STANCE is fucked we need money to continue to exist
Short version: our annual fundraiser brought in half our goal and we had to cancel a concert at a large venue because of COVID and we're barely holding on financially. If we don't make this fundraising goal STANCE will collapse in two months. If we don't smash this goal we won't make it to our next annual fundraiser.
I've seen the numbers (note: I'm on the board) and they are bad. Like real bad. Like we were already struggling because 2024 donation numbers are lower than usual and then bam we lost several thousand dollars because of a cancelled concert.
The thing is we don't have access to the thing most choruses outside the extremely small community level have to survive: middle aged to old rich cishet white people. (And South and East Asian people I guess since we're in Seattle.) We're a bunch of trans people. Some stupid high number of us have been disowned by our families and/or fired from jobs when we came out. We don't have the networks to get the big donors that sip wine at fundraisers and then drop a 5k matching donation for naming a thing.
CW HEY GONNA TALK ABOUT SUICIDE IN THE NEXT TWO PARAGRAPHS
So we get to do the "hey we need some mutual aid so we don't get evicted" thing now which is like, totally on brand for a bunch of trans artists. And the thing is like, STANCE keeps trans people alive. Literally. The number of trans people who stopped trying to kill themselves because STANCE exists is positive. So that's also on brand for "hey we need some mutual aid so we don't get evicted" I guess.
Anyway, if you have money we could use it. If you know someone who is like wow I have these hundred dollar bills and wish I could make the world less shitty for trans people send them our way. We're also happy to sell out to stop have to worry about existing so like, a Microsoft sponsorship or something is also great if you have hookups to that. Tell them it's more cost effective to fund things that keep trans people from wanting to kill themselves than just funding suicide hotlines.
OKAY CW DONE
ALSO POST IS DONE I GUESS
MEOW
This is the choir I’m in. It’s a super important thing in my life and the fact this is happening is devastating. Everyone loves having us around but not enough people want to help keep it that way. Grants are few and far between, rent for rehearsal space is expensive, and it costs money to put on shows — money which only barely comes back in terms of ticket sales, and when a show has to get canceled at the literal eleventh hour due to a COVID outbreak, that hurts, a lot.
This choir saved my life in so many ways. Please consider helping it to stay alive.