Nonprofit galas still reaping big bucks - Baltimore Business Journal:

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Nonprofits are showing recession-defying zeal and, once again, have avoidedf financial doom. Local organizations have stared down predictionas of sharp falloffsin revenue, in some casexs surpassing their goals. But these victoried have come ata cost. Boston’s nonprofitt leaders are findingthat arm-twisting and pennty pinching is what it taked to hold a successful recession-yearr event. Yet, even when faced with the prospectr of pushing board members harder to networi and risking that tickets and tables will not leaders of most organizations have determinee that foregoing their fundraisers is notan That’s because not having a fundraise poses a bigger risk: the loss of much-neededd revenue and the opportunity to raise awareness about an organization’s programs.
“It’s said Joan Archer, the vice president overseeingb developmentfor . The hospital’s charitablew foundation held its 10th annual fundraiserin May, generating about 12 percent of the hospital’s foundation’s $6.5 million fundraising goal for 2009. “Aftee that gala, I’ve closed on several majo gifts. Once I had 800 people it wasn’t just about cocktails and I had to seize the opportunity to do some serious messaging.” , for one, is on the sociap docket this week, with a goal of sellingg between 250 and 300 tickets for a champagne barbecue under a tent in its Roxburty parking lot.
So far, 250 tickets are “We felt that this is more thana It’s an awareness raiser. We wanted to give it our full saidCarol Ishkanian, vice president of development and external Board members and development staffsz have been working hard and workin every personal and professional relationship they can. “If you don’ have that core group of volunteer champions, it’s goin to be really hard to run a successful fundraiser,” said Chuck Gordon, chief development officer for , whichu recently held its Starryu Starry Night event.
And board members have been sharpenintgtheir message, explaining time and again why buying a $5,000 or $10,000 table is more critical this “My sense was that it took two or thres or times the effort to get the same levelk of dollars,” said Sandy Edgerley, chairwoman of the board at , whic h held its annual house partuy fundraiser in early May. The event raised more than $1.6 which was the goal it neededc to meetthe organization’s $14.4 million operating “The board came togethefr and said there’s a very real cost to not makinb the goal.
” Revenue from most of thes e springtime events is on par with last year, some even hittingg higher than their fundraising When the of Massachusetts Bay and Merrimack Valley canceled its annua Lawyer’s Leadership breakfast in late March eyebrowws raised and tongues The decision, a United Way spokeswoman had nothing to do with Some nonprofit leaders said they gave long consideration to the wisdom of holding a gala, though they did, in the end, move “Pulling the rug out from underneath the event it’s not investing in the future. It’s not long-term.
It’ds not smart,” said Bryan Rafanelli, founder of Rafanellio Events, who works with many Archer, for one, “dug deep” and met individually with many of thehospital foundation’s large donors to gauge their support before she proceededd with the Newton-Wellesley “I asked them very honestly if this was somethinfg they could continue supporting,” Archer said.
If therde is a dollar drop-off it is with the table again forcing organizations to work hardet to make upthe “If someone sponsored $10,000 last year, and this year only you’ve got your work cut out for said Judy Harrington, development director for Boston Partners in The organization’s late April fundraiser at the , markingv the 5th anniversary of the Big Cheeswe Reads, raised $215,000, about the same as in she said. While the number of sponsorships she said, the dollart amounts decreased. “We worked harder for Unexpected twistshave helped.
A group of executivews who have strong connections with theBoys & Girlz Clubs of Boston — one of them a boardx member — together put up $225,009 before the organization’s recent house party and challenged theifr Bain colleagues to a one-to-one match. Similarly, during ’ws April fundraiser at Radius, owner and chef Michael Schloe suddenly offered to treat any group of four to dinner at a half dozenm restaurants if the groupdonated $10,000 to Big Two groups stepped forward and Big Sisteres raised $20,000, bringing the evenf total to $120,000, within $5,000 of last year.
Separat e from the work of boardsand supporters, though no less this year’s fundraisers in part have survived on cost Every organization has a laundry list of cuts: giftas for guests, fancy table high-priced hors d’oeuvres, glitzy decorations and the like. The tricik has been to retain qualityu at a much lowerpriced tag. City Year, for example, slashed its Starruy Starry Night budget by 40 largely by moving the event to the Boston Conventiomand . Expensive floral arrangements – out. Tables were decorated with homemade centerpiecews designed from CityYear memorabilia.
Insteafd of expensive food, the pre-dinner receptionb featured a Fenway hot dogs, popcorn, Cracker Jacks.