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Gypsy of the Year Final numbers are in and Broadway Cares’ latest fundraising initiative - Team Raiser - was a definitive success, generating more than $50,000 in additional on-line donations. This interactive pledge drive began in mid-November and ended at the stroke of midnight on New Year’s Eve, coinciding with the audience appeals being made by Broadway, Off-Broadway and national touring shows playing across the country. Most donations were made during the weeks leading up to the performances of The 19th Annual Gypsy of the Year Competition on Monday, December 17th and Tuesday, December 18th at the New Amsterdam Theater, home of Disney’s smash hit Mary Poppins. “We had been preparing to add an online component to the Gypsy of the Year fundraising this year just as the breakdown of negotiations between The League of American Theatres and Producers and the IATSE, Local One stagehands resulted in a strike on Saturday, November 10,” says BC/EFA Executive Director Tom Viola. With most of Broadway’s theatres dark, fundraising at more than 20 Broadway shows came to an abrupt halt. “Suddenly, what we initially thought might be an additional fundraising stream added to the theatre community’s annual efforts, became no less than a life preserver. What we thought would get a slow rollout, suddenly became of immediate importance,” Viola continues. “On Monday morning we moved into high gear! Copy was re-written to reflect how the strike would affect BC/EFA’s annual fundraising efforts and to ask audiences to consider making a donation on-line in the name of a specific Broadway show to create their own fundraising teams. On Tuesday, a press release announced the creation of “Team Raiser” and with the tremendous support of Broadway websites, by Wednesday, November 12th the first donations were being made in the name of such shows as Wicked, Legally Blonde, Jersey Boys, Hairspray and Curtains.” The new on-line fundraising software that allowed BC/EFA to put Team Raiser into place so quickly had been tested initially with a sexy twist in the summer of 2005 to support Broadway Bares 15: Rxxx. Dancers appearing in the show were offered the opportunity to create their own fundraising page, competing with each other to raise the most from their friends and cast-mates before the lights went up on stage at Roseland. In that first year, 72 dancers raised an additional $57,000, and the competition between the dancers has grown every year thereafter. In 2006, 85 dancers raised $62,000, and last year, $84,170 was raised boosting the grand total of 2007’s Broadway Bares to a record-breaking $743,000!
“On a lark, the engaging fundraising competition that we called the Broadway Bares ‘Strip-a-thon’ turned out to be a great success,” says Associate Producing Director Anthony LaTorella. “By September of 2007, we were trying to come up with other fun ways to use on-line donations as a fundraising tool for our other events, without exhausting its uniqueness as a resource.” (Click for here a sample of last year’s The Strip-a-thon: http://www.broadwaycares.org/events/stripathon2007.cfm. “Without question, the internet plays a major role in every not-for-profit’s ability to expand their fundraising capability. The Broadway Bares “Strip-a-thons” proven successes and the fundraising crisis created by the 19 day strike helped to fully utilize “Team Raiser”. Big Teams, Little Teams, Teams of One Broadway and Off-Broadway shows, Broadway fans and fan clubs, BC/EFA staff members and individuals who just wanted a way to help out all signed up to fundraise on Team Raiser. Meanwhile, “the blogosphere” weighed in as fans of various Broadway shows posted information about the initiative on countless blogs, MySpace, and fan sites. In the following two weeks, as Broadway remained on strike, teams dedicated to Legally Blonde and Curtains raised $3890 and $2772, respectively, while Jersey Boys brought in $3075, much of which came from donations solicited by Richard Hester, Production Supervisor for all four U.S. companies of the show. “I pretty much sent out a blanket email and people were very generous,” says Hester, a long-time BC/EFA volunteer. Robert Diamond from BroadwayWorld.com created “Theater Websites for BC/EFA” and posted banners for Team Raiser on BroadwayWorld.com. Playbill.com, Theatermania.com and TalkinBroadway.com also posted banners; Next Magazine posted banners on their website and donated a full page ad, while event promoter Mark Nelson, HX Magazine, and Legally Blonde all included Team Raiser links in their e-newsletters.
On December 1, fans of Van Hansis and Jake Silbermann – who play boyfriends Luke and Noah on the daytime drama As the World Turns – launched Project Holiday Spirit, which collected more than $6,575 for BC/EFA, while Chelsea’s David Barton Gym donated $1900 in bar tips from an enormous holiday fundraiser/toy drive they held for St. Jude Children’s Hospital.
Staff Picks Broadway Cares staff members launched their own Team Raiser pledge drives, including Andy Smith, Associate Director of Major Gifts ($1550), Executive Assistant, Jody O’Neil ($1065), Education Outreach, Director Joe Norton ($650), and Data Entry’s Trisha Doss ($715). “I sent out an email to about 25 people. About half gave, and of those, several gave at least $100,” says Doss. “I was really pleased with the generosity and thoughtfulness that was displayed by my friends and family.” But Associate Producer Frank Conway was by far the most successful BC/EFA staff members, raising over $10,000 and accounting for 20 percent of the total.
“When I saw Broadway Cares was creating a team fundraiser I knew this was a great opportunity for me to reach out to my friends, family and contacts,” says Conway, a nine-year BC/EFA veteran. “I simply asked them, ‘If I have ever taken you backstage to a show, gotten you house seats or even introduced you to a star, I am asking you to pretend I am standing in front of you at the theatre now and drop $10 in my bucket.’” Frank’s appeal proved more successful than he anticipated: “I was hoping for $2,000 and through the generosity of my family, friends and colleagues, I raised over $10,000!” What’s next? While Viola and LaTorella don’t see Team Raiser as a 52-week proposition, both think BC/EFA will utilize interactive pledge drives more frequently in the near future. “We definitely plan to create new variations of Team Raiser for future events,”says LaTorella, with a special edition connected to The Fourth Annual ABC Daytime Salutes Broadway Cares, scheduled for Sunday, March 2nd at Town Hall. This time around will be the perfect opportunity for the legions of Daytime TV fans to create individual fundraising sites in the names of their favorite Daytime celebrity,” LaTorella continues. “Hopefully, this added competitive fun amongst the fans will have a great impact on the event’s fundraising total!” It will be interesting to watch what Broadway Cares can come up with in 2008 to further enhance their fundraising. Stay tuned! |
