Charitable Trusts or Busts?

Early September has always been the perfect time for student fund raising—until this year. The events of Sept. 11 paralyzed the country, and when people began to pull themselves away from the TV news, they realized how changed their lives were. The outpouring of support for the victims in New York, Washington D.C. and Pennsylvania has been matched only by the swelling patriotism evident in the ubiquitous symbol of the American flag. But as these charities and the Red Cross have been overwhelmed with funds and assistance, other groups nationwide that depend on donations for survival have been forgotten.

Harvard clubs and organizations have not felt the crunch the way certain charities in New York have, but even here, the effects are apparent.

“The phones completely died on us on Sept. 11,” marvels Evening with Champions Co-Chair Kristopher M. Mendez ’02. “The second week of sales is usually the best; our second week fell on Sept. 11. We got hit.”

Ticket sales and donations plummeted this year for the annual figure skating exhibition, which benefits the Jimmy Fund. Last year, organizers had raised $100,000, not counting corporate sponsorships, before the weekend and made another $20,000 in walk-up ticket sales.

“This year total revenue stood at approximately $70,000 heading into the weekend,” Mendez says in contrast. “Our walk-up sales were far less than last year, we haven’t broken down the numbers fully as of yet, but it totalled less than $10,000.”

Fortunately, with some extra work, the show managed to meet costs. The Jimmy Fund’s analysis team helped the Evening With Champions organizers understand this drop in donations. While Mendez says they have no hard feelings toward the American Red Cross, the falling funding was most certainly due to shifting loyalties. “They explained to us that people on average give a certain amount to charity per year, and the Red Cross was getting the lion’s share this year because it is such an obvious cause,” he says.

Evening With Champions and other student organizations, from Harvard-Radcliffe Orchestra (HRO) to Phillips Brooks House Association (PBHA), have managed to keep afloat so far and now they must continue to plan for the future.

President of Harvard Friends of the American Red Cross Zayed M. Yasin ’02 empathizes with the other causes. “The campus now has donor fatigue. Lots of worthy causes are getting the short end of the stick because of high profile issues like Sept. 11.”

No group has felt the sting like Evening With Champions. Another kink in their fund raising process was the apparent lack of interest from the press. Evening With Champions lost PBS funding in March 2001, and with news of airport security, strikes on Afghanistan and anthrax dominating the papers, a figure-skating show was not front-page material. “We couldn’t get stories written about us,” explains Mendez. “We’re an exhibition, not an athletic competition, so sports [sections didn’t] like us. Everything was backlogged.”

Not only did Evening With Champions have to deal with decreased interest and funding, there was the matter of getting the skaters safely to Boston. “Our big fear after Sept. 11 was that two of the hijacked planes were American Airlines planes,” he says. Mendez elaborates that American Airlines is “by far the biggest” sponsor, as they donated flight vouchers to all skaters for transportation to Boston. Evening With Champions had no idea how that was going to affect the event. “There was all sorts of speculation about the airlines canceling flights or going out of business,” he adds.

Once they were reassured that American Airlines would be flying in October, their next obstacle was to convince the skaters to fly. Two skaters initially declined to use air transportation. Eventually, they agreed to make the trip via air and the show could go on. In the following weeks, Evening With Champions turned efforts back toward raising money for the Jimmy Fund. Relying heavily on their database of past donors, funds were pulled in by reminding interested families and communities of the show.

While PBHA has yet to send out its annual fall mailing to potential donors and gauge possible donor fatigue, the community service organization is working around Sept. 11 sensitivity. One of the PBHA plans for this fall was to begin a corporate appeal. Student Trustee for PBHA Aalap M. Mahadevia ’03 explains the rationale for asking for money from corporations: “It’s always tough to get money from alums. There’s an uncertainty every year,” he says. “This would be a cushion for us and an opportunity for firms who do a lot of recruiting at Harvard to create awareness and goodwill among Harvard students.”

“We’re not pushing the corporate appeal right now because of Sept. 11. Our planning has not stopped, but in terms of approaching places, that’s something I want to hang onto until the winter,” Mahadevia continues.

Since many Harvard-affiliated groups have been forward thinking in their organization and planning, most will not have to worry about money concerns—at least not this year. Reliable income, alumni donations and grants have ensured that groups like City Step, HRO and the Concert Commission will not suffering from budget cuts.

Founded in 1808, the HRO is the oldest continually performing orchestra in the United States. Its alumni group, the Pierian Sodality, oversees the budget and fund raising to avoid letting the orchestra fall through the cracks of hard times. HRO Treasurer Ariel B. E. Shwayder ’03 speculates, “Most of our money comes from ticket sales or donations from people…but I can’t see anything really drastic happening to us, because we have people who take care of us and we know we’re in good hands.”

The brand new Concert Commission also manages to avoid the money rub, in spite of the absence of alumni. Concert Commission Chair Sujean S. Lee ’03 says that “[The] Undergraduate Council is our biggest source of money. We are a department of the UC now, but last year, we weren’t.” Funds for this Monday’s Dispatch concert came from ticket sales and profit from the previous concert, as well as council support.

Lee adds, “We did discuss that if we had done fund raising, it would be difficult. We would have felt uncomfortable asking for money to bring music to campus, when that money could have been used in better ways.”

For nearly 20 years, the council has been a steady internal source of grant money for student organizations. This year, the council has $135,000 to award as monetary grants, an approximately $39,000 increase from last year. The number of grant applications has increased to 150 from 133 last year, but the effects of the aftermath of Sept. 11 remain unclear. “None of the grant applications that I have seen so far have mentioned the events of Sept. 11 as having an effect on the student group’s finances,” notes Trisha S. Dasgupta ’03, chair of the Finance Committee.

Other groups have yet to assess if there have been any setbacks from Sept. 