Los Angeles, CA
Arts & Culture
Pacific Opera Project (POP)
Pacific Opera Project (POP) is dedicated to making opera that is accessible, affordable, and entertaining for the people in Los Angeles and the surrounding areas.
Since their founding in 2011, they’ve welcomed tens of thousands of opera-goers across dozens of shows—and they quickly realized they needed a way to track, manage, and communicate with all of the people who attended their performances.
Here’s how they did it.
Growing a Community
POP has a relatively small staff—three full-time and two part-time employees—that works with hundreds of artists. Their broader community includes around 6,000 supporters.
Josh Shaw, Founding Artistic Director and CEO of Pacific Opera Project, is heavily involved with managing the organization’s shows. And, since the beginning, he’s used Arts People to manage their ticketing and seating charts for different venues in which they perform.
“We’ve been with Arts People basically forever,” he said. “[They] were our first ticketing platform.”
Those ticket sales account for around 40% of POP’s revenue.
The other 60% comes from grants and donations. Katherine Powers, the organization’s Executive Director and primary fundraiser, says their donations come through a variety of channels. “The majority of our donations come through online digital donation campaigns,” she said. “A lot of people give through our public-facing donation page.”
Two Ways to Get Involved, One Simple System
Arts People was a great tool for the Pacific Opera Project’s ticketing needs. But the organization needed something that could handle their fundraising campaigns, too. They also needed a tool that would let them communicate with both ticket-buyers and donors.
Neon CRM fit the bill. The platform includes fundraising tools like donation forms and payment processing—and, even better, it integrates neatly with Arts People. That means Powers and the other staff can manage donors, show attendees, and other supporters in a single place.
“It just makes things so much easier, I can have the ticket registration information as part of a patron’s profile without any kind of extra step.”
–Katherine Powers, Executive Director, Pacific Opera Project
Because Arts People and Neon CRM sync with each other on a daily basis, Powers and her team can save a lot of time figuring out which donors have bought tickets and vice-versa. In the event that a patron’s activity creates two separate records in the system, fixing the duplicates is easy.
“Most of the time, [the system] automatically recognizes it’s the same person,” Powers said. “Occasionally, we have to do some merges, but just being able to have all that information in the CRM is extremely useful.”
Growing with Arts People + Neon CRM
Using Arts People and Neon CRM together makes it easy for POP to sell event tickets and manage their supporters’ data.
It also makes it possible for Powers, Shaw, and other staff to understand their patrons, communicate with their community, and raise more money for their programming.
“Say I want to do a mailing to people who have never made a donation before, but who are very loyal ticket buyers and have come to at least six shows in the last three seasons, I can pull that report from Neon CRM using the data that’s coming from Arts People. It really helps us pull reports and helps us make fundraising segments.”
–Katherine Powers, Executive Director, Pacific Opera Project
Tracking those communications is easy in Neon CRM, too. “We can interact with each account in multiple ways, whether it’s communicating by email or tracking that we’ve sent them letters,” said Powers.
Everything they need to know about their patrons—from which shows they’ve attended to which emails and letters they’ve received—is all in one place.
Their system has helped in other ways, too, especially as the team has started focusing on building relationships with major donors.
“I can indicate relationships when I learn that somebody is somebody’s cousin or used to work together. I can connect those people online with relationships,” Powers said. “It really helps when you’re dealing with a lot of donors and you’re trying to remember who these people are and make sure you know their daughter’s name before you send them an email or say hello.”
That kind of relationship-building is making a difference, especially as it’s combined with targeted fundraising campaigns.
Powers estimates that their 2024 fundraising is up 30% from the previous year. And they’re not stopping there—the team is already planning new ways to use Arts People and Neon CRM, including exploring Neon CRM’s automation tools and creating a welcome email series for new patrons and donors.
Tips for Success from Pacific Opera Project
POP runs multiple shows each season, sells thousands of tickets, and has grown their fundraising—all while using Arts People and Neon CRM to manage their supporters and build a community.
What advice can they share with other nonprofits who would like to do the same?
Plan Ahead
This tip is true for everyone, but especially for organizations like POP that divide their calendars into seasons or use many different venues—plan ahead! Building seating charts and getting that information to patrons is a big endeavor. Shaw recommends giving yourself plenty of time to get familiar with your venue and make seats available to your patrons. “It takes way more time than you think it’s going to,” he said.
Double-Check the Details
Using a system that’s as powerful and customizable as Neon CRM means there are lots of opportunities to make it work exactly how you want it. It also means you’ll probably want to spend some time double-checking the way you’ve configured your settings!
“Taking the time to really understand the setup on the back end is useful,” recommended Powers. “Even things like setting your global organization settings, like the right time zone.”
Take Advantage of Support
Whether you’re creating a seating chart for a new venue or have questions about your CRM settings, Shaw and Powers recommend taking advantage of the support options available to you.
“What’s kept me with Arts People all these years is the customer service,” Shaw said. “No other platform we work with gets back to us as quickly as Arts People does.” Powers agreed—in addition to working with Neon CRM’s support team, she recommends using Neon CRM’s support articles and tutorials.
Learn More About Arts People + Neon CRM
Using Arts People and Neon CRM makes it possible for Pacific Opera Project to manage seating charts, sell tickets, raise money, and connect with their supporters. You can do the same!
Want to learn more about how you can use Arts People and Neon CRM at your organization? We’d love to show you!
Here’s where you can schedule a personalized tour of Arts People. You can see Neon CRM in action by joining one of our group demos—they’re a great way to get a feel for the system without the pressure of a one-on-one call.
Find a time that works for you!
