Rainy days pinch nonprofit’s bottom line
Discover Lansdale outlines events, expenses
LANSDALE >> With the 2019 budget for Lansdale Borough set to be approved later this month, the local nonprofit behind the town’s biggest events has given an update on their financials for the year.
Local nonprofit Discover Lansdale gave council and the public details on their past year expenditures during council’s Nov. 20 meeting.
“We had a great year at Discover Lansdale, and that is thanks in part to the generosity of the borough and all of its residents,” said Discover Lansdale Vice President Richard Strahm.
Over the course of 2018, Discover hosted First Fridays every month, when weather allowed, and played leading or supporting roles for other downtown events including Lansdale Day, the summer “Under the Lights” car show, Founders Day in August, the Cruise Night in September, and more.
Discover also added what organizers hope will be a permanent event in 2018: the “Frachthaus 0.5K”, a fundraiser meant to raise awareness of, and funds for, restoring the borough freight station at Broad and Vine Streets.
“We do it all without paying people to put all of this stuff on. The board and volunteers are all just that: volunteers,” Strahm said.
A volunteer fair in spring 2018 helped match up prospective volunteers with projects and events, and Strahm said it produced over 2,000 volunteer manhours for events over the course of the year.
“Imagine, if one full-time employee did all of these things. You can’t imagine it, because it’s impossible,” he said.
“If it wasn’t for the volunteers that we had, we couldn’t do what we do, and if the borough or any other entity had to pay people to do what we do, it would cost much, much more than $50,000,” Strahm said.
The $50,000 figure is the annual contribution included in the borough budget for the nonprofit, and Strahm broke down the nonprofit’s expenses by category during his presentation to council on Nov. 21.
Lansdale’s birthday is the nonprofit’s biggest expense each year, with the late August Founders Day celebration typically responsible for the single largest expense of the year — the fireworks show that ends the day’s events.
First Fridays are the nonprofit’s second largest cost, with large expenses including performing artists, equipment and vendors, according to Strahm.
Next on the expense list are the Discover Lansdale magazine, which previews events and shares stories about certain aspects of the town, and Discover and its volunteers try to keep overhead costs as low as possible, according to Strahm.
“Every nonprofit has overhead: things like keeping the phones on, running your web services, supplies, and things like that. It is a small slice of our pie,” said Strahm.
The largest annual revenue source for Discover Lansdale is sponsorships and donations for Founders Day, followed by ad sales for the Discover magazine. Other revenue sources include entrance fees for events like the car show, and for First Fridays, though Strahm said generating revenue for the nonprofit from the monthly events is far from the main goal.
“Our First Fridays are to
“We have wonderful support from local businesses. That support is voluntary. There’s no way that we could, nor would we want to, force or coerce people into participating,” he said.
Councilwoman Carrie Hawkins Charlton said she’s always glad to attend First Fridays, as an elected official and a parent.
“As a mom, it’s great to go to First Fridays. The parents there are so excited, all the children’s events are free. A lot of friends go there with parents that can’t afford to really do a lot with ids, and I’m happy they can go there for a night and enjoy a night out and not really have to spend much money,” she said.