In a recent message to our Playhouse community, Executive Director Zach Flock writes:
Please indulge me while I geek out over data.
I want to share two charts with you, and see if you reach the same conclusion I did.
The first chart shows our 2025 operating expenses by month.
The second chart shows our 2025 Annual Fund donations by month.
Notice anything?
Here’s what I see. First, our expenses are pretty consistent from month to month, except for start-of-year costs in January.
Second, while expenses are consistent, annual fund donations are not. More than 75% of our annual fund donations don’t come in until the second half of the year. A third of all donations are made in a single day in August on Erie Gives.
For an organization with a very lean budget, that means we’re low on cash for much of the year. Annual Fund donations make up about 20% of our total revenue, so we feel the pinch.
As grateful as we are for every donation – and for the 3-4% match they receive during Erie Gives – we’d really benefit from a more steady flow of donations spread across the year.
In other words, we need the second chart to look more like the first chart.
Our 2026 Annual Fund goal is $275,000. That averages out to just about $23,000 a month. We’re asking our supporters to make an annual fund donation early (why not now?) and often (make it a monthly recurring donation!).
Without the Annual Fund, our average ticket price would increase by $10, pricing a lot of patrons out. The Annual Fund helps make theatre accessible to our entire community!
A year from now, I hope to send an email where the second chart looks more like the first one – 12 months of consistent Annual Fund donations, bringing much-needed stability to our day-to-day operations.
That’s the impact you can have! Let’s do this!
All the best,
Zach Flock
Executive Director
