A Little Door Charge and DOD Sustainability
Why We Will Charge $10 (or $5 sliding scale)
Dear DOD family ~ as discussed before our December dance, we asked for your input and willingness to pay $10 per dance. By overwhelming majority, the answer was YES!
We know this is less than most co-pays, but we also do not want it to be a burden or barrier, so this is what we will do. If you cannot afford $10, then we will accept $5 as our rock-bottom sliding scale price. Granted, it will not cover expenses but will help to keep us going.
To show good will, we will give everyone ONE free dance pass this year. That way if you didn't get this message, or show up at the door without cash, check or a credit card, we will offer one free pass to everyone. Everyone will get the heads-up and forewarning without being turned away.
Subsequent dances you will be asked to pay in order to participate, so please plan ahead to avoid the annoyance of not chipping in. DOD is a non-profit organization and we are a business that needs to be fair to everyone and follow standards. Most exercise classes charge at least $10 and I know of NONE that offer ongoing health screening with diabetes experts at the ready. You get at least $277 worth of health screening and a fun physical activity that will leave you smiling... all for the cost of a trip to Starbucks.
To incentivize this process, we are offering a discount as follows. If you donate $100 minimum starting 12/31/14, you do not have to mess with the door entrance fees. If you come to all dances, this saves you $20. If you donate $200, you can sponsor someone else who will then not need to pay entrance fees.
We have been able to survive on quite some time on a shoestring budget. The past couple of years, we have been very generous, giving BACK thousands of dollars in carrot cash to YOU. Yes, we PAID for those carrot cash dollars out of our budget - they were not a donation from the Farmer's Market Association. What other diabetes organization has paid their participants to attend? Only DOD. Well, that was helpful and a blast to give back, but now we need your help to keep going. Without any corporate sponsors or grants this year, we are really on a tight budget. In fact, some diabetes organizations with over a million dollar budget (that charge participants) have folded this past year. Since we don't have any full-time paid staff, our model is sustainable as long as we raise about $30,000 per year.
If you haven't heard from Theresa personally, please consider this as a plea for support. You can make a tax-deductible donation by
clicking on this link. We will send you the tax-deductible letter and if you donate the $100 or more, we will keep track of it to waive your door entrance fees. There is a section in the donation area where you can note anything, including your participant number.
Happy, Healthy Wishes from Grace