Support Birch Creek
When you contribute to Birch Creek, your gift touches and often helps change the lives of promising young musicians. You may be inspired to give because music has personally graced your life and you want to pass the gift along. You may give to celebrate, honor, or memorialize the life of someone you love. You may give an annual gift or through a matching program with your employer. You may want to include a bequest in your will or a deferred gift in your estate planning.
We welcome your help in keeping music alive at Birch Creek!
Play it Forward Annual Fund
The support of our donors helps us continue to fulfill our mission: to provide intensive, performance-based instruction to promising young musicians by immersing them in a professional, mentoring environment.
The Play It Forward Annual Fund is the organization’s annual fund used for operational expenses and is the fund that bridges the gap between tuition paid by families and the true cost of program delivery. Did you know that every student automatically receives $2,700 in reduced tuition because of your support to this annual fund?
Actual Cost of a Student’s Education: $5,100
Play It Forward Annual Support: $2,700
Student/Family’s Cost: $2,400
We want to ensure that our tuition fees are affordable to most families by covering the gap between the cost of educating a Birch Creek student and the family’s out-of-pocket costs, while also raising additional tuition assistance dollars to help those for whom even our subsidized tuition is a challenge.
Donation Levels
Leadership Circle: $10,000 and above
Director’s Circle: $2,500 to $9,999
Faculty Circle: $1,000 to $2,499
Encore: $250 to $999
Mentor’s Circle: $100 to $249
Bravo: $1 to $99
Endowment
The Birch Creek Endowment establishes a firm financial base that ensures the stability of Birch Creek, its educational programs for young musicians and concerts for the community long into the future.
The Endowment, managed by the Door County Community Foundation, consists of four funds:
Building for Tomorrow Fund – used for capital expenditures
Lifetime for Education Fund – supports essential educational components such as faculty salaries, musical instruments, library acquisitions and guest artist fees
Now and Forever Fund – supplements donations for day-to-day operations
Scholarships Forever Fund – partially underwrites student tuition through scholarships
A minimum gift of $5,000 is required to establish a sub-fund within one of these four Funds. The donor’s principal is not touched and new gifts may be added to increase its value at any time. Once a sub-fund reaches a principal value of $20,000, lasting naming rights become available and include the naming of faculty chairs, academic programs and buildings. Birch Creek will work with donors to reach a $5,000 minimum over time, and to help their sub-fund grow thereafter to attain naming rights benefits. A few options for giving could include the required minimum distribution from an IRA and gifts of stock.
For information on setting up a sub-fund in the Birch Creek Endowment, please call Mona Christensen at Birch Creek: (920) 868-3763. Smaller gifts in any amount are welcome at any time and are permanently placed in one of four General Funds of the Endowment as designated by the donor.
Capital Gifts
Over the last three years several exciting projects were initiated and completed that updated and stabilized the infrastructure of our campus. This effort required multiple grantors and donors to help us reach our goals. Their support helped us overcome infrastructure inefficiencies while continuing to provide a safe environment for our students and the public.
Your support is essential and critical! Become a part of keeping the magic alive in the barn and all over campus. Just choose Play It Forward from the drop-down menu on our online donation form, or note infrastructure on your check. At any time, you may call at (920) 868-3763 for ways to help.
Then … wait for the changes to begin!
Projects include:
Rebuilding the barn’s North upper wall
New theater stage lighting in the concert barn
Upgrading electrical service and burying power lines
Bringing high speed internet to the property for business operations and instruction
Installing a campus master keying system
Purchase and installing a new generator
Renovate living quarters with a full bathroom in the upper granary
Measuring room acoustics and building acoustic bistro tables and window seats to enhance sound absorption in Juniper Hall
A new well to provide back up to a 50 year old well
Migration of all business operations to the Cloud
Redesign of the organization’s website
Provide the equipment and technology to Live Stream concert videos to parents
The Legacy Circle
Guardians of the Future
2022 Legacy Circle Program and Membership Book
The Legacy Circle was created to help guarantee Birch Creek’s financial stability far into the future. A planned gift is a resource upon which Birch Creek can rely for years to come. Large and small, these gifts are vital to the success of Birch Creek’s future. Many donors have found that time spent considering what to give, as well as when and how to structure their contributions, can help them make more meaningful gifts while meeting personal planning goals as well.
“I have placed Birch Creek in my will.”
For more than fifteen years, Door County resident Charlotte Lukes has demonstrated her close involvement with –and commitment to – Birch Creek through estate planning that will continue her support of Birch Creek in the future.
Please call Birch Creek at (920) 868-3763 for more information.
Many Birch Creek donors utilize one or more of the following planning options:
Will Bequests
Charitable Remainder Unitrusts
Retirement Packages
Life Insurance Policies
Charitable Lead Trusts
Gifts of Real Estate
Concert Sponsorship
Support student education by becoming a concert sponsor.
Sponsorships support concerts at Birch Creek that directly correlate with our academic programs, and sponsors have the benefits of program book recognition, media mention, complimentary tickets and reserved seating. Call our office if you are interested in sponsoring a concert: (920) 868-3763.
Advertise in Our Program Book
Business owners and organizations are invited to partner with Birch Creek by advertising in our program book.
The digital program, which you can open and browse through, is a flip book which includes ads (with links to each advertiser’s website), donor recognition, Birch Creek history, concert schedules and features on programs and outreach. Birch Creek advertisers also receive a print ad in the physical program book which is distributed to thousands of concertgoers throughout the summer and fall at Birch Creek. Contact Laura Smith, Marketing Manager, at (920) 868-3763 or marketing@birchcreek.org for questions regarding ad space in next season’s program book.
