“What we wanted to do was to guarantee the survival of the theater for future generations,” Robert Osgood, well-known friend of Shadowland Stages, told the Shawangunk Journal this week.

Osgood, a retired lawyer, is on the Shadowland board of directors and has been active for years in supporting the theater, often thought of as the jewel of Ellenville. As the venue has grown, so has their financial complexity.

This became apparent a couple of years ago, when Osgood and other board members realized that they “didn’t have any long-term finance plan for the theater.”

COVID raised the stakes. “During the COVID pandemic, for example, the theater was fortunate that we qualified under the government program at that time to assist businesses, and that got us through that dry period to have the funds to pay employees. We did not have to dismiss staff in that critical time. So, that got me thinking – ‘what happens during the next pandemic or similar sort of crisis?’”

And so, The Shadowland Foundation has been created.

Call it a rainy-day fund. It can store up the money that may be needed at some point for an unforeseen crisis. It’s a charitable organization, which means contributions to it are tax deductible. It’s about the long-term needs for the theater, not just keeping the lights on.

“We needed a foundation to raise money to take care of the theater’s capital needs,” Osgood said. “Not the operating costs, which attract donations already, but capital costs. For example, what if the roof blew off the theater? Or if we needed a new heating system? Those kinds of large expenses are what we had in mind, so we are creating a piggy bank to take care of those.”

Long-term planning encourages more long-term planning, and to that end, Osgood says the board is “aiming at reaching people to remember the theater in their wills. Encouraging them to think about leaving a bequest to the theater for its long-term survival.”

If you want to donate, simply call the Shadowland Theater at (845) 210-1061 or email foundation@shadowlandstages.org. Osgood says he “will be happy to respond and answer any questions.”