26 Aug Introducing OFTY’s Legacy Society

Since 1970, Opera for the Young has been bringing the wonder of live opera into elementary school classrooms and gymnasiums across the Upper Midwest – often as a child’s very first experience of professional theater. Fifty-five years later, we’re not going anywhere. But the tour we run today, and the one we hope to run for the next fifty years, depends on the generosity of people like you.

That’s why I’m writing to introduce OFTY’s Legacy Society, and to ask you to consider a gift that outlasts any single season. A legacy gift doesn’t just sustain OFTY; it lets us plan further ahead, invest in the people who make the tour possible, and say yes to more schools and more children.

There are several ways to leave a legacy with OFTY, depending on what matters most to you:

• Direct operating support – unrestricted funds our governing board can direct where they’re needed most each year.
• A specific part of our program – artist fees, staff fees, production elements, or a particular touring region close to your heart.
• Our organizational endowment – for donors who want a larger gift to generate support for OFTY annually, for years to come.
• The Diane Garton Edie Legacy Fund – established in honor of Diane’s 33 years of OFTY leadership, this fund brings free OFTY performances to schools that haven’t hosted a program in four or more years, prioritizing communities facing financial or logistical barriers to access.

 

The Diane Garton Edie Fund in particular is a chance to be part of something we’re especially proud of: the kid-friendly adaptations that Diane created over three decades are what schools have come to know as OFTY – and this fund makes sure that work reaches new audiences who need it…every year, forever.

Our legacy giving brochure walks through the details, including sample bequest language your attorney can use to add OFTY to your will, trust, or investment account in as little as one sentence.

As we look to the next decade, one of our top priorities is investing in the people behind the productions – our teaching artists, production team, and company staff – so the experience we bring into classrooms stays as rich and as robust as it’s always been. A legacy gift is one of the most meaningful ways to make sure that investment continues long after any of us are still in the room.

If you have questions, or would simply like to talk through what a legacy gift could look like, please reach out – we’d love to hear from you personally, and to make sure you’re kept up to date on OFTY’s programs going forward.

With gratitude,

Emily Whalley
Board President, Opera for the Young
Music Teacher & Arts Liaison, Thoreau Elementary (MMSD)