“You know what your choir should do to fundraise? Do more performances in the community! It’s a lot easier to do a 15-30 minute performance to raise a couple hundred bucks than to sell cookie dough or wrapping paper!”
– Many People
Here’s a breakdown of the reality of these performances, based on a recent runout performance.
Amount Fundraised: $200 donation
Total time of performance: 30 minutes
Additional time for students to be called to warm up, prep for performance: 45 minutes (actually 60 minutes, due to event running long)
Additional time for director to arrive ahead of students and stay after: 30-60 minutes
Rehearsal time on logistics: 15-20 minutes
Rehearsal time on special musical prep, solo auditions, etc.: 30-45 minutes
Logistics time (phone calls, emails, etc.): 60 minutes
For that thirty minute performance, the director logged at least 4 1/2 hours, and the ensemble as a whole logged 30-40 person-hours specifically for this performance. This is to say nothing of the individual time rescheduling other commitments, building homework around this extra time commitment, etc.
Don’t get me wrong, I think that outside performances are incredibly valuable in many ways. I just don’t think that we take in the whole picture when we describe it as a “quick” and “easy” way to raise money for the choir.