The Philanthropic Family

Many charities would like to inject some glamour or get some extra media attention for their fundraising event. Enter celebrities. For good or bad, they continue to headline the big events and be the most visible charity supporters.

Some celebrities (and, of course, non-celebrities) seem to regard charity fundraisers as nothing more than an excuse to hold a big party without all the guilt that inconveniently accompanies conspicuous consumption.  Others are clearly committed and genuine.

To paraphrase Hilary Clinton: are you in it for the celebrity? Or are you in it for the cause?

I’ve always thought it would be fun to combine the glitz of a celebrity event with a pared-down, work-a-day reality of most organizations in the sector.  So have people pay $500 a plate to eat hot dogs and potato chips while wearing black tie attire.  Maybe use a prom theme, with crepe paper decorations and a cheesy-fun theme like “I”ll stop the world and melt with you” for a nonprofit fighting global warming.  Have the nonprofit staff “spike” the punch instead of an open bar.

This kind of approach might work especially well if you’re targeting the two groups that Stephanie Sandler of the Giving Back Fund says are the most influenced by celebrity involvement: young people and sports fans.

Proceed Cautiously

Before giving you some resources to actually reach out to celebrities, I feel compelled to make sure you’ve considered carefully whether it’s the right thing for your organization.  I think there’s some danger in making a celebrity headliner the focus of your fundraising event.  It may draw some short-term attention but not much follow-up, from either the celebrity or the people who came to gawk at someone (semi-)famous. Maybe that’s fine, but just consider your long-term strategy to develop sustainable support and consider a celebrity fundraiser just one tactic.

I’m also always cautious of charitable causes being used to “greenwash” or otherwise gloss over problems of people and organizations.  I think I’ve told you how, when I wrote to him protesting his acceptance of campaign contributions from a company I found objectionable, my congressman pointed to the company’s charitable donations.  Ick.

If you’ve thought about it and you’re sure you want a celebrity presence at your next event, then I won’t stop you.  Read on for some resources on how to make it happen.

Resources

If you decide you want a celebrity to contribute to your cause in some way, here are some key tips from experts that I’ve heard repeated many places (Including the Chronicle discussion cited below).

• You might want approach some “local” celebrities–cuz George Clooney has lots of offers, but the local DJ, columnist or news anchor, minor league team, artist or author may connect with your cause and be a far more active supporter. Check out this short piece from Fundraiser Insight for ideas on how to showcase local celebrities’ time and talent in your fundraisers.
• Make it easy for them to get involved by being well-organized and having a plan.
• Give them several levels of involvement to choose from.
• Start small and develop a relationship before asking them to be the national face of your organization.
• The Chronicle of Philanthropyjust hosted an online conversation with some celebrity-affiliated fundraisers and they gave great advice on how to approach celebrities to support your cause, and how to make the relationship successful on both sides.  You can find the transcript here.
• One of the panelists in that Chronicle discussion is from www.looktothestars.org, which chronicles and celebrates the charitable involvement of celebrities.  This site is fantastically useful because it can help you search by cause, research what celebrities have supported in the past, and see other celebrities who support the same causes.
• If you just want autographed memorabilia for an auction or thank-you gift to volunteers, try searching for a specific celebrity at www.fanmail.biz.  This site includes free access to known addresses that are useful for requesting autographs and other low-threshold items.  Fans seem to keep the addresses updated by providing dates and details of “successful asks.” The instructions give guidance on how to maximize your chances for success.

Thanks to the Chronicle of Philanthropy and Peter Panapeto for the idea for this post, which came from Peter Tweeting about the panel on Tuesday.  You can follow the Chronicle on Twitter by clicking http://twitter.com/Philanthropy

Tags: celebrity, charity, fundraiser, philanthropy

This entry was posted on August 28, 2008 at 6:43 pm and is filed under Celebrity Philanthropy, Raising Money. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.