Congratulations to all our Inside Out supporters; you did it again! Inside Out Executive Director Scott Ferguson announced at last night’s screening at the Bloor Cinema that our Fall fundraising goal, to meet Chris Black and Paul Butler’s $30,000 matching gift challenge, has not only been met, but exceeded.
Chris and Paul agreed to sponsor a fundraising campaign that would match all donations made to Inside Out until December 31st, 2004, to a maximum of $30,000. You responded with gifts ranging from those wonderful "this is all I’ve got right now and I’m giving it to Inside Out" $10 gifts to an amazing $7000 gift from Daniel Bain and Thornmark Asset Management Inc. It all came to a grand total of $32,000.
In issuing their own reaction to the success of the fundraising campaign, Paul and Chris made their own surprise announcement:
"We are thrilled that the Inside Out community more than met our challenge. Fundraising can be tough for organizations that focus on queer artists. When we heard that Inside Out had raised an incredible $32,000, we decided to increase our donation to match the total. Thanks to everyone who donated their time and money to this campaign, and helped support this amazing organization."
Scott Ferguson added, "$32,000 is the highest amount Inside Out has raised in a matching gift campaign. Our previous record had been $16,000. It’s great to see how large matching gifts from lead donors like Chris and Paul are inspiring the LGBT community to support Inside Out."
Inside Out is establishing itself as a leader, in the area of charitable giving, among arts organizations, and in particular among queer cultural organizations. In 2001, Inside Out secured a five-year gift from philanthropist Mark S. Bonham totalling $750,000.
If you’d like to know more about how you can support Inside Out, please call Sam D’Alfonso, Director of Development at 416-977-6847 or e-mail him at sam@insideout.ca
