Finish this season with us.

The Board of Directors and the Finance & Audit Committee oversee Coeur d'Alene Summer Theatre's finances through multiple layers of review:

• Weekly accountability check-ins — account balances, revenue, and expenses are posted and cross-checked by all Finance & Audit Committee members
• Monthly financial reviews and board meetings
• Annual budget approval by the board

In 2025, Coeur d'Alene Summer Theatre completed its first independent financial review and passed with flying colors. We do not carry long-term debt.

Yes. The board has been actively engaged in tracking the shortfall, and the Close the Gap campaign was approved at the board level before it launched.

Coeur d'Alene Summer Theatre's IRS Form 990 — the annual public financial filing for all nonprofit organizations — is available at no cost through several public sources, including the IRS website, Candid (formerly GuideStar) at candid.org, and ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer at projects.propublica.org/nonprofits. The 990 reports our revenue, expenses, top-line program and administrative spending, and senior staff compensation. Three years of filings are available.

For a deeper conversation about the financial picture — what the budget covers, how the Close the Gap shortfall arose, and the path forward — donors are welcome to schedule a meeting with Chuck Ethridge, Executive Artistic Director, or Christina Ethridge, Director of Marketing and Development. Contact our office at info@cdasummertheatre.com or 208-254-0504 to set up a conversation.

Some financial information is not made public by any 501(c)(3) organization — donor names and contributions (Schedule B of the Form 990 is specifically redactable to protect donor privacy), individual transactions, and internal financial records. This is standard practice across the nonprofit sector and protects both anonymous donors and the day-to-day operating detail of the organization. The 990 and our direct conversations are the appropriate paths into the financial picture.

Two compounding causes. First, COVID. When we returned to the stage in 2022, we honored more than $200,000 in season subscriptions that had been paid in 2019 and early 2020 — that money had already been used to keep the theatre alive during the 24-month shutdown. We started 2022 with that negative over our heads. That is where the serious gap began.

Then came insane amounts of inflation. At its highest, the gap reached $450,000. We have brought it down to $280,000 through every internal change we could make — and we have now done everything we can do from the inside.

No — the Close the Gap campaign is a one-time push, not an annual operating ask. For 59 years, Coeur d'Alene Summer Theatre has run a cycle: produce the season, finish short, catch up with next year's renewals. Closing this gap ends a cycle we have lived with for 59 years. Once it is closed, we move forward into building reserves and an endowment for the long term (see "What happens after the gap is closed?").

Coeur d'Alene Summer Theatre is a nonprofit, so the Producers Club, our annual fundraiser, and sponsorships will continue as they always have — the arts are being eliminated from schools, eliminated from communities, and live theatre companies have closed in our own region. Ongoing donor support is what keeps a theatre like this here. The specific $280,000 Close the Gap target, though, is one-time.

They are two separate fundraising efforts with different purposes, timelines, and uses.

Close the Gap is a one-time campaign to raise $280,000 to close the operating shortfall for the 2026 season. It exists to end the 59-year cycle of producing each season in deficit, and it will not repeat once it is closed.

A Night of Musical Splendor is Coeur d'Alene Summer Theatre's annual ticketed fundraiser, held each fall. Now in its sixth year, it has doubled every year since it launched in 2021. The funds it raises support the following year's summer season — alongside ticket sales, the Producers Club, sponsorships, and grants — and it will continue every year going forward.

A gift to Close the Gap does not count as participation in A Night of Musical Splendor, and a gift to the annual fundraiser does not count toward closing the $280,000 shortfall. Both are welcome, and many donors choose to support both.

The $500,000 budget reflected our previous home, the Kroc Center — a 394-seat auditorium with a single audience entrance. In 2022, Coeur d'Alene Summer Theatre returned to a much larger venue: the Schuler Performing Arts Center, a 1,159-seat house with eight audience entrances and a stage roughly twice the size of the Kroc Center's. A venue that size produces a different scale of theatre — more seats to fill, larger productions, more crew, more materials, more marketing, more donor work, more development work, more sponsorship work. We cut our runs from 14 performances down to 7 to help manage costs at that scale.

Inflation has compounded on top of the venue change. From 2019 to 2026, accumulated inflation ran roughly 45% — what cost $1 to produce in 2019 now costs about $1.45.

