Matt and Caleb at the first ever Upstream Arts Annual Meeting and Fundraiser, 2014 (photo: David Luke)
As many of you know, here at Upstream Arts, we’re celebrating our 10th Anniversary as a nonprofit working at the intersection of the arts, disability, and learning! In the 10 days leading up to Give to the Max Day (TODAY!), we’ve been sharing 10 fun facts about our work and our history – which double as 10 great reasons to Give to the Max, toward our big anniversary goal of $100,000 by June 30. Enjoy!
Fun Fact #10: We Have a Goal of Raising $100,000 by June 30
Over the past 10 days, we’ve been sharing a lot of Upstream Arts history and vision with you on this blog. We started out by sharing our Artistic Director Matt Guidry’s story about finding a new possibility for communication with his son, Caleb, through the arts – the root of why we do what we do. One thing we didn’t mention is that our earliest classes took place right in Caleb’s middle school Special Education classroom. In our first year of operations, we served 97 individuals.
Upstream Arts now impacts thousands of people of all ages and abilities annually. But for every one classroom that we work in, there are 3 or 4 more classrooms in the same school that we could be engaging. The fact is, we’re barely scratching the surface. In 2015-16, our 10th Anniversary Year, we are poised to expand our reach and our scope, affecting the lives of so many more individuals with disabilities. And we need your help; you, our community, who have been so critical to our momentum.
We have a goal of raising $100,000 by June 30, 2016 – a bigger stretch than ever before! Between Give to the Max Day and our annual fall appeal, we’re aiming to raise $25,000 this fall to stay on track toward that big anniversary stretch goal.
Can you make a special 10th anniversary gift to Upstream Arts today?
- $10 restocks paint supplies for our programs in Special Education classrooms.
- $100 provides 4 hours of paid professional development for a Teaching Artist.
- $1000 subsidizes a 12-week Upstream Arts residency at a school or adult disability service provider with the fewest resources.
Simply visit us on GiveMN.org TODAY to have your gift counted as part of Give to the Max. Your donation may help us receive an additional donation of $1,000 or even $10,000. How? Every gift made on GiveMN.org today will be entered into an hourly drawing for a $1,000 GiveMN Golden Ticket to be awarded to a nonprofit organization. PLUS, one donation made on GiveMN.org will be randomly selected at noon and at the end of the day to receive a $10,000 Super-Sized GiveMN Golden Ticket! The more gifts we generate on GiveMN.org today, the more our chances increase to receive that additional $10,000 donation.
We also invite you to visit our Donate page if you’d like to mail a check or learn about other ways to support Upstream Arts. No matter how or what amount you choose to give, you’re moving our work upstream into the next 10 years.
Thank you so much for your belief and support!