Year-End Giving is Easy!

It is the time of year when you may be receiving a fair share of requests in the mail from various organizations throughout the city, the state and the country, asking for your consideration when planning your year-end charitable giving. Let me add the voice of the Ambassadors of Harmony to that stack of requests.

As you probably know, the way we fund our activities throughout the year is through the revenue generated from the seven shows we put on stage at the Touhill Performing Arts Center. This year we saw a slight increase in the net returns from the June shows, and one of the best Decembers in recent memory. While that is certainly good news, remember that if we had been scheduled at the Touhill just one week later, we would have lost 40% of the December revenues with the Saturday shows being canceled due to weather conditions. That is the very scenario we are hoping to mitigate against by holding the Gala in 2017. But even if we never have a weather-related cancellation of any performances, the fact remains that the growth of expenses continues to outpace the growth in revenues. 

We are committed to funding our youth initiatives, some of which are fixed (the $1000 Scholarship), others of which are extensible to impact even more young people, but funding is a limiting factor (Think Acappellooza Summer & Fall, AcaFest, even the Recruits Chorus). 

For the chorus itself, there are expenses for props, outfits, music royalties, bus rentals for the MMEA and SWACDA trips, services at Touhill, operating expenses (the running of the chapter), truck expenses, insurance, travel reimbursement assistance and on and on. Guess which of those expense categories comes in lower year over year - right, none of them. They continue their modest growth, which when added up, outpace our increases in revenue. We can increase ticket prices, but we would run the risk of pricing ourselves out of reach for some people.

It's a delicate balance, and you have the power to influence our success. In your year-end planning for charitable contributions, please look no further than the organization that brings light into your life, and into the lives of your friends and family. Where else can you turn for such an incredible return on investment? No one but you can know what is best for you, but a charitable donation to the Ambassadors of Harmony will return as much value to you as almost anything else. Your support will be greatly appreciated.

There are two great ways to make a difference. You can make a direct tax-deductible gift to the Ambassadors of Harmony, or you could make your reservations to attend our Gala event on February 10th. We would love it if you'd choose to partner with us to fill St. Louis and beyond with harmony!



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