For context: Coeur d'Alene Summer Theatre operated on a $1.1 million budget in 2010 as well. Adjusted for inflation between 2010 and 2026, that same $1.1 million from 2010 would be approximately $1.8 million today. In real dollars, we are running a $700,000-a-year lower budget than we did 16 years ago.

Theatres run on a different financial model than most businesses. Ticket revenue is collected before the work is delivered — patrons buy season subscriptions in the fall for shows that won't open until the following summer. When COVID shut down live performance in 2020, Coeur d'Alene Summer Theatre had already collected more than $200,000 in subscriptions for the 2020 season. That money was used to keep the theatre alive during the 24-month shutdown. When we reopened in 2022, those subscriptions still had to be honored — we owed performances that had already been paid for, with money that had already been spent.

That is the negative we started 2022 with, and it is the root of the structural gap we have been working to close ever since. The damage was not a single bad year — it permanently reset where our finances begin each season. Pair that with the years of inflation that followed, and the math from before COVID no longer works.

Beyond our own walls, the live theatre industry never returned to pre-2020 norms. Audience habits have changed, and live theatre companies have closed across the country and in our own region. We are operating in an entirely different climate from the one our model was built for.

Inflation has hit everyone. Most organizations can respond by raising prices to match it. Live theatre cannot raise ticket prices indefinitely without losing the audience the work depends on. So when costs rose 45% between 2019 and 2026, ticket revenue did not rise with them.

Theatre also runs on a uniquely fixed cost structure. Once a season is announced, the productions, the cast, the crew, the materials, the rights, the venue — almost every cost is locked in. There is no version of running a smaller season for less money once the doors open. A typical nonprofit can flex its programming month to month; we cannot.

The result is a squeeze sharper than most charitable sectors face: revenue capped at what audiences will pay, costs locked in by the work itself, and inflation eating the gap in between. Coeur d'Alene Summer Theatre has held that squeeze together through every internal lever we have — but inflation alone, year after year, has eroded our real purchasing power.

Smaller. At its highest, the gap reached $450,000. Today it stands at $280,000 — a reduction of roughly 38%, accomplished through internal changes alone, even as inflation has pushed costs in the opposite direction. The work that brought the gap down is detailed under "What has the theatre already done internally to close the gap?" The remaining $280,000 is what cannot be closed from the inside.

Coeur d'Alene Summer Theatre has rebuilt nearly every revenue line and tightened every cost line that does not involve cutting shows or shutting down. The most significant changes:

We moved our season subscriptions to auto-renewal in 2023. Before that change, we retained below 54% of subscribers year over year. We now retain 94%.

We created the Producers Club in 2022 — a new donor-level membership with auto-renewal built in. Before the Producers Club, total individual donor giving averaged $30,000–$35,000 per year. It now ranges from $250,000 to $300,000.

Our annual fundraiser launched in fall 2021. Going into our sixth annual fundraiser in 2026, we have doubled the take every year.

Cash sponsorships and advertising grew from $40,000 in 2025 to approximately $110,000 in 2026 — the largest single-year jump in this revenue line.

We have also tightened operations across the board. Coeur d'Alene Summer Theatre does not carry long-term debt. We have cut staff. Several key team members have been volunteering all or part of their time for years. The remaining staff are working 50–60 hours a week, year-round — beyond what is sustainable.

What is left — the $280,000 — is what cannot be closed from inside the organization.

Yes — Coeur d'Alene Summer Theatre has an endowment. It was established around 2010, and it currently sits at approximately $30,000 — small for an organization of our age and size, and we know it.

The endowment was significantly depleted during the years before COVID by emergency operating needs, and again during the pandemic itself. When operations returned in 2022, the balance was below $10,000. Since then, we have rebuilt it through a combination of small annual contributions from the operating budget and direct donor gifts.

An endowment of $30,000 cannot produce the investment income to cover a $280,000 operating shortfall. Recapitalizing this endowment to a level that genuinely serves a 59-year-old organization is part of the long-term plan that begins the moment we close this gap (see "What happens after the gap is closed?").

The instinct is understandable. The math runs the opposite of what most people expect.

