Thank you for this! I am a public-service worker (and yes, 2010 looks even worse for us) and although I am making it a priority to purchase subscriptions to my local music organizations, plus donate with each one, I can't give the big bucks. What I CAN do is talk up the organizations as much as possible, and purchase tickets to bring friends, encouraging them to also attend.

I agree. In the last year, we signed on OvationTix for our ticketing service (a great option for small to midsized orgs) after using nothing more than notepads and Excel sheets. The tracking is much more informative on OT and one feature is that I can put in donor info and add a donor tag to their info. Curiously, when I run patron/ticket data, that tag doesn't pop up very often, but I do see names that appear for every show that aren't donors. Those are the people I want to thank. "Butts in seats" is just as important as "money in the bank."

Another Twin Cities theatre company, Park Square, has a Golden Ticket club that honors patrons for their years of attendance with things such as valet parking, dining discounts, and special events. They've had a great response to it and after some time with our system, I hope to do the same.

This is a brilliant reminder to keep creating those "deeper connections"... ticket sales DO add up.