Door County Folk Fest Fundraiser

Greetings Friends of Ethnic Dance and Music:

I'm Paul Collins, director of the Door County Folk Festival (Door County, Wisconsin) - www.dcff.net, where our motto is "Get Your Foot in the Door!"

I've initiated this “Go Fund Me Campaign” for the Door County Folk Festival (DCFF) with the goal of making the Festival solvent now and moving forward. 

To do this we need to retire the remaining debt from the 2017 Festival and raise start-up funding for 2018 Festival planning activities, where we will institute changes to maintain solvency in the future.

It is indeed amazing that in just 5 weeks, 60+ donors have taken us to 82% of the fundraising goal!

(GoFundMe has recorded 60 donors, but some donors have been groups that contributed aggregate amounts).

We thank those of you who have donated.

We also thank the nearly 2,600 visitors to this GoFundMe page.

If you’ve not yet made a donation, please consider contributing generously (to the best of your ability) to help us meet or exceed our fundraising goal!

I continue to reach out to various communities who are passionate about honoring and sustaining America's diverse cultural heritages, including:

 * current and past Festival participants
 * other members of the IFD (International Folk Dance) community
 * lovers of ethnic/folk dancing, music and singing
 * members of ethnic communities who recognize and appreciate how the
    IFD Community honors, celebrates and preserves their ethnic cultures
    and traditions
 * others who have an interest in the success of participatory,
    hands-on festivals like this one

While we cannot offer a premium "thank you gift" to contributors at this time, we have set up contribution levels in a "premium-like" way, using a theme around our motto. Contributing at these suggested levels will help us attain our goal; however, you may donate any amount and it will be gratefully welcomed.

The Door County Folk Festival produces a very "user-friendly" and enjoyable extended weekend of dancing and camaraderie in July, offering options for people of all levels of dancing/singing ability, experience and interest. The Door County location itself (NE Wisconsin) offers many activities and experiences for non-dancing families, friends, significant others, etc.

The Festival maintains a congenial, relaxed community atmosphere where participants:

 * learn unusual and remarkable dancing and singing styles in workshops
 * celebrate and engage in a variety of ethnic heritage activities
 * socialize, connect and share experiences with old and new friends

Success in raising this funding will enable the Festival to:

 * remit fees due to vendors, instructors and musicians
 * get an earlier start to the overall planning and budgeting processes that will help
    the Festival to:
 
        * develop programs/activities of higher interest
           to our audience, in order to increase attendance
        * minimize or eliminate costs in programs/activities
           less relevant to our audience
        * improve our community service program that
           brings festival activities and entertainment to
           Door County Senior Citizens
        * enhance our cultural and creativity offerings
           provided to Door County Youth Activity programs
        * ensure our pricing model keeps the Festival
           affordable for participants while we improve how
           we factor in vendor charges, instructor/musician
           fees, travel expenses and contingencies for
           un-expected price increases
        * revamp the  way we fund and operate the
           work scholar program that enables students and
           others with limited means to participate,
           in exchange for on-site administrative work

 * prepare the Festival marketing team for an earlier start to 2018 outreach
    and publicity in order to:

        * develop/maintain stronger relationships with
           International Folk Dance (IFD) groups/leaders
           within our market
        * improve messaging/connections to our primary
           IFD audiences in the Midwest
        * strengthen our outreach to known IFD audiences
           outside of our immediate market
        * discover/reach out to other IFD audiences

We are extremely grateful that you have considered becoming a Festival contributor.

This Campaign began on August 18th and runs through September 30, 2017.

We ask you to:

     * make a generous donation to help us exceed our fundraising goal
     * leave a comment describing one of your most memorable experiences at DCFF
     * forward this request to a friend or colleague who might be interested in helping

I’d like to thank a close dancing friend and his sister (who prefer to remain anonymous) for suggesting this "crowdsourcing" method (GoFundMe) as a way to help the festival move towards a bright future.

If you prefer to Contribute Offline:  DCFF, P O Box 25548, Chicago, IL 60625

FYI: Next year's scheduled Festival dates are Wed-Sun, July 11-15, 2018.

Sincerely,
Paul Collins