Live theatre revenue collapses faster than costs can be cut. Season subscriptions, the Producers Club, individual donors, sponsors, and advertisers all anchor their commitments to a real season being produced. Cancel a season — even temporarily — and the entire revenue base unwinds. Subscribers lapse. Donors disengage. Sponsors take their budgets elsewhere. The audience habit that took years to rebuild begins to dissolve.

The fixed costs of being a theatre do not stop when the shows do. Venue commitments, insurance, year-round staff, communications, and donor relationships all continue. Going dark for a year would mean paying most of those costs anyway — with none of the revenue.

Cutting shows further is also not the answer. Subscriptions, sponsorships, and advertising are sold as a three-show package. If we cut one of the three shows, we owe approximately a third of that revenue back — and our revenue drops by roughly 33%. Our expenses drop by far less. Cutting a show saves only the variable costs tied directly to that production: performers, musicians, royalties, and the three weeks of stage rental for that run. It does not cut staff salaries, most of the marketing, year-round rents, storage, electricity, insurance, or any other fixed cost of being a year-round theatre operation. We have already cut performance counts within shows from 14 down to 7 to manage costs at our current scale; cutting further would shrink revenue faster than it would shrink costs.

Historically, regional theatres that have gone dark or substantially scaled back — in our area and nationally — have struggled to return. Several have not. Once a community loses the habit of attending professional theatre, that habit does not come back on its own.

Because at this point, more cutting actively damages the theatre — and even then, it does not close the gap.

Cuts work when the problem is overspending. Our problem is the opposite. In real dollars, we are operating on $700,000 a year less than we did 16 years ago. The gap is not an expense problem; it is what inflation has done to the value of every dollar we collect. Cutting expenses does not return purchasing power that inflation has already taken.

It is easy to assume that high-quality theatre at this scale must be funded by hidden slack — that the resources to produce the work must include room to trim. There is no hidden slack. Since 2021–2022, this organization has been run on a lean operating model: every dollar is justified, every expense is tied to value delivered, and what you see on stage is the product of resourcefulness, not abundance. The leanness was the starting condition, not a recent response to crisis.

What is left to cut would compound the harm. Staff are already working 50–60 hours a week, year-round, and several team members have been volunteering all or part of their time for years. The organization cannot ask more from people who are already producing this season on those terms. Cutting marketing makes the next season harder to sell. Cutting development work shrinks the giving base the Producers Club just rebuilt. Cutting sponsorship outreach reverses the growth that brought sponsorships from $40,000 to $110,000.

Every internal lever has been pulled to the point where pulling further breaks the lever. The remaining $280,000 is what cuts cannot close.

Coeur d'Alene Summer Theatre relies heavily on volunteers, and the people who give their time to this organization are extraordinary. In a typical year, close to 300 community members support the season: ushering, hosting events, supporting productions, distributing materials, and the countless tasks that make live theatre happen. Their generosity is what makes the work possible. The organization could not function at this level without them.

Even at this level of participation, the work routinely exceeds what the volunteer pool can cover. One example: in advance of each season, posters need to be distributed to roughly 300 community locations. Doing this well requires about 25 volunteers dedicated to that task. In recent years, sign-ups have run 8 to 12; this year, we have two. With two volunteers and around four staff available, we will reach perhaps 50 of the 300 locations. The posters that do not go up directly reduce ticket sales, which compounds the operating gap.

Asking the existing volunteers to do more is not a viable answer. Many of them are at the same level of burnout the staff face by the end of summer — they are stretched as far as a volunteer commitment reasonably extends. And the local pool of new volunteers willing to commit to the work has natural limits; the organization has been actively recruiting against those limits for years.

Volunteer recruitment, training, scheduling, and oversight also require paid staff hours that are difficult to spare at current staffing levels. Each volunteer hour requires a fraction of a paid staff hour to manage. We are near the practical limit of how many volunteers the current staff can effectively coordinate.

And most of the leadership and operational work that goes into running a theatre of this size — development, marketing, artistic direction, operations management — cannot be staffed by volunteers at all. That work must be done by paid professionals.

Grants are not built for what the Close the Gap campaign is trying to do. The vast majority of foundation and government grantmakers fund specific programs, capital projects, or capacity-building initiatives — not general operating deficits. Closing a $280,000 operating shortfall is precisely the kind of need that the grant system, as it exists, is not designed to address.

