Riverfolk Raising Money for Matching Funds Grant with Silent Auction and Party
Manchester’s Riverfolk Music and Arts Organization has been selected as one of 50 nonprofit organizations in Washtenaw County to participate in a 24 hour fundraising opportunity called Give Local Ann Arbor Area. It’s a national day of giving that, in our area, is organized by the Ann Arbor Area Community Foundation (AAACF). Their mission is to enrich the quality of life in our region.
Throughout the day on Tuesday, May 6th every dollar donated to Riverfolk will be matched by the Ann Arbor Area Community Foundation. This opportunity could bring an additional $20,000 to our community to support arts related programming.
For the past 12 years the Riverfolk organization has been dedicated to bringing arts and cultural opportunities to the Manchester area through scholarships to young people, visual arts and music events, such as the Riverfolk Festival, theatrical productions, art and music classes and summer music workshops. They also support other groups such as the Summer Gazebo Concert series and the Cultural Arts Strings program.
For the past several months the Riverfolk board has been discussing how they can build on what they have already been doing and have been brainstorming a vision that would expand performance opportunities and arts events throughout the year; a program that would reflect our community’s and region’s variety of expressive talents and tastes; a program that would create regularly scheduled events and work in concert with downtown businesses to bring activity to their door.
While Riverfolk has always relied on enthusiastic volunteers, building such a program doesn’t come without costs. AAACF’s Give Local campaign will allow Riverfolk to build up the seed money to make a year round cultural events program possible, while continuing to support and expand their current arts workshops, scholarships, and performance activities.
To help raise funds for the matching funds grant, Riverfolk will be hosting a silent auction. Starting on April 30th auction items will be displayed in the window of the Wild Accorn and can be bid on all that week. The auction will end on May 6th with an event at the Wild Accorn that will include live music and food. The catch to the Matching Funds Grant is that all monies that are to be matched must be donated that day, not before and not after.
Riverfolk will welcome your contribution online and in town at their event at The Wild Acorn. For every dollar donated on Tuesday May 6th, the AAACF will contribute an additional dollar. So your $10 will mean $20 to our community, your $100 will mean $200…up to $10,000 in donations would be matched by an additional $10,000.
The May 6th GiveLocal event is an online event. Wherever you are – at the Wild Acorn, or at work, or at home, or a beachside hotel in Hawaii – you can log onto the Give Local site, select your favorite non-profit (Riverfolk Music and Arts Organization), and, with a credit card, make your donation on their secure system.
If you don’t have a credit card, or are uncomfortable with online transactions, you can still participate. Write a check to Riverfolk Music and Arts Organization. Write ‘Give Local’ in the notes and get it to Riverfolk on or before May 6th (you can even bring it by the Wild Acorn event on May 6th). Riverfolk will enter the contribution on your behalf, and Give Local will match your donation!
Raising $20,000 in one day might be a dream for some, for Riverfolk it’s a goal, and with your help, a reality.
More information about Riverfolk Music and Arts Organization can be found at: www.riverfolkfestival.org/. More information about the Ann Arbor Area community Foundation can be found here www.givelocalannarborarea.org.
You must be logged in to post a comment Login