
The rush of the holidays is slowly leaving us. The joy of just a few moments of quiet to reflect on the year and look forward to the New Year are what most of us relish now. It is often the time we think of those who we have lost during the past year and set our goals for the future. It is the possibilities to be found in the New Year which inspire hope, encourage dreams, and set plans in motion.
It is the renewed opportunity each New Year brings that entices resolutions. Included in the resolution are often to be a better person, make time for the family, and the larger vision to make a difference in the world. Just as we make resolutions so do businesses. Non-profit organizations set goals for the year hoping to inspire passion within the organization and to engage their supporters. The building blocks for those grand plans often start not in the New Year but in the old with end-of-the-year donation drives.
Tinseled in thoughtful statements about year-end tax benefits and the season of giving are the first steps to putting New Year’s resolutions into action. It is the opportunity to share the vision for the coming year and build support for coming projects. This year, the Yoknapatawpha Arts Council (YAC) has launched a year-end giving campaign designed to reach out to those who have attended programs sponsored by the YAC.
YAC is supported by donors who become members of the council. The members receive benefit including admission to special events, discounts on classes, free programs, and advance notice of events. Programs supported by YAC reach more than 90,000 people each year in a county with a population of roughly 40,000—which means visitors, tourists, and residents from surrounding counties are attending programs and events sponsored by YAC. Instead of asking for funds from its 1,000 members who have already donated, YAC is reaching out to those 89,000 people who have attended events and are not members.
The impact of every person who has attended a YAC event donating $1 as part of the year-end drive would have a major impact on the ability of YAC to expand programs. A special YAC online fundraiser invites those who have enjoyed the programs to make a donation. Donors can contribute to the Community Art Grant Fund, which provides support to local art events, or to the Endowment Fund, which ensures long term support for YAC, or they can become members and support the annual operation of YAC.
We set a small goal of just $2,500 in our effort to reach out to new donors at the end of the year. Donations can be made online, by calling 662-236-6429, or by mail at YAC, P.O. Box 544, Oxford, MS 38655.
Happy New Year!