Four structural factors make grants impractical for this campaign:

• Restrictions. Grants are typically restricted to specific use cases — very few grants are fully unrestricted. They cannot be applied flexibly to cover whatever portion of the operating budget happens to be unfunded.
• Timelines. Most grant applications take six to twelve months from submission to award. The Close the Gap campaign is for right now. The grant calendar cannot meet that timeline.
• Operating-deficit aversion. Funders, especially in the arts sector, are largely unwilling to underwrite structural operating gaps.
• Regional limits. Idaho's state-level arts funding is constrained. Available grants from the Idaho Arts Commission — funded by the National Endowment for the Arts — provide approximately $6,000 to $7,000 per year for productions and another $6,000 to $7,000 per year for education. That is the ceiling of what Idaho's grant landscape currently offers an arts organization at this scale.

Coeur d'Alene Summer Theatre actively pursues every grant the organization is eligible to apply for, and has built a portfolio that includes the Idaho Arts Commission production and education grants noted above, and Coeur d'Alene Summer Theatre's first National Endowment for the Arts grant, in the amount of $15,000. The organization is working to renew it for future cycles. Nearly all of Coeur d'Alene Summer Theatre's grants are in the $500 to $5,000 range, totaling approximately $30,000 per year, and fund educational programming and outreach. Recent grantors include Kootenai Electric, Innovia Foundation, Avista, the Laura Cunningham Moore Foundation, the Coeur d'Alene Tribe, the Rotary Club of Coeur d'Alene, and the Coeur d'Alene Arts Commission.

Major foundation grants require a full financial audit at organizations with budgets over $1 million. Coeur d'Alene Summer Theatre was invited by the Shubert Foundation to apply for a grant and was potentially approved — but we could not afford the audit required to receive it. The audit costs over $20,000. As the financial position strengthens through closing this gap and building reserves, audit-gated grants become accessible.

Coeur d'Alene Summer Theatre operates with approximately half the staff the work actually requires — roughly two to three full-time positions short of where we should be. We have already cut positions. Several key team members have been volunteering all or part of their time — some for years. The remaining paid staff are working 50–60 hours a week, year-round, well beyond standard nonprofit workloads.

The conditions have begun to drive turnover. The summer schedule runs 10 to 14 hours a day, seven days a week, for four months, with one or two days off across the entire stretch. Experienced team members have started leaving rather than repeat it. Burnout is a structural risk.

The same lean conditions extend to the work on stage. Season performers, musicians, and crews are paid below market for the work they do. The professional quality audiences see at Coeur d'Alene Summer Theatre is sustained by the people inside the work accepting significantly less than they could earn elsewhere.

This is the cost of holding the organization together while the gap is closed. Across the entire team — staff, performers, crews, and creative team — no team member currently receives medical, life, or retirement benefits funded by the organization.

Coeur d'Alene Summer Theatre has operated in a startup posture for years, with the team accepting these conditions while the organization built toward the financial base that could support the positions, pay, and benefits a stable organization provides. That financial base does not yet exist. The organization brings in roughly $1.1 million in annual revenue and operates within that budget — the gap is not an overspend; it is the carryover from COVID and inflation. Closing the $280,000 ends that carryover and lets the next season begin from zero. From there, the organization can begin the two-to-three-year buildout toward that foundation. The people producing this theatre have been absorbing the shortfall personally — through unpaid hours, below-market pay, and the absence of benefits — for years.

Your gift goes directly into the operating budget for the 2026 season — the $1.1 million it takes to produce three full-scale professional productions, pay performers, musicians, and crew, rent and equip the Schuler Performing Arts Center, sustain the year-round staff that keeps the organization running, and market the shows.

Of that $1.1 million budget, every other revenue source — ticket sales, season subscriptions, sponsorships, the Producers Club, the annual fundraiser, and other earned and donated revenue — covers all but the remaining $280,000. That $280,000 is what we are asking the Close the Gap campaign to close.

Every dollar raised through this campaign is unrestricted operating support. It does not fund the endowment, it does not fund future seasons, and it does not pay down old debt — Coeur d'Alene Summer Theatre carries no long-term debt. It funds the 2026 season as it is being produced, alongside ticket sales and every other revenue source.

