by P.D. Lesko

On March 23, 2020, Mike and Hilary Gustafson, the owners of the Literati bookstore in downtown Ann Arbor, launched a GoFundMe campaign to raise $100,000 in order to save their seven-year-old bookshop. The campaign raised $100,000 in the space of two days, and now stands at $118,000, and 2,000 individuals have given money. Mike Gustafson wrote in an update to his GoFundMe campaign:

“In just two days, we met our fundraising goal. We are speechless and so, so, so grateful from the bottom of our hearts. This has been the most emotional process of our professional lives. To know that you all have our back is empowering and brings us to tears. 

“This money will be used right now to keep people employed, pay our liabilities, and help enable us to move forward. It gives us breathing room. I want to be clear that Hilary and I are not seeing a dime of any of this. This is all to pay our liabilities now and going forward: Rent, bills, payroll.”

On March 30, 2020, John Hilton, co-owner of the Ann Arbor Observer launched a $200,000 GoFundMe campaign: “Help Keep the Observer Publishing.” In his pitch, Hilton wrote, “We depend solely on advertising support from local businesses to meet our payroll, printing, and operating expenses. During the coronavirus pandemic, many are struggling financially. Faced with a devastating reduction in revenue, the Observer is losing money, and will continue to do so for months to come.”

On April 2 Hilton reported that the campaign had passed the $50,000 mark and that the money would ensure a “meaningful May issue.” Five days later, Hilton updated his GoFundMe campaign page: “Your gifts at work: our advertisers continue to struggle, so the May issue will be very small.” In total, 976 donors have given $65,000 to the privately-owned Ann Arbor Observer. The free tabloid is co-owned by Patricia Garcia. In response to a previous economic downturn, it was Garcia’s money that kept the business afloat. Garcia’s life partner is Ann Arbor real estate developer and mega- property owner Dennis Dahlmann.

Since 1979, Mike Monahan has owned and operated Monahan’s Fish Market in Kerrytown. Monahan’s GoFundMe campaign, “Support Ann Arbor’s Hometown Fish Market,” seeks to raise $60,000. Monahan writes in his campaign description, “We’re asking for your help to keep our employees paid, our doors open, and the fresh fish coming. Anything helps during this time, even $5. However for a $50 or more donation you will receive a Monahan’s t-shirt plus a membership card entitling you to a 10% discount on fresh fish/seafood, lunch, or any other products we sell, good for one year.”

In total, 771 donors have come forward to support Monahan’s and raised $57,775 of the $60,000 goal. Mike Monahan writes that he’s using the donations to “directly [pay] our great staff, our suppliers (many of whom are small independent fishermen), and ensuring that we can continue to provide you for many years to come.”

The ratings app/site Yelp last week began setting up GoFundMe campaigns for businesses, including several Ann Arbor restaurants, by adding “donation” buttons to their Yelp pages. The idea, Yelp said, was to provide “a fast and easy way for people to support their favorite local businesses.” The problem: Yelp did this automatically, without consent, sending the owners — many of which have GoFundMe campaigns of their own — into a frenzy. A Yelp spokesperson last week said it had “paused” the rollout as it is working on a way for businesses to opt in. The unauthorized GoFundMe buttons have been vanishing from the pages, which spanned a cross-section of retail businesses. Any donations sent to businesses that opted out have been returned, the spokesperson said. However, the GoFundMe appeals are still live.

On March 24 Ashley’s restaurant launched its own “Save Ashley’s” GoFundMe campaign with a $50,000 goal. Owners Roy and Jeff More aren’t trying to save Ashley’s. Roy More writes, “We are not raising funds primarily to save the restaurant, we are raising funds to avoid a crisis for anyone who depends on us.  We are hoping to be able to pay the health insurance bill, support our staff modestly, and, if at all possible, keep the restaurant viable.   In these difficult and uncertain times, we know that finances are tight for many of us.” The appeal has not met with the success of Literati. Over 21 days, just $7,104 has been donated by 147 people.   

