Week 5:
1st Stage Theatre

January 15, 2014

As I mentioned last week, my goals for the rest of my internship all revolve around this new data system: Altru. This software does ticketing and also includes a searchable database of all the constituents. It helps us keep track of how much revenue we’re generating from each show and how much we receive from individual donors. This software was essential in figuring out next year’s budget, which was just approved yesterday.

Because it’s the beginning of a new year, this week we focused on thanking our donors for their contributions over the past year. Over 200 people donated to 1st Stage last year. We wrote thank you letters to all of them. Mark showed me how to personalize the letters and then I learned to create letterhead and to generate labels from an excel spreadsheet. This mailing makes our donors feel appreciated in addition to letting them know how much they can deduct on their 2013 taxes, so it is a very essential part of learning to run any kind of non-profit.

Later in the week, I will have a chance to see The Gin Game at the Anacostia Playhouse, and then next week, I will be seeing Tribes at Studio Theatre. I’m excited to see both shows for the same reasons I mentioned last week: I want to spy on our competition and I want to expand my theatrical base by getting to know more shows.