For the Close the Gap campaign, gifts are unrestricted operating support — they fund the 2026 season's $1.1 million operating budget alongside ticket sales and other revenue. The campaign is built around closing the operating shortfall; restricting CTG gifts to specific programs would undermine that purpose.

Outside the Close the Gap campaign, Coeur d'Alene Summer Theatre accepts designated gifts for:

• Education programs — supporting the educational division, classes, and outreach
• Specific productions — sponsorship-style giving toward an individual show or production element
• Scholarships — supporting student access to theatre education
• Theater for All (accessibility program) — subsidized attendance for community members who could not otherwise afford to attend; a $50 gift covers one person's attendance
• Capital and infrastructure needs — equipment, technology, and facility-related contributions
• The endowment — long-term sustainability (see "Can I give appreciated stock, a QCD from my IRA, a multi-payment pledge, a gift to the endowment, or create a new endowment?")

Designated gifts are restricted to the donor's specified purpose, with no minimum threshold. To discuss a designated gift, contact our office at info@cdasummertheatre.com or 208-254-0504.

The 59th season ends on August 30, and that is the decision point. What has been raised toward the $280,000 by that date determines what happens next — and how much of the gap remains determines whether a 60th season can be produced, and what it can be.

The reason is structural, not emotional. The organization is operating at roughly half the staff the work requires, with all remaining team members covering two or three full-time roles each. They carry 50–60 hour weeks year-round, with several volunteering all or part of their time — and have been doing so for six years. Season performers and crews are paid below market for the work they do; recruiting at the caliber a theatre of this size should command has become harder each season.

The staffing situation is only half the structural problem. Every cost the organization carries continues to rise year over year — rent, utilities, royalty fees, supplies — while the budget absorbing those increases has not kept pace. Continuing another season under these conditions is no longer possible. We are unable to do it again.

If the gap is partially closed and the 60th anniversary season does go forward, the structural problem remains. Whatever portion of the $280,000 is unfunded is pulled backwards from the September renewals that should be funding the 60th anniversary season. The cycle that has run for 59 years repeats — but the staffing and compensation reset that would make it sustainable still cannot be funded, and the team begins the next season already short by two to three full-time positions and unable to recruit at the skill level the work requires. Performers and creatives at higher skill levels will not accept pay this far below market, and the caliber of available talent has begun to decline.

Closing the gap is what unlocks the next phase of this organization: funding the positions, pay, and benefits the work requires — including the open positions, the roles currently being filled by volunteers, and the additional roles currently being covered by team members carrying multiple positions — paying performers and crews at market rates for a theatre of this size, building a year of operating reserves, and recapitalizing the endowment. Without closing the gap, none of that is funded. For an organization that has run this cycle for 59 years, another year compounds, it does not reset.

Closing the gap ends a 59-year cycle and sets the foundation for everything that has been impossible while the cycle continued. The path forward, in order:

First, the renewal income that arrives starting September goes where it should go — funding the 60th anniversary season, restoring full staffing levels, and funding the pay and benefits the work requires for performers, crews, and team members who have been carrying this organization on volunteer hours and below-market pay. This is the foundation. Every other step depends on it.

Second, we build a year of operating reserves. A reserve of approximately one year's operating budget means the organization can absorb unexpected disruption — a venue issue, a cancelled show, a market downturn — without ever returning to the cycle of producing first and finding the money after. This is what financial stability looks like for a theatre of this size.

Third, we recapitalize the endowment to a level that genuinely supports a 59-year-old organization. Over time, the goal is an endowment large enough — possibly multiple endowments, dedicated to different aspects of the work — to generate meaningful annual income for the organization in perpetuity.

Coeur d'Alene Summer Theatre is also in active conversations with North Idaho College about becoming their Professional Theatre in Residence — a partnership that would bring professional theatre training to our region.

Further out, the long-term vision includes a dedicated headquarters space, separate from Schuler Performing Arts Center, that would allow us to operate year-round: building sets and costumes in-house, running an educational division with classes and housing for visiting artists, and hosting off-season programming — smaller productions, cabarets, event rentals — that creates new revenue beyond the main season. These are the steps that, in sequence, build this organization into something that operates from strength, not survival.

