Zimfest News Blog

Dear Zimfest Association Friends and Members:

We hope that you are all doing well and have already marked your calendars for August 13-16th, 2015 for the next Zimbabwean Music Festival which will be held at Western Oregon University in Monmouth, Oregon. Our festival coordinator, Claire Jones, is in the process of recruiting an organizing committee. Please reach out to her at if you are able to help.

In addition, the board is recruiting new members and officers–and particularly looking for one or more individuals with financial skills. Please contact us to learn more at . We also encourage you to review recent board activities on the Zimfest blog.

This is the second year of our Annual Campaign and Membership Drive. As noted last year, no organization can survive without financial support, and the Zimfest Association is no different. While the annual festivals provide some income to the Association, these funds are unpredictable and are insufficient to sustain and grow the Association. For example, in 2014 the festival did not turn a profit and lost roughly $2500. For this reason, the Association was not able to make charitable donations to other organizations which support Zimbabwe.

Become a Member of the Zimfest Association

Beginning last year, we changed the way membership to the Zimfest Association is handled. The term of membership now runs for a full calendar year from January 1st until December 31st. Our goal is to have all recurring Zimfest participants be members of the organization. The minimal fee of $25 will allow a Regular member to attend the festival without paying a registration fee of $12. In addition to Regular memberships, Family, Couple, Teacher and Lifetime memberships are also available. Members may choose to have their names published on the website and in the Festival Guide. Please refer to the Membership page to renew or initiate a membership. It is our hope that a healthy dialogue about the festival and association can emerge from a membership that feels a sense of ownership in the Zimfest Association.

Provide Charitable Donations to the Zimfest Association

While fees from membership are a great start, our long term financial stability will take more money than membership fees alone can raise. For this reason, we are also soliciting tax-deductible donations to the Zimfest Association. Over the past year, we raised nearly $10,000 in donations which have proven invaluable to ensure our financial health. Please consider a donation to help the Association continue its efforts to put on the best Zimbabwean music festival in North America. Your contributions really do make a difference! If your company supports matching donations, please don’t forget to complete the paperwork which would allow your company to match your contribution–often dollar for dollar.

We hope that you will seriously consider becoming a member of the Zimfest Association for the 2015 calendar year, as well as making or enabling a charitable contribution. If each Zimfest member can find a willing donor within your extended network we will be well on our way towards sustainability! Your contributions are tax-deductible either in the 2014 or 2015 tax year, depending on when you make your payment. Please visit our Membership and Donation page on our website for instructions on how to make a contribution.

Finally, we’d like to remind you of two ways that you can donate to Zimfest on a ongoing basis. First, when shopping on Amazon you can support Zimfest by choosing Zimfest Association as the organization you would like to receive 0.5% of the price of your eligible AmazonSmile purchases (see blog post Support Zimfest When You Shop at Amazon.com). Also, for anyone who sells items on EBay, you can choose to donate a percentage of the final sales price to the Zimfest Association. See http://givingworks.ebay.com/charity-auctions/my-causes for more information.

Thanks for all that you do to make Zimfest a success.

Best wishes for a wonderful holiday season…
—The Zimfest Association Board