Thank You for a Successful Spring Appeal Campaign!

Our Annual Spring Appeal came to a succesful close at our April Live Music Mixer on April 20.

Music Lessons alone don't work. What does work is the instruction, encouragement and support that can only come from a community of Teaching Artists, administrators, parents, students, and members of the lareger community who care about and are willing to invest in the healthy development of children.

This YACM Community helps children develop the habits and disciplines of excellence. Tuition and fees paid by parents do not cover the full cost of the services provided. Other sources of support come from business sponsorships, grants, fund-raising events, and parent volunteers.

This year our goal was to raise at least $40,000 in loans and contributions to address a lingering debt that has been carried over from year to year due to external events that undermined the YACM business model.

With the conclustion of the Spring Appeal, we have successfully raised over $55,000 in loans and cash contributions.

Our efforts began in January of this year.

Travis Credit Union contributed $5,000 in an unrestricted gift. This was followed by a $5,000 cotribution by the Marcus family. The Spring Appeal raised an addictional $5,000 with one family experessing a desire to build additional contributions into their family budget.

One family donated a vehical to Cars 4 Cars, an innovative nonprofit funding agenciy who will sell your used car and give 70% of the proceeds from the sale to the nonprofit organization of your choice.

An additional $40,000 was committed to YACM in the form of loans.

These loans allows YACM to continue to opearate without being burdened by the lingering debt by spreading out the impact of the debt over time.

A major in-kind contribution came from Michaels, Ross, & Cole, (MRC) a computer softward company in Chicago, IL.. They donated a license to use their enterprize database platform. Tyler Wassell, a Program Manager at MRC is donating his time to serve as YACM database manager. This contribution amouts to tnes of thousands of dollars in value and significantly increasea YACM's administrative efficiency.

The future of YACM is secured by:

1. The quaility of the YACM Community.

2. The financial constributions of members of the board and YACM parents.

3. The successful recruitment of new Teaching Artists for the Conservatory.

4. The renewed commitment of school principals and parent associations to Music Matters .

5. The enthusiasm and commitment of students and parents in Solano Youth Theatre.

6. New efficiencies that have been put in place by our new automated registration, accounts recievable, and student management systems donated by Michaels, Ross, & Cole of Chicago, IL and the work of Tyler Wassell, our pro bono database manager.

Thank you to all the parents, teachers, staff, and community leaders who have enabled us to reach and exceed our fund-raising goals for the 2014-2015 season!