No organization can guarantee it will never face financial pressure again — a future shock at COVID scale could affect any nonprofit. What can be built are the structural protections that did not exist before, and that is what closing this gap allows.

Closing the $280,000 ends the 59-year cycle. Once the gap is closed, the renewal income that arrives in September goes forward to the next season instead of catching up on the previous one. Every year after that starts from a different financial position than every year before it.

From there, the protections build in sequence:

• A year of operating reserves. A reserve at roughly one year's operating budget means a future shock — a venue issue, a market downturn, a cancelled show — does not hit an organization with no buffer.
• A recapitalized endowment. Investment income from an endowment provides revenue independent of any single year's ticket sales, donations, or sponsorships.
• Diversified revenue. Auto-renewal season subscriptions (94% retention), the Producers Club, the annual fundraiser, sponsorships, ticket sales, and class sales — six revenue streams instead of dependence on any one.
• A lean operating model that does not go away. The cost discipline that has been in place since 2021–2022 continues. Every dollar is justified.
• Active financial oversight. Weekly accountability check-ins, monthly financial reviews, and the annual independent financial review continue at the board level.
• Organizational continuity planning. Documented systems, transferable processes, and a long-term plan for leadership transition are in development. The 59-year history of this organization includes repeated financial upheavals tied to leadership change; the work now is to build the structural protections that absorb any future transition without losing financial stability.

These are not promises that the future contains no risk. They are the structural protections this organization has been working to put in place — the same protections that, had they existed in 2019, would have absorbed COVID's impact instead of compounding it for six years.

Coeur d'Alene Summer Theatre will keep Close the Gap donors informed throughout the campaign and after it closes.

During the campaign: regular email updates on progress toward closing the $280,000 gap; the live thermometer and donor wall at cstidaho.com/close-the-gap, updated as gifts come in; and in-person updates at Coeur d'Alene Summer Theatre events, including the Donor Cruise.

After the campaign closes: a final report on the campaign's outcome — what was raised, who participated, and what the closure unlocks; and ongoing reporting on the post-gap milestones described in "What happens after the gap is closed?" — staffing restoration, reserve-building, endowment recapitalization, and strategic growth.

Yes. Coeur d'Alene Summer Theatre is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit arts organization (EIN 82-0386992), legally organized as The Carrousel Players of the Coeur d'Alene Summer Theatre, Inc. DBA Coeur d'Alene Summer Theatre. Gifts are tax-deductible to the fullest extent allowed by law.

You will receive a written acknowledgment confirming the date and amount of your gift, which serves as your tax record.

Please note: tickets, classes, and merchandise are not charitable donations. Those purchases are subject to sales tax where applicable and are not deductible.

For specific guidance on how a gift affects your individual tax situation, please consult your tax advisor.

Yes — all of these are accepted, and each has specific advantages for donors.

Appreciated stock: Gifting publicly traded securities directly to Coeur d'Alene Summer Theatre allows you to deduct the full fair market value of the stock and avoid capital gains tax on the appreciation. Transfer instructions: Broker: Stifel Coeur d'Alene, 208-765-7005 · Account name: Coeur d'Alene Summer Theatre Inc · Account number: 2648-7508 · DTC number: 0793.

Qualified Charitable Distribution (QCD): If you are 70½ or older, you may direct up to the IRS-allowed annual maximum from your traditional IRA directly to Coeur d'Alene Summer Theatre. QCDs count toward your Required Minimum Distribution and are not included in your taxable income — meaning the full amount benefits the campaign without increasing your tax liability. Contact your IRA custodian to initiate the transfer.

Multi-payment pledge: Gifts of any size may be pledged and paid in scheduled installments. Pledges made before August 30, 2026 count toward the Close the Gap campaign. Payments received by May 31, 2026 count toward 2026 Producers Club recognition; payments received between June 1 and August 30 still apply to closing the gap but shift Producers Club recognition to 2027 (see "Will my gift count toward my 2026 Producers Club recognition?").

Endowment gifts: Donors who wish to launch a new endowment, name an existing endowment, or contribute directly to building the endowment may do so as a separate, designated gift. These gifts are restricted to endowment use and do not count toward the Close the Gap campaign — but they directly advance the long-term plan described in "What happens after the gap is closed?" Contact our office for the endowment naming policy and minimum thresholds.

