Donated Software Helps Historic Art Center Grow with Modern IT
When Shake Rag Alley Center for the Arts was founded in 2004, it sought to restore one of its community's main tourist attractions: old miners' cottages that were beginning to suffer from neglect and decay. Meanwhile, local artists and community members recognized their town's need for art instruction. These two ambitions inform the organization today, grounding a mission to inspire creativity in a home at the historic site.
In the past five years, Shake Rag Alley's budget has doubled as it has expanded its workshops, added an outdoor stage, and started to offer guest lodging. Shake Rag Alley has become an economic center for the community, attracting people who will then go to local restaurants and art galleries.
However, sustaining its programs has presented challenges for Shake Rag Alley. Its site, for example, requires expensive maintenance and staffing. But mostly, when adapting the organization to the modern age, everything comes back to tech. A lot of its challenges have been tech related, and the amount of tech work the organization has needed has been phenomenal.
To accommodate its growth, Shake Rag Alley needed to upgrade its IT systems, which included requesting a donation of QuickBooks. Meeting the challenges brought on by its growth wouldn't have been feasible without the power that QuickBooks brought to manage capacity-reaching enrollment, document a high volume of taxable ticket sales, raise funds, and report responsibly to board members.
QuickBooks helps the staff members provide rigorous reporting that allows them to really see what's profitable and what isn't, what needs work, and what's costing them more than they think it is. These answers free Shake Rag Alley to improve, expand, and continue to deliver inspiring programs to community members and visitors from all over the country.
