Transcript
Kat Fulton, MM, MT-BC: Tell me more about the correlation you have found between building relationships with supporters and then getting actual funding through the funnel so that your position is very solid.
Brittany Tachkov, MT-BC: Well there’s kind of different levels to that. Sometimes it’s quite direct. People want to give to something that’s actually happening. They want to give to a cause. They want to sometimes even give to a person, a client, a family, a response that happens within music therapy. So sometimes that relationship has meant an exact, individual donation in that moment. It doesn’t always happen that way.
Sometimes that relationship gives us information. It tells us where the funders are. It tells us how to speak to them, how to find them, how to look for resources. It becomes a partnership, so that you’re not the only one trying to look through where can we find funding to support what we’re doing.
And then sometimes it just gives a lot of different ideas. I may not have realized that speaking at this one event helped to gain these other kinds of resources. And that relationship gets me to that event, which then gets into that funding.
So sometimes it’s direct, which might feel a little rare. But it can happen as it builds over time. And sometimes it’s this indirect chain that gives… it increases our ability to receive those funds, to get in front of people who may want to support us.
Kat: I have found all that to be true as well, in various capacities. So, at one point, I was offering music therapy to this older adult facility, and the person in charge, the administrator of that facility, fell in love with the way the residents were responding. She was just like overjoyed that she couldn’t keep her mouth shut. She said, “You have to come speak here and here, and I got to introduce you to this person,” and, oh my gosh, she felt like knowing me actually kind of, like, improved her value within her network. And I think when you’re able to do that, it’s jackpot! When you’re able to find a support that…
Brittany: You brought up a really important point too, which is one supporter doesn’t mean that there’s only one person you’ve touched, educated, or advocated with. It’s actually their network. I hear about people talking to their children about the music therapist, at home, or talking to their neighbor, who may be the one that happens to be on a board somewhere… Who knows? But one person isn’t actually just one person. It can be a very expansive relationship.
Kat: I have found all that to be true as well, in various capacities. So, at one point, I was offering music therapy to this older adult facility, and the person in charge, the administrator of that facility, fell in love with the way the residents were responding. She was just like overjoyed that she couldn’t keep her mouth shut. She said, “You have to come speak here and here, and I got to introduce you to this person,” and, oh my gosh, she felt like knowing me actually kind of, like, improved her value within her network. And I think when you’re able to do that, it’s jackpot! When you’re able to find a support that…
Brittany: You brought up a really important point too, which is one supporter doesn’t mean that there’s only one person you’ve touched, educated, or advocated with. It’s actually their network. I hear about people talking to their children about the music therapist, at home, or talking to their neighbor, who may be the one that happens to be on a board somewhere… Who knows? But one person isn’t actually just one person. It can be a very expansive relationship.
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