When there are so many desperate needs, it can seem frivolous to support something cultural, Rachel Perry told a group of women gathered for snacks and discussion on a Friday evening.
But in Brown County especially, it’s really important to keep arts and cultural programs and outlets thriving, she said.
Fellow members of the Fabulous 50 women’s giving circle agreed with Perry. A majority voted on Feb. 8 to give the Brown County Playhouse their top annual grant award of $10,000.
Fabulous 50 women donate $200 annually into the “circle,” then meet at the beginning of each year to decide how to allocate the money. Each member gets to write a local nonprofit on a slip of paper and three nonprofits’ names are chosen out of a basket at random. The person who put that organization’s name in is responsible for giving a pitch to the group about how it would use the money.
[sc:text-divider text-divider-title=”Story continues below gallery” ]Brown Countians for Quality Healthcare was the second-highest vote-getter, earning a $5,000 grant. Group member Linda Todd said the money will be used to give scholarships to cover the $65-per-month fee at the Brown County Health and Wellness Center for local people in need of healthcare access. Other donors had already covered 18 scholarships, Todd said.
Board members of 70-year-old Brown County Playhouse visited several government and charitable organizations last year to ask for financial support.
Indiana University ran the 425-seat downtown theater until 2010; a nonprofit community group was formed to take it over in 2011. Last year was the first year the group had run in the red. It was coming up about $45,000 to $50,000 short to make expenses, board President Bob Kirlin said last summer. Donations make up 40 to 50 percent of the operating budget, with ticket sales and concessions making up the rest.
Last year’s donation requests brought in around $50,000, Kirlin said last week.
He knew that a Fabulous 50 grant was a possibility, as some members had told him they would put the Playhouse’s name in. But “it kind of caught us by surprise” that the Playhouse actually won.
“I think there’s a lot of ways we could use it,” he said.
The Playhouse will be doing another round of asks this year, starting with offering local businesses a chance to sponsor shows at different levels of giving, Kirlin said.
Not only is the Playhouse a local cultural icon, but it also enables other nonprofits to host fundraisers, Perry told the Fabulous 50 group. For instance, the BETA teen center benefits from the Youth Music Showcase conducted there each March.
The Playhouse also conducts a popular Youth Theater Camp each summer which exposes children to the performing arts. About half those students attend the camp on scholarship, Perry said.
Helping to subsidize that camp so that more children can attend is one of ideas for how to use the Fabulous 50’s gift, Kirlin said last week.
Theater participation helps children in ways that might not be obvious, such as maintaining reading skills, building teamwork and learning to speak in public — “something that apparently a lot of people have trouble with,” Perry said about the “speaking in public” part, as a fellow Fabulous 50 woman had tapped Perry to speak about the Playhouse for her.
St. Vincent de Paul was the third and final nonprofit which the Fabulous 50 women could consider for a grant. The all-volunteer-run, food, clothing and housewares distribution site did not receive enough votes to win any money this year.
The Fabulous 50 women’s giving circle started in 2014 when founder Betsy Lease started recruiting possible donors. The number of local women contributing to the circle often exceeds 50 per year; members are encouraged to find more women to join them. The group also maintains a sustainability fund at the Brown County Community Foundation.
As of this grant cycle, the group has donated a total of $74,721 to 10 local nonprofits, Lease said.
