So we have dues that are paid by the Windward Choral Society members and we send out letters for donations and apply for grants (Jan, you are awesome) and every two years have a massive blowout fundraising monster. Why? What does a chorus need money for? Yeah, a few bucks here and there for music and a place to sing but there can’t be much can there?

Guess again. The list is long and some things are kinda spendy so I thought I’d give you a quick tour of where your donations go. You may be surprised at the list (unless you’re on the Board of Directors in which case you will just hold your head in your hands thinking about how much fun it is to manage a budget).

First, the monthly expenses that you just can’t avoid (like water and electricity in your house). Rental for the rehearsal hall, storage for the music, maintenance of the web site, software, stuff like that.

Next, the things we need so that we can be a chorus like sheet music, copying, folders (please purchase one, they’re really, really good) and insurance.

If we don’t have someone to lead us and play for us we’d probably just sit in rehearsal with nothing to do, so we have professionals to guide us. A professional Director and a professional Accompanist are essential and ours are two of the best on the island. The Blogmeister would be happy to do these jobs for free and save a fortune. Of course, I can’t play the piano and only wave my arms when I need a taxi at the airport but hey, you get what you pay for.

How about the items necessary to do the fundraising needed for us to survive? And yes, you have to have a budget for the money to buy the things to put money into the budget. A vicious circle to be sure. Things like printing and postage add up quickly.

Of course, what’s a chorus without an audience? Concerts have a long list of needs and none of them (sadly) are free. Advertising, creation and printing of programs, guest musicians, rental for the venue and a whole bunch of other details and doodads.

There’s also a bunch of not-so-musical things and people. Our membership in Chorus America and other nationwide organizations is a constant source of information, inspiration and things we use every week but they aren’t free. And unless Susie grows wings and flies (which would be the coolest thing EVER), we need to get her to the meetings and conferences that help feed the musical machine. We also have to pay taxes. No, really. If money moves out of a wallet in Hawaii you pay General Excise Tax which means we pay to maintain our non-profit status and then pay again when we get a donation. I guess that helps us not make any profit?

Humans. Yes, there are humans needed. We have to send ridiculous mounds of paperwork to the government and it needs to be right or we become even MORE non-profit. The IRS has no sense of humor at all so that means a Bookkeeper and an Accountant to keep us from getting fined by the money-sucking vacuum cleaner that is the world of taxes.

How does this all keep itself straight? It doesn’t, it needs another human to do it and so we have our Administrative Assistant to do it and she is seriously badass. The smartest thing our Board ever did was hire Karyn and we would be lost without her. Really lost. Deep-in-the-woods-in-the-rain-in-the-dark lost.

So there you have it. There’s a lot more to the budget (pages and pages of it), but I think you get the idea. As I’ve said before, there is no Windward Choral Society without donations and volunteers…and we’ll get to that second one another time. As always, don’t be shy about asking a Board member questions if you have them.