Pointeworks is a nonprofit ballet company founded in 2023 by Artistic Director Sophie Williams. The company commissions new ballets from female choreographers and composers, pairs them with live musicians, and pays professional dancers during the off-season months when many companies go dark.
“You’d be surprised to know that most professional dancers are left without a paycheck during off-season months,” says Williams.
Pointeworks runs seasonal productions in San Diego, a winter residency at the Baryshnikov Arts Center in New York, and community programs offering free tickets to students, veterans, and first responders.
Challenges before switching to Zeffy
Pointeworks is a small team managing ticket sales, donations, open rehearsals, ballet society memberships, patron circles, and the newsletters that bring supporters back between shows.
They needed donations, ticketing, and email to work from the same donor list—without paying for another tool as their audience grew.
The 100% free solution
Pointeworks was already using Zeffy to collect donations and sell tickets when the team started using Zeffy’s email tool.
Their donor list became their newsletter list. They didn’t need to move contacts into another email tool, upload lists, or pay more as their audience grew.
“Unlike Mailchimp, Zeffy has no subscriber cap, no paid tiers, and no surprise charges,” says Williams. “With our donor list already organized in their donor management tool, it took no time at all to send our first newsletter.”
Now, Pointeworks uses Zeffy for donations, ticket sales, newsletters, and keeping track of its supporters.
“We use it for everything,” says Williams. “For emails, newsletters, ticketing open rehearsals, accepting donations, and people joining our ballet society or patron circles.”
All-in-one, in their words
Growing their audience through newsletters
Since January, Pointeworks has sent 40 newsletters through Zeffy, reaching close to 40,000 recipients with a 56.6% average open rate.
Their list grew from 885 subscribers to 1,509—a 70% increase.
“Newsletters power our performances,” says Williams. “Our newsletters get more than half of recipients opening, which translates to better attended events and a meaningful shift in donations.”
Feature focus: the email tool
Features used
Donations
Offer your website visitors an efficient and intuitive way to give to your cause.
Peer-to-peer campaigns
Make it easy for your community to participate in your fundraising efforts.
Ticketing
Sell more tickets for your next fundraising event with frictionless ticketing forms.
eCommerce
Diversify your fundraising by opening on online store for your nonprofit.
Raffles & Lotteries
Easily launch a raffle with our numbered ticketing options.
Auction
Diversify your fundraising by inviting your donors to bid on items.
Memberships
Make it easy for your supporters to register as a member to your cause.
Donor management
Diversify your fundraising by inviting your donEngage with the right donors at the right time with seamless donor management.ors to bid on items.
Results
Features used: donations · event ticketing · newsletter · donor management
- $378,521 raised since 2023
- $16,842 saved since choosing Zeffy
- 56.6% average newsletter open rate across 40 sends
- 70% newsletter-list growth
“It’s pretty amazing to see the audience data that we’ve compiled over the past three years,” says Williams. “Zeffy helps us streamline all the different kinds of patrons that walk through the door. It helps us get in touch with audience members after each event and track our overall growth as we expand.”
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