Diversionary Theatre > Support Diversionary

The men from Yank! A New Musical. Photo credit:Ken Jacques Photography.

Support Diversionary

Diversionary Playwright’s Circle (annual giving opportunities)
Whether it’s $10 or $10,000, Diversionary depends on your support to encourage our work. Your gift inspires the art and the artists.
Read more here
Download a contribution form

Wheelchair Lift Fund Drive
Like an old-fashioned barn raising, where friends, family and neighbors come together to create a building that will serve the community for years to come, YOU are our family, our neighbor, our community. Your gift now to the wheelchair lift fund will provide access to hundreds of elderly and differently-abled patrons each season.
Read more here
Download a contribution form

Paving Stones

Creating A Legacy – Planned Giving
Our planned giving program is called Diversionary for Life. Gifts are planned gifts to Diversionary included in your estate plans. Planned gifts to Diversionary are an investment in artistic excellence and our community. They also provide tax benefits to the donor.

“It is better to have a permanent income than to be fascinating.” Oscar Wilde
Thank you to these donors who have left us a generous gift through their estate or have pledged to do so.

Richard W. Becker* Estate
Kenneth Britt* (bequest)
Joseph Brooks (bequest)
Alan Campbell (bequest)
David N. Garrison* Trust
Sherry K. Henderson* Trust
Henderson/Ramsey* Trust
Chuck Higgins & Ray Lubecki (bequest)
Peter Jarman (bequest)
Fritz Klein* Charitable Trust
John Lockhart (bequest)
Laurie Munday (bequest)
David M. Pierce (bequest)
Barbara L. Ramsey* Trust
Merle & Phil Wahl* (bequest)
Jeffrey Wynne (bequest)
James Ziegler (bequest)
*deceased

There are many IRS authorized forms for planned gifts:

Charitable Bequest in your Will or Living Trust
Qualified Retirement Plan Beneficiary Designation
Charitable Gift Annuity
Pooled Income Fund
Charitable Remainder Trust
Charitable Lead Trust
To learn how to include Diversionary in your estate plans, please contact Dan Kirsch at 619.220.6830.

Endowment Report September 2008

Diversionary Theatre currently has two permanent endowment funds totaling $255,500. Endowments are funds with the requirement that the principal is never spent - the balance in these funds is invested, earning income that is then spent to support Diversionary Theatre in perpetuity.

Jim Ziegler seeds new Endowment Fund at The San Diego Foundation

Endow San Diego Jim is one of our long-time major supporters, hosting our annual season announcement party. Jim believes in Endowment funding, and has generously seeded a new endowment fund for Diversionary Theatre with a $5,000 lead gift at The San Diego Foundation. Thank you, Jim.

Dr. Fritz Klein gifts new endowment fund and theatre building to Diversionary Theatre
(read full story here).

Dr. Fritz Klein gifts new endowment fund and theatre building to Diversionary Theatre (read full story here).

A leader and pioneer of the bisexual movement, Fritz died on May 24, 2006, at the age of 73. Dr. Klein was best known for groundbreaking sex research and as a tireless activist for bisexual issues and the bisexual community.

Fritz also loved the arts and served on the Diversionary Theatre Board of Trustees from 2000-2006. Diversionary was the beneficiary of three gifts from his estate: a gift of $250,000, restricted to starting an endowment fund; a gift of the building which houses the Theatre at 4545 Park Boulevard (the building has a $389,000 mortgage); and a gift from Dr. Klein’s Charitable Remainder Trust.

The Board and Staff are incredibly honored that Fritz would care for Diversionary so deeply that he felt the need to have his gifts continue our mission for years to come. We learned from Fritz that he wanted to use his gifts as an incentive for others to give. He knew that an endowment would do just that. He knew that whenever money was needed, instead of a one-time gift, a challenge in the form of a matching gift would encourage others to give, to think about the future. He would be the first one to say, “I’ll give if you give.” We thank him for his inspiration, and hope the community will rise to his challenge.

Barbara Ramsey and Sherry Henderson leave major gift to Diversionary

Barbara Ramsey (left) and Sherry Henderson leave major gift to Diversionary
(read full story here)

Their friends described Barbara as having “a passion for life and adventure,” and “life was a constant amazement” for Sherry. Both women served in the Navy, met when it was not possible to reveal one’s sexual orientation, shared 15 years together, and both died of cancer – Sherry in December 2001 and Barbara in April 2005.

Their friends told us that Diversionary was extremely important to Barbara in her coming-out process. An unexpected phone call in December 2006 notified us that the Henderson/ Ramsey estate had left $100,682 to Diversionary.

This and other future gifts like it allow Diversionary to continue our mission of celebrating LBGT culture and history through classic and new works. The funds are board restricted, with the objective of building an operating reserve of six months. Thank you, Barbara and Sherry, for the great start to our goal.