Likewise, Ray’s Red Hots’s GoFundMe campaign, launched on March 27, has been slow-going. General Manager Phil Clark writes, “Our locally owned Ann Arbor restaurant – Ray’s Red Hots – is in SERIOUS TROUBLE as we continue to be crippled by the COVID 19 crisis.” Thus far, 98 donors have given $2,618 with the restaurant’s target of $14,000 a long way off. Clark writes, “Almost 11 years of our blood, sweat, tears and $ are on the line here as we struggle to stay alive during this lockdown.”

One local restaurant whose GoFundMe appeal has met with success is the Juicy Kitchen’s “Support the Juicy Kitchen Team Through COVID-19” campaign. Launched on March 17, the fundraiser had a $10,000 target. Owner Kelby Behran writes, “As young business owners, we are doing our best to support our staff, but are afraid that our resources fall short. We are hoping to provide our team with paychecks on April 1st so that they are able to pay their rent, buy groceries, and better support themselves and their families through the coming weeks.” It was a message that resonated. Juicy Kitchen has raised $11,318 from 118 donors.

In Ann Arbor’s non-profit world, The Michigan Theater Foundation is trying to raise $100,000 in anticipation of a projected revenue shortfall. In 11 days, the non-profit raised $34,853 from just slightly more than 400 donors. The projected revenue shortfall, while certainly a result of having to close the two theaters, is compounded by a string of financial shortfalls. The Michigan Theater Foundation 990 tax returns show that the organization has $13M in unrestricted ($8M) and restricted ($5M) assets.

In his GoFundMe charity description, long-time Michigan Theater Foundation director Collins writes, “We anticipate that this closure will last through June, if not longer. With no ticket or concession sales, and the limited donations that we are currently receiving, the organization is facing just over $1 million in net revenue loss during this closure. Looking at the long road ahead, we are in a vulnerable, potentially tragic situation.”

Michigan Theater Foundation tax returns show that under the leadership of Collins, between 2015 and 2018, liabilities have grown from $795K to over $5M and revenue has dropped from a high of $9.1M in 2015 to $6.1M in 2018.

Collins’s wife, Deb Polich, directs the Ann Arbor Arts Alliance. She launched Creative Aid Washtenaw. According to the non-profit’s website, “CREATIVE WASHTENAW AID aims to raise $100,000 in emergency funds to aid artists, creatives and creative businesses in the greater Ann Arbor area: Ann Arbor, Chelsea, Dexter, Manchester, Milan, Saline, Whitmore Lake and Ypsilanti plus the 21 townships in the county.” Polich has raised slightly more than $3,500 of the $100,000 goal. Artists can apply for individual grants and need not be members of the organization.

According to the Arts Alliance’s most recent tax return, the $100,000 in donations sought by Polich would be a significant bump in revenue. In 2017, the organization’s total revenue was $310,223 according to its 990 filed with the IRS. In 2015, the organization took in $315,715 and paid out approximately $70,000 in grants. The rest of the money was used to pay Polich, staff and run the organization. In 2017, the non-profit paid out $42,778 in grants, the remainder of the revenue being used for staff salaries and expenses.

There are multiple GoFundMe campaigns for Ann Arborbites fighting deadly diseases, one campaign (successful) for funding medical care for a puppy and a recently-launched GoFundMe campaign for a local Ann Arbor woman named Marcy Epstein. Epstein, who has a Ph.D. from the University of Michigan, is a self-employed higher education consultant. “Marcy’s Emergency Fund” was launched on April 13 with a $15,000 goal. In two days, 138 donors have come through with $9,735 for Epstein whose house burned down. Fundraiser organizer Adam Adler writes, “Our friend Marcy Epstein was cooking for Passover on Wednesday morning when a spark from the pot set a basket ablaze that went up like a tinderbox – a hot and fast-moving fire. The kitchen caught fire and was completely destroyed. The rest of the house was seriously damaged by water and smoke, and is uninhabitable.”

GoFundMe said last week that 22,000 COVID-19 fundraisers had been started in the past several weeks, raising more than $40 million.