Sandi
Wright
YSF Breakfast, Nashville 2009
Last year The Young Singers Foundation
invested $3,000 in the choir at Boys & Girls Town of Missouri. Boys & Girls Town
takes the kids nobody wants. Their parents are in prison. Or they were kicked
out of the house. These kids have been sexually or physically abused - or both.
Many have been neglected to the point where the parent disappears for weeks at
a time leaving 12 year olds to care for younger brothers and sisters with no food
or means of support. Abandoned kids. Homeless youths. Incorrigibles and Juvenile
delinquents. The kids that would have been in orphanages or reform schools back
in the 30s.
Boys
& Girls Town provides therapy, and safety, and structure -- and music. These children
from - toddlers to young adults - don't understand why they were mistreated or
hated or left alone. They are full of rage and they have emotions that are so
bottled up that they either completely shut down or they explode. And do you know
what helps these vulnerable and fragile young people most? Music. Drama. Art.
It's
miraculous to watch emotions that have been suppressed for years, bubble up and
come out when lyrics touch some long forgotten memory. When the act of verbalizing
an emotional message is attached to a sound that starts in the pit of the stomach
comes up and over the vocal cords and travels out of the body which has suppressed
these feelings for years -- it is cleansing and it is most definitely healing.
The
word "Emotion" is translated from the Latin e + motum. Out motion. Taking what
is inside and moving it out - that is emotion.
Darryl
is a former gang member and drug dealer. He was arrested for shoplifting, shot
by a rival gang member, expelled from school for fighting, and his mother just
gave up on him. She told him she could no longer support him or his bad behavior,
and she kicked him out of her house - all of this was totally confusing to Darryl
whose mother occasionally prostituted herself to buy food, and had numerous boyfriends
over the years - one of which was the very man who got Darryl into dealing drugs
in the first place. When Darryl was 17, the police picked him up and he was sent
to Boys & Girls Town to get him off the streets and out of his toxic environment.
He sat through choir in a chair at the back of the room, but he never sang. The
music director, Brent Copeland, didn't make him sing. But Darryl did have to attend
the vocal music class. Day after day, the choir rehearsed, and on one occasion,
Mr. Copeland actually thought he saw Darryl begin to move his lips. A few more
days passed and Mr. Copeland actually began to hear sounds coming out of Darryl.
Not loud sounds, but he was attempting to sing.
And
one day, the choir was singing a song called "I Believe" made popular by American
Idol champion, Fantasia. The lyrics go: "When you look out in the distance You
see it never was that far. Heaven knows your existence And leads you to be everything
you are. There's a time for every soul to fly, It's in the eyes of every child.
It's the hope, the love that saves the world. And ohhh we should never let it
go. 'Cause everything is possible if you believe." Darryl felt something stir
deep in his gut. What was deeply and safely locked inside Darryl began to move.
Emotion. Outward movement.
Tears
began rolling down Darryl's cheeks and he began to sing. "I believe in the impossible
If I reach deep within my heart. Overcome any obstacle. Won't let this dream fall
apart. See I strive to be the very best. Shine my light for all to see. 'Cause
anything is possible When you believe." Darryl was singing. All the years of pent
up anger…all the frustrations of wanting a dream and knowing it was not possible…all
the blocked joys and passions came out in song.
Music.
Singing. It's life saving and soul saving and therapeutic. That's why we do it,
and that's why we take our passion out into the world. Emotion.
Thanks
to the Young Singers Foundation, Darryl is changing his life. Music reaches people
when therapy cannot, and the donation from the Young Singers Foundation to Boys
& Girls Town of Missouri is healing the holes in hearts of children who were let
down by the very people they loved and trusted most.
The
mission says it all: The Young Singers Foundation is committed to enriching the
lives of young people by supporting the educational and performance opportunities
in vocal music.
Every
donation made enriches the lives of young people. What an amazing gift you give
when you enrich a life. Music changes lives. I used to see it every day at Boys
& Girls Town, and I see it every Tuesday night at my chorus rehearsal.
These days when the economy has tanked and membership has decreased, it's no wonder
that we who are fundraisers worry for the future. But then we have to remind ourselves
of our mission. The Young Singers foundation is committed to enriching the lives
of young people through vocal music. What an exciting mission.
So
what do we know about today's philanthropic trends? There has been a lot of research
done on what motivates donors. While recognition, peer pressure, guilt, and the
quest for immortality may still be a motivator, it's important to realize that
a younger generation of donors and the rising role of women in philanthropy have
added some new motivations that can prove beneficial to organizations like ours.
