Funding the arts

MOSES LAKE — Moses Lake nonprofit Columbia Basin Allied Arts will be holding its annual fundraiser and luncheon Saturday, May 11 from noon to 4 p.m. at Moses Lake venue The Garden, formerly known as Jamison’s Event Center.

CBAA Executive Director Shawn Cardell outlined the basics of the event. 

“So we have the (live) auction, the meal, there's music, there's usually another form of entertainment. There's a game that people buy into,” she said. “It really is a significant piece of our annual income. This year, it is at The Garden, which is formerly the Jamison’s Event Center in Moses Lake. It's a really beautiful setting with a gorgeous house and gorgeous grounds, and yeah, it's really fun.”

Cardwell elaborated on the importance of the annual fundraiser for the nonprofit.
“A healthy nonprofit like Columbia Basin Allied Arts has to have a variety of income revenue streams. And that includes, for Columbia Basin Allied Arts, national, state and regional grants,” she said. “It includes donations. It includes earned income, like our ticket sales. And then it also includes usually a fundraiser, sort of an intensive day of donation gathering.”

CBAA has grown and evolved significantly in recent years, Cardwell said. 

“For Allied Arts, maybe 10 to 12 years ago, (the fundraiser) was a lifeline,” she said. “They did it in May, usually, and if they didn't do this fundraiser then they didn't have money to pay their director, and we've come a long way since then. We would still be able to function as a nonprofit, but by showing this healthy income, or having a healthy fundraiser, it helps us in several ways.”

Cardwell said the fundraiser gives CBAA a boost in income when they don’t have any other earned income.

“It allows us to maintain the growth that we've seen, especially over the last four or five years,” she said. “We've gone from being a very localized nonprofit organization to doing regular focused events throughout Grant, Adams and Lincoln Counties, especially in the school districts, but also in public events, spreading the arts and culture throughout the region.”

The fundraiser also helps the organization leverage other funding sources such as grants, Cardwell said. 

“Grants don't want to fund an entire project; they want to show that the community has bought into the programs and organizations as well,” she said. “For every dollar given at our fundraiser, it becomes $2 to $4 in grants later on when we can show that leverage. So it's a super important event.”

The fundraiser itself has also changed in recent years. 

“Over the past few years, kind of starting around COVID like everyone else, we started rethinking our fundraiser,” Cardwell said. “We cannot compete with the large crowds and large income that other organizations, like the Cancer Foundation and Samaritan Foundation, that they're able to bring in. So we thought, why are we doing it like them when we're not really like them? So we've switched to a really lovely daytime sort of luncheon.”

This year, Othello’s The Cow Path Bakery will be providing the meal and dessert, Cardwell said.

“It's really sweet and casual, and it still does include the sort of common pieces; there is a meal,” she said. “There is a short live auction, but really, it's just kind of about having a nice afternoon.”

Cardwell said the organization expects about 100 people to attend the event, which is approximately how many people have attended in previous years, but she said she hopes for more to attend and for the event to grow.

Tickets should be purchased ahead of the event, Cardwell said, and are available at www.cba-arts.org or by contacting CBAA.

Gabriel Davis may be reached at gdavis@columbiabasinherald.com. 

Event Details

The Garden (previously Jamison’s Event Center)
605 E. Nelson Rd, Moses Lake
Saturday, May 11, 12-4 p.m.
Tickets:

• $75 for individual ticket 
• $500 for a table of 8
• $700 for a VIP table

    Columbia Basin Allied Arts Birthday Party fundraiser attendees last April look over auction items at the event. In addition to these items, a sapphire was raffled off to raise money for the programs offered by CBAA.
  

    An attendee at last April’s Columbia Basin Allied Arts fundraiser participates in the balloon pop. Darts could be purchased for a donation to the nonprofit and raffle tickets came out of the balloons as they were popped. The lucky ticket holder then won a sapphire that had been donated for the event.