Pre-Incubator Program

Participant:

Program Term:

02/2012 – 1/2013 Contact:

Jennifer Decker

Executive Artistic Director mildredsumbrella@hotmail.com 832-418-0973 www.mildredsumbrella.com

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Participant Profile:

“Mildred's Umbrella Theater Company seeks to challenge both audiences and theatre artists by creating and performing bold, innovative and new theatrical works grounded in the best traditions of the dramatic arts.

• Incorporated in 02/2004 • 2012 operating budget = $50,000 • Number of Board Members = 10 • Main challenges we faced prior to the Program:

• Board did not know how to be effective • Budget was growing far too slowly • No funds to pay executive director • Executive director did not know how to effectively delegate

Enters the Pre-Incubator Program on Feb 2012

Outcomes Summary What difference did the Pre-Incubator program make?

• Three new board members added, A new president, vice president, treasurer and secretary appointed.

• Board committees created: Strategic planning, marketing and events , financial and development.

• Board books refined and polished and given to all members

• The financial books transferred from the Executive Artistic Director to the treasurer

• New financial policies put into place- internal controls developed

• Marketing exchanges/project collaborations with three other companies.

Dead Man’s Cell Phone, 2012

Use of Funds

Description Amount Type

Executive director pay

2000.00 Admin.

Artist pay 2599.00 Program

Venue rent 1401.00 Admin

Large Animal Games, 2012

•Our 30-50 hour per week Executive director was able to be paid, allowing her to focus more on the company

•We were able to use two professional actors in our production, as well as paying all of the artists a stipend.

•We offset our venue rental for one month, allowing us to elevate our production values in our programming.

Awarded $6000 towards administrative and/or programmatic expenses including contract staff (part-time Executive Director & Technical Director), artist honorarium, & facility rental.

Financial Trend

$31,000

$42,000

$50,000

$0

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$30,000

$40,000

$50,000

$60,000

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FY2011 FY2012 FY2013 FY2014 FY2015

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Revenue Expenses Linear (Revenue) Linear (Expenses)

Actual Projected

Keys to Success • The board has become more enthusiastic

and effective. The members started taking on responsibilities and ownership, so the executive/artistic director was no longer leading the board.

• Fundraising and marketing plans are beginning to form. Our fundraising gala is taking shape months in advance, and a marketing plan has been sketched, and the board and staff are beginning to implement the new plan in time to announce our 2013 season (which begins in July).

• As primary contact, I have learned that the new version of my board is useful and capable, and I have felt comfortable delegating responsibility to them, making our company more productive, as well as stronger administratively.

Museum of Dysfunction 2012

Lessons Learned

– One thing to learn from this is that when you are taking on a project that focuses on administration, you must have a team of people helping with the project from the beginning, particularly if the primary person involved is also dealing with all of the programming. At first, our team was not as involved as it could be, but as we progressed, we started working together to make all of the improvements happen on schedule.

– If everyone is willing to be open to new ways of running the organization, there will be improvement in the structure. We learned a lot about what type of person needs to lead, and how to decide within the structure of the organization what the strengths of each board and staff member are, and how they can do their part to keep things progressing forward. Also, we learned what strengths to look for in new people that we want to bring into the organization to continue our progress.

Kimberly Akimbo, 2012

Summary of Future Plans • Increased revenue - We plan to increase revenue

generated through fundraising, our annual gala, and ticket sales. Future fundraisers will be strategically developed jointly by the board committees. Ticket sales will also contribute to additional revenue through increased attendance from marketing efforts and a marginal increase in ticket prices. Budget increase of 15%.

• Effective board involvement - Board members will have a more effective involvement through the use of setting achievable goals for the board as a whole, for each individual, and for each of the newly created committees.

• Staff - Ensure that no one is overworked by discussing any workload issues with the board and developing a solid volunteer base by maintaining and updating a dedicated email and phone list of volunteers. Increase in artist pay.

• Fundraising – Monster Mash Gala: Continue to maximize the effectiveness of our Annual Gala. Establish co-chairs for the event early on and invite a host committee to commit to the event both monetarily and in name. Build a fundraising pyramid for the event and assign each board member to a role in that pyramid (ie: silent auction solicitation, single ticket sales, corporate underwriting, etc.)

• Keep the Umbrella Open Campaign: Launch a monthly online giving campaign and create special activities and viewing parties to cultivate this group of loyal monthly supporters. This gives Mildred’s a opportunity for a guaranteed monthly revenue stream and the beginnings of a base of a donor group.

Monster Mash Gala , 2012

Haiku

Our search for guidance

led to the incubator

with Jerome and Phil.

The work has begun

Time has been spent to improve.

The future is ours.

The Haiku was hard.

I would have done better with

A Limerick, though.

Large Animal Games, 2012