Thirty-somethings
and forty-somethings who are very successful made their wealth by being the creators
of ideas, products and services. They're used to being involved in the creation,
implementation, and evaluation of projects. They respond to outcomes. They want
to be involved.
In
some communities, the young descendents of the wealthy families have departed
from the philanthropic traditions of their parents and grandparents. They are
directing their money towards programs with high social impact rather than those
with high social recognition.
It
is the same with many emerging women philanthropists. All the recent studies about
women's philanthropy distinguish it from men's philanthropy with one common conclusion:
women get involved first, and then they give. They are less apt to respond to
peer pressure, and more apt to follow their own hearts.
The
younger generation of donors shares some of that same profile, and is also less
apt to give for recognition only. In fact, some shy away from recognition entirely.
They are not as impressed with a plaque as they are the feelings they get for
doing good. Emotion. Taking what is inside and moving it out.
Three
basic motivations of today's donors are Connection - Concern - and Capacity.
If
you focus on capacity - only hitting up the people and corporations that have
lots of money, we are missing a key ingredient - emotion. Successful fundraisers
today concentrate on connecting donors first, and giving them the information
that will cause them to be interested in or concerned about our mission. Emotion.
We enrich the lives of young people. We change lives through vocal music.
If
someone is concerned and passionate about young singers in your community, then
you can bring her closer by building the relationship and creating the connection.
That is precisely why the majority of donors to the Young Singers Foundation are
made up of members of Sweet Adelines International. They fit the profile of the
modern philanthropist. They are connected to our mission of enriching the lives
of young people though vocal music because their lives have been enriched. There
is a concern that as school vocal music programs are cut, young people will not
have the life changing, enriching experience that they have had through membership
in their choruses.
What
we now have to do is find - or create -- those connections outside our organization.
We should be getting the names of the parents and grandparents whose children
are part of the Rising Star Contest. They are connected and concerned, and many
will have the capacity to give. There are community choruses and church choirs
that have members who are connected and concerned, and many of them will have
the capacity to give.
There
are professional singers who have become stars because of vocal music, and their
lives have been generously enriched by singing. Many of these stars have foundations
of their own, and they are connected, concerned, and have the capacity to give
generously.
If the capacity to give is large and the connection and concern are solid, it
is a winning combination. Without the connection and the concern, capacity alone
will not a donor make! Even the word "motive" and "motivation" has its Latin roots
in the word "motum" - music "moves" people. Emotion.
Motivation
is an internal issue. It comes from within. Something happens when you see a donor
connect with the values, mission, and vision of organizations like the Young Singers
Foundation. Sometimes it's as though there's an audible "click."
Motivation
grows out of values. Part of the "click" is the sound of values matching. If you
have cancer, you will be more inclined to give to cancer research. If you are
alumni of a college, you will be more inclined to donate to that college. If you
are grateful for your wealth, you will be more inclined to donate to the underprivileged
and homeless. And if you sing, you may be inclined to encourage others to experience
vocal music. Your capacity for how much you give is not so much based on how wealthy
you are, than it is based on how much your life has been enriched by the experience.
Keeping
existing donors connected with the mission of the music maintains motivation.
Motivation is ignited by the passion that comes from involvement and belief in
the mission.
We
don't have to ask people for money. We are asking for an investment in a mission
that enriches the lives of young people by supporting the educational and performance
opportunities in vocal music. We aren't teaching kids to sing. We are taking kids
like Darryl and, through singing, years of being neglected and abused and hungry
and tired - years of bad behavior and not believing he would live to be 20 years
old - years of no money, no hope, and no future - all of that could be turned
around with a song.
You
do such good work. You support organizations that change lives through music.
You support the future performers and songwriters that will go on to change lives.
Music moves people. It takes what is inside and moves it out. E motum.
I
cannot thank Sweet Adelines International enough for enriching my life. And I
have witnessed first hand what it has done for women in my own chorus, young women
who have discovered barbershop through the Young Women In Harmony program, a group
of 30 Sweet Teens whose hopeless lives were put on hold once a week when they
came together to sing hopeful songs, and for kids like Darryl - who was thrown
away by his own mother and found a life line in a song called "I Believe."
Don't
ever think of yourself as a fundraiser. You, my friends, are life changers. And
the emotion you put into your message will - just like the lyrics of the song
- move something inside a potential donor that will assist in enriching the lives
of young people by supporting the educational and performance opportunities in
vocal music.
Thank
you so much for the incredibly important work you do.
