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Author Topic: Digital Fundraising Ideas Robert E. Allen Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1078 From: Checotah, Oklahoma Registered: Jul 2002 posted 05-08-2014 06:57 PM                     Like many small town operators I am now faced with going digital. I have neither that capital or credit to come up with the funds. Do you all (I'm now in Oklahoma so I suppose I should say y'all) have any fund raising ideas that were successful for you? Bob  |  IP: Logged Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 05-08-2014 08:09 PM                        I don't remember, are you one screen or more?  |  IP: Logged Frank Cox Film God Posts: 2234 From: Melville Saskatchewan Canada Registered: Apr 2011 posted 05-08-2014 09:28 PM                        A few of the small weekend theatres around here are now owned by the town that they are located in. I guess they operate on the same basis as a municipal skating rink or baseball park and are subsidized as needed from local tax revenue. I personally would find it difficult to justify donating money to a private business in order to keep that private business in operation, but a few places have apparently managed to make it work that way. I have no idea how they convinced people to donate, though.  |  IP: Logged Robert E. Allen Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1078 From: Checotah, Oklahoma Registered: Jul 2002 posted 05-08-2014 10:21 PM                     I have two screens Mike.  |  IP: Logged Leo Enticknap Film God Posts: 7474 From: Loma Linda, CA Registered: Jul 2000 posted 05-08-2014 10:54 PM                        Frank has put his finger on an important issue. To be clear - your operation is a for-profit business, not a non-profit (501(c))? If you are a 501(c), that instantly opens up a lot of avenues for philanthropic and grant fundraising (as an example, the Alamo Theatre in Bucksport, ME, operates successfully as a non-profit). If the closure of your venue would mean that your city would be without a movie theater, then perhaps trying to relanch it as a non-profit and then going after grant and/or philanthropic funding on the grounds that you're providing an irreplacable public service to your community could be a possible way forward. Finding a good professional fundraiser in your area who knows the arts/cultural sector in your state/city/county would be a good first step in exploring that option, IMHO. But individuals, foundations and grant-awarding bodies aren't going to want to donate to a for-profit business. Quite apart from anything else, the donor couldn't claim a tax write-off, which (s)he could when donating to a 501(c).  |  IP: Logged Stephen Furley Film God Posts: 3059 From: Coulsdon, Croydon, England Registered: May 2002 posted 05-09-2014 08:04 AM                     A lot of British cinemas which received digital projectors under the DSN scheme are probably going to be faced with problems in not too many years time when those projectors need to be replaced because parts are no longer available, they don't meet new security requirements, or whatever. The first ones must be about eight years old now. I think the whole DSN scheme actually came a few years too early.  |  IP: Logged Leo Enticknap Film God Posts: 7474 From: Loma Linda, CA Registered: Jul 2000 posted 05-09-2014 10:04 AM                        Without wanting to sound too much like a know-it-all, agreed completely, and furthermore, this was the opinion I was expressing when the scheme was getting off the ground in the early '00s. My worries included the system being based on a hardware/software spec that was proprietary to a single vendor (Arts Alliance) and the fact that at that point, DCI 1.0 was already in an advanced stage of development - the writing was already on the wall that it was going to happen and that Hollywood was going to take it seriously - and £15m was being spent on a system that was fundamentally incompatible with it in the form that it was being delivered. Furthermore, at that time the cost of film scanners and the post-production equipment and software needed to create 2K d-cinema from film was still so high that only Hollywood could afford it: the idea of small, arthouse distributors or archives using it to encode niche market titles (the justification given for spending taxpayers' money on the project = "freeing arthouse cinema from the tyranny of 35mm" as David Buckingham memorably put it) was not realisitically on the table at that point: rewind to 2003-06 and striking a small number of 35mm prints was still a vastly cheaper and more efficient way of getting your arthouse or re-release movie to the people in Britain who wanted to see it. With the benefit of hindsight, things really started to move in 2009-11 for cinema installations. If the DSN project had been delayed until around now, when the technology has progressed to being able to provide sub-£100k decent cinema installations, and students, indie filmmakers and small archives can create DCPs for them on their desktop computers, it would have been taxpayers' money very well spent, especially if targeted at smaller, arts centre type places that are now struggling to convert. But coming when did, I honestly don't believe it achieved an awful lot.  |  IP: Logged Sally Strasser Film Handler Posts: 16 From: Tupper Lake, NY Registered: Nov 1999 posted 05-09-2014 11:09 AM                     Look for other theaters in your area also in your situation...get together with them and get a crowd source campaign together. In the Adirondacks, 11 small town theaters got together with the local economic development agency and received the attention of State Senator Betty Little...it helped a lot. Most of the theaters have now converted and the State of NY has put funds aside for conversion. You need to partner with a non-profit so the contributions are tax deductible. ANCA of NY put a Razoo crowd source campaign in place...and it worked beautifully! We even collected 1800. just by putting out a jar at the theater and the local diner! Are there state economic grants available? Theaters keep downtowns healthy!  |  IP: Logged Mike Frese Master Film Handler Posts: 465 From: Holts Summit, MO Registered: Jun 2007 posted 05-09-2014 01:58 PM                        So Bob how much are we talking about here? I know it is you, your wife, and your son running this theater. You mentioned earlier that at least you and your wife are not paying yourselves. Is that still the case? Do you ever intend to take a salary or will this largely be a hobby business? Do you have any operating cash flow to pay Scrabble with their financing? Or will you have to rely on donations to fund 100% of the cost of converting? How many years out of the past 15 years has the theater been open? Only about 1.5 - 2 years total right? You have been seeking donations for a while, correct? How much have you been able to raise so far? I believe the best bet for this theater to survive is to officially turn it into a non-profit working with the high school for labor.  |  IP: Logged Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 05-09-2014 02:09 PM                        I don't know what your prices are Bob but I wonder if they're too low. I looked at your Facebook page and saw that you have "$2 Tuesday." What are your regular prices? If I were you I would take a hard look at my prices and keep in mind that you're showing the exact same product as the big cities are....I know you like to have low prices, but there's no reason you should "give away the store." (Just as a point of reference, we charge $7.25 for adults here which is about $2.50 less than the Billings theaters get.) If a ticket price increase is necessary, then just tell people that it is either raise money for digital equipment or go out of business, and ask them which option they would prefer. As for equipment .... there are a couple of ads in Boxoffice for used gear, so maybe that would be a good way to get started. You are going to need a multi-pronged approach to this.  |  IP: Logged Mike Frese Master Film Handler Posts: 465 From: Holts Summit, MO Registered: Jun 2007 posted 05-09-2014 02:17 PM                        Speaking of facebook Bob, you need to post as an administrator and not yourself. The only people who are seeing the posts that show up from "Robert Allen" are people who are your friends and like the theater page both. Which is why your posts get no likes or comments. You should think about boosting your posts (again post as the theater not you). You can get some good reach for as little as $10.  |  IP: Logged Robert E. Allen Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1078 From: Checotah, Oklahoma Registered: Jul 2002 posted 05-09-2014 08:39 PM                     Thanks for the tips guys. I'll keep you informed. My regular admission price is $4 Mike for all ages.  |  IP: Logged Scott Norwood Film God Posts: 8146 From: Boston, MA. USA (1774.21 miles northeast of Dallas) Registered: Jun 99 posted 05-09-2014 08:50 PM                        $4? Wow. Is that for first-run films? Is there any chance that a local bank (maybe with a movie-loving president) might be willing to finance the equipment purchase over a period of time? Agreed with the others that a for-profit business is not really a good fit for "donations." Among other protential issues, there is the problem of what happens to the donations if the amount collected is insufficient, as well as what happens if the donations are collected and equipment is purchased, but the business fails soon thereafter for unrelated reasons. Edit: is there anything that you can do in the theatre building during the day that might bring in rental revenue? Business meetings? Birthday parties? Lectures/screenings for a local college?  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 05-09-2014 08:57 PM                     Not trying to sound rude but you should have been thinking about fund raising for this at least two years ago. Film may disappear before you get digital, some of it already has. People in my area have all tried all the usual fundraising things none of which worked for them. One theater was able to raise about 12K over two years and that gave them a down payment on a leased system (see below). Have you called that leasing company that Christie is running called Scrabble Ventures? I had one customer with no credit... didn't want to put his house up as collateral for the bank either. Local banks are generally a waste of time anyway. Christie gave him a (Cough-Cough) Solaria 1 system just using the projecton equipment as security for secure the lease. He also put down about 12k. I suggest you contact them... If they can structure the lease for you it may work out and it's way better than closing. P.S., Another customer that had great difficulty securing a loan was able to get one through Bank Of America. Mark  |  IP: Logged Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 05-09-2014 09:51 PM                        quote: Robert E. Allen My regular admission price is $4 Mike for all ages. Wow, I don't know how you get away with that. The "per cap" clause in the studio contracts will make that price too low in some cases. That's lower than our PRE-SCHOOL price. Our adult price hasn't been $4.00 since the late 1980s! And you're in a bigger town than we are with twice as many screens as we have. I know you like to be the low cost option for people, but I don't think ANYBODY would fault you if you went to, say, $6.50 for adults and $5.50 for kids. I'm sure your people really appreciate the low, low prices but if they knew those prices are going to put you out of business, do you think they would object if you went up? I don't. You've got to charge what your product is worth. If you gave, say, a month's notice that you were planning a digital upgrade and needed to raise the prices to help pay for it and got an article (and maybe an ad) in the local paper to explain it, unless you are living in the darkest pit of a depressed economy, nobody will have a problem (well, except little old ladies who gripe about everything). You could also go on your morning news-talk show on your local radio station and talk about it. You could also use higher prices to help you secure financing. If you took your attendance figures from the last couple of years and did the math to show how much more money you would be bringing in with updated prices, the bank will look more favorably on it. If you don't have it already, you should also look into screen advertising, which can bring in a good amount of money. I long resisted running pre-show ads myself, but we finally started an ad program in January that is going to help us finance our next upgrade. As of today I have had absolutely zero complaints about it from anyone, in fact I've had some compliments from people telling me the ads are cool because they show local people on the screen. The bottom line is, you're just going to have to show the bank (or whoever) that you can make the payments. If you can't do that....well...  |  IP: Logged

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