High Spirits Choir - Welcome

Dear Singers and Friends of High Spirits Choir,

High Spirits Choir is one of the many arts organizations that recently had its provincial funding grant cut.  The choir has been fortunate to receive an annual grant for the past several years, and consequently we have relied heavily on the grant to maintain a balanced budget. We are an outreach choir providing free concerts to those who normally would not have access to live, uplifting music.  Our outreach program includes seniors’ care homes, hospices and community centres.  Also, no singer is ever turned away from the choir for financial reasons.  When we learned that we wouldn’t be receiving our grant this year, we revised our budget as much as we could.  However, we are still anticipating a shortfall of $8000 for this current fiscal year, which is September 2009 to August 2010.

To help us in our fundraising, one of our singers has been promoting “Song Sponsorships” for our upcoming concert.  His efforts have been quite successful and most, if not all, the songs for the January 2010 Winter Concert will be sponsored.  Another singer is researching possible lottery fundraisers which may be suitable for us.  And of course, having a full audience at our Winter Concert will help as well!

To help us in our fundraising efforts, would you consider making a donation to the choir?  High Spirits is a registered charity (The Vancouver High Spirits Choral Society) and so you would receive a tax receipt for your donation. Donations received before the end of December will receive a tax receipt for this calendar year.

We have come up with several sponsorship opportunities, which are as follows:
Ø       Sponsor a lady’s choir blouse (the portion the choir pays) for $35
Ø       Sponsor a partial subsidy for one term of choir dues: $85
Ø       Sponsor a week’s cost for our rehearsal space:  $70
Ø       Sponsor a full subsidy for one term for choir dues: $165
Ø       Sponsor a set of scores (music) for a new song:  $250
Ø       Sponsor a year’s website operation: $400
Ø       Sponsor a season’s cost for our rehearsal space: $1,120

And of course any other monetary donations are welcomed and appreciated!
If you have friends or family members who may wish to contribute, we would hope that you will ask them.    

Sponsorship donations can be mailed directly to our treasurer at the following address:
High Spirits Choir
c/o Martin Gerson
911 West 22nd Avenue
Vancouver BC V5Z 2A2

And if you wish to make your donation by Visa, we can accept the payment over the phone. The most convenient way to do this would be to phone me at 604-732-7418, because I will be around over the holidays. Or we can arrange a time for you to connect with Martin.

Thank you so much for your help, and have a wonderful holiday!
Ieva Wool, Director of High Spirits Choir