We hope you enjoy the Birch Creek Digital Program Book. Try our links – advertisers, faculty, concerts and more!
Gifts In Support of Birch Creek Received Since May 1, 2023
Gifts through April 30, 2023, are listed in the Program Book.
Updated through July 3, 2023
Leadership Circle – $10,000 and above
Anthony and Judith Licata
MMG Foundation
Wisconsin Arts Board
Director’s Circle – $2,500 to $9,999
Charlotte Lukes
Faculty Circle – $1,000 to $2,499
John and Sherry Adams
Anonymous
Paul Aspinwall
Jane and Gerry Berg
David and Suzy Boerke
Nancy T. and David A. Borghesi Fund
Robert and Terri Esposito
The Grimm Family
Roger and Denette Hilbert
Steven and Jackie Kane
Karen and Peter Kritsch
Marti Thompson
Karen and Roger Utnehmer
Carl and Sandy Zapffe
Encore – $250 to $999
Katy Andino
Jim and Pat Blair
Scott and Lynn Brunswick
Jim and Barbara Bunning
Carla Byrnes and Sara Oswald
Sam and Vicky Carmen
Patrick and Mary Cerra
Elise Cutler-Dysart and Theodore Dysart
Rob Davis
Door County Medical Center
Jim and Barbara Flint
Steven and Mary Gomoll
Al and Pam Goodwill
Joan Guasta
Bill and Jane Hensge
Nancy E. Hughes
Lynn Kaczmarek and Mack Bonk
Stephen and Wendy Kase
Bob Lindahl and Wilma Van Arragon
David and Carrie Link
Ron and Pam Maloney
Greg Macola and Mary McEnerney
Main Street Market
Erica and Ken McElhaney and Family
Scott and Christine Miller
Michael and Ann Morgan
Audrey Morrison
Mary Moster
Raymond and Claire Moulis
David and Gail Nelson
Diane Taillon
Gabriel Tawil
Jean J. Wittner
Mentor’s Circle – $100 to $249
Rick and Jan Anderson
Anonymous
Bud and Marilyn Barta
George and Twila Braden
Robert Clark
Jane Darling
Door County Ice Cream Factory
Allison Elder
John and Kelly Godawski
Johnet and Bailey Grimm;
Johnathan Tate and Family
Peter Grimm Jr.
Terrence Heidenreiter and Jeanne Rabel
Barbara K. Hogle
Jim Holland
Karl and Lyn Huber
Scott and Susie Hudspeth
Gwen Larson and Ken Warren
Betty Lewis and Paul Zafer
McMaster – Carr Supply Company
Bob Meagher
Lou and Sylvia Nyberg
Jiwoong and Sally Oh
Anita Petersen
Pink Bakery
Todd and Sheryll Rockway
Seaquist Orchard Farm Market
Clinton Booth Seely
Elaine Stenzel
John and Roberta Walgren
Henk and Buttons Wolst
Bravo – $1 to $99
Amazon Smile
Anonymous
Bea’s Ho-Made Products
Dana Becker
Myles Dannhausen
John Dew
Frances Dutton
Gail and Les Kottke
Lautenbach’s Orchard Country
Mark and Kelly Lindekugel
Paul and Mary Luce
Piggly Wiggly
Scaturo’s Baking Co.
Sweetie Pies
James and Susan Thorsen
Linda Utz
Sarah and Mark Woerfel
Wood Orchard Market
ENDOWMENT
Building for Tomorrow Fund
Gift to the Fund Principal
Charlotte Lukes
Kaye M. Wagner Memorial Sub-fund
John and Sherry Adams
Lifetime for Education Fund
Jane and Gerry Berg Jazz II Piano
Faculty Chair Sub-fund
Jane and Gerry Berg
Scholarships Forever Fund
James Dutton Merit Scholarship Sub-fund
Anonymous
Frances Dutton
Jean J. Wittner
TRIBUTES
Memorials
In Memory of Jim Dutton
Jean J. Wittner
In Memory of Nancy Grimm
Anonymous
Dana Becker
David and Suzy Boerke
Myles R. Dannhausen
The Grimm Family
Johnet and Bailey Grimm;
Johnathan Tate and Family
Peter Grimm Jr.
Barbara K. Hogle
Scott and Susie Hudspeth
Bob Meagher
Erica and Ken McElhaney and Family
Lou and Sylvia Nyberg
In Memory of Kaye M. Wagner
John and Sherry Adams
Honors
In honor of Bill Hensge
John Dew
SCHOLARSHIPS
Anonymous
George and Twila Braden
John Dew
Gail and Les Kottke
Anthony and Judith Licata Named Scholarship
Anita Petersen
John & Mickey Staszel/Diane S. Evenson
Shared Scholarship
Sarah and Mark Woerfel
IN-KIND
Bea’s Ho-Made Products
Dave and Mona Christensen
Door County Ice Cream Factory
Robert and Terri Esposito
Lautenbach’s Orchard Country
Betty Lewis and Paul Zafer
Main Street Market
Eric and Michelle Naese
Piggly Wiggly
Pink Bakery
Scaturo’s Baking Co.
Seaquist Orchard Farm Market
Sweetie Pies
Christ and Robin Walker
Wood Orchard Market