For specific guidance on any of these options, please contact the Coeur d'Alene Summer Theatre office at info@cdasummertheatre.com or 208-254-0504.

Yes. Coeur d'Alene Summer Theatre accepts planned and legacy gifts — including bequests in a will or trust, beneficiary designations on retirement accounts and life insurance, and charitable remainder trusts. These gifts directly support the long-term vision described in "What happens after the gap is closed?" — building reserves, recapitalizing the endowment, and establishing the organization on a foundation it has never had.

Common ways to include Coeur d'Alene Summer Theatre in your estate plan:

• Bequest in a will or trust — a fixed dollar amount, a percentage of your estate, or a specific asset
• Beneficiary designation on a retirement account (IRA, 401(k)), life insurance policy, or brokerage account — often the simplest and most tax-efficient option
• Charitable remainder trust or charitable gift annuity — provides income to you or your family during life, with the remainder going to Coeur d'Alene Summer Theatre

For your estate planning documents, the legal entity name is The Carrousel Players of the Coeur d'Alene Summer Theatre, Inc. (EIN 82-0386992), DBA Coeur d'Alene Summer Theatre.

The Enduring Encore Legacy Society: Donors who commit to including Coeur d'Alene Summer Theatre in their estate plan are recognized as members of the Enduring Encore Legacy Society. The gift itself does not need to be realized yet — your commitment is the qualification. To inform us of your intention or join the Society, contact our office.

Please work with your estate attorney or financial advisor to determine which option best fits your situation. To discuss a specific planned gift, naming opportunities, or Legacy Society membership, contact our office at info@cdasummertheatre.com or 208-254-0504.

Yes. Coeur d'Alene Summer Theatre welcomes gifts given in honor of someone living or in memory of someone who has passed. These gifts are typically made by family, loved ones, or close associates of the honoree.

Recognition is customized based on what you want — from standard donor recognition in our program to a full-page acknowledgment. The right approach depends on your gift and your preference.

Honor and memorial gifts count toward the Close the Gap campaign on the same terms as any other gift (see "Will my gift count toward my Producers Club recognition?").

To make an honor or memorial gift or discuss the recognition that best fits your situation, contact our office at info@cdasummertheatre.com or 208-254-0504.

Yes. You can give and receive a tax-deductible receipt without having your name appear on any public donor recognition.

When making your gift, simply request anonymous recognition. Your name will be kept confidential and will not appear on the public donor wall at cstidaho.com/close-the-gap, in the Coeur d'Alene Summer Theatre program, in Close the Gap campaign emails, on Close the Gap social media posts, or in any other public donor recognition.

Your name and gift information will still be recorded internally for tax purposes and your acknowledgment letter. Anonymous giving applies only to public recognition.

To give anonymously, indicate the preference when giving online (Public Acknowledgment: No), or note "anonymous" when giving by mail or phone.

Yes — gifts must be received by May 31 to count toward your current season recognition.

Producers Club recognition is reflected on the Donor Cruise and in this year's program. Recognition levels are based on your additional giving for the current season, on top of your $600 Producers Club Membership:

• Patron — $1,200
• Actor — $3,000
• Choreographer — $6,000
• Director — $12,000
• Producer — $30,000
• Executive Producer — $100,000+

Gifts received after May 31 still count toward closing the Close the Gap campaign — but for Producers Club recognition purposes, they apply to next season recognition.

For a personalized look at where you currently stand and what each level represents for you, refer to your Season Giving Statement, or contact our office at info@cdasummertheatre.com or 208-254-0504.

Coeur d'Alene Summer Theatre is committed to transparency and accountability throughout the Close the Gap campaign and beyond. Every donor — current, considering, or prospective — is invited to ask any question, on any aspect of this campaign or the organization, at any time.

Direct conversations with Chuck Ethridge, Executive Artistic Director, or with Christina Ethridge, Director of Marketing & Development, can be scheduled by request. These are not pitches. They are opportunities to talk through the work, the finances, the path forward, and anything else you would like to understand more deeply.

To schedule a conversation, request additional documentation, or ask a question this FAQ has not addressed, contact our office at info@cdasummertheatre.com or 208-254-0504.