Growth Initiative Grant Information

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Pioneer District Growth Initiative Grant

The Pioneer District has funding available for singing communities within the
Pioneer District that may be used for the purpose outlined in the
Pioneer District Growth Initiative. Individual Singing Communities are encouraged to submit applications for the Growth Initiative to the Pioneer Executive Committee at pioneerdistrictgrowth@gmail.com. Each application can be funded up to $500.00 with only one growth initiative per singing community to be approved per round.

The funding for the Pioneer Growth Initiative has been set at $10,000 and will be distributed in its entirety using the following schedule:

Round 1: applications will be accepted from 1/1/2025 through 04/30/2025
with funds released upon project approval.

Round 2: applications will be accepted from 05/01/2025 through 08/31/2025
with funds released upon project approval.

Round 3: applications will be accepted from 09/01/2025 through 12/31/2025
with funds released upon project approval.

What the Growth Initiative Funds Can and Can Not be used for

CAN

• Advertising district/membership events
• Sending chapter leaders to BHS or BHS District leadership events
  (HU, Leadership Academy, etc.)
• Sending prospective members to BHS youth events (HX)
• Donating tickets to prospective members for PIO Chapter shows or PIO District events
• Create or support growth events or programming aimed toward membership
• Growth events, by definition, are board-approved
• Bringing singing communities out to growth events or programming
  
  

CANNOT

• Donations to HFI or BHS
• Tickets to BHS International conventions and competitions
• Paying membership fees for new members
• Registrations and fees for existing members to district or BHS events.
• Meeting costs for committee

Some examples of grant use:

1. Planning an effective guest night
2. The chapters offer voice lessons - Learn to Sing program BHS; Ready, Set, Sing program
3. Planning a Harmony High: Send 4 pieces of music to the music teacher, rehearsal wherein each student sits with an experienced member of the chapter, presenting different genres
4. AIC high school visits
5. A joint concert with high school students,have young directors lead it.
6. Mail/email campaign, carefully worded to stress that we’re not raiding their programs, to all high school and college choir directors, with follow-up calls.
7. Invite all community, school, and church choirs to sing on your show.
8. Create a campaign to target the age groups of parents of older children who are becoming empty nesters and now have time to engage in their own hobbies.
9. Going mixed or adding mixed and/or women’s choruses under a chapter umbrella requires the tools to know how to do it, how to organize it, how to implement it, how to update/revoice music.
10. Having a strong director makes a chorus more exciting, so building up our directors helps make that happen.

Successful applications would include the following items:
Current Date
Singing Community / Chapter Name
Description of Project (Who? What? Where?)
Timeline for project
Budget for Project - what the funds are being used for
Goals / Outcomes

All accepted applications will be required to report back to the Pioneer Executive Board within 90 days of the application event’s completion. The report should include information from the following categories:

A. The Metrics (New Membership)
The goal of this initiative is to grow our district membership and identify high-value events. Thus, the board will create a committee to track growth created by the program. The first metric of this growth is New Members. Only new BHS and Pioneer District members will be counted toward the committee’s report.

A new member must:
Have not held membership within the last FOUR years
Have not participated in a chapter in the last FOUR years
Have not participated in a BHS or PIO-sanctioned contest in the last FOUR years (Bush League, etc.)

B. The Metrics (Returning Members)
The second metric of our growth is Returning Members. Bringing back existing members into our district family IS achievable and should be prioritized as part of refreshing and renewing our growth. By bringing back existing members we help revitalize the chapters they came from and gain more people working towards the goal of growing our district!

C. The Metrics (Singing Communities)
Additionally, we want to foster the creation of singing communities (SCs). SCs are not only chartered chapters and quartets, but could also be considered community choirs of any shape and size engaging in our style.

A singing community must comprise of:
At least eight members
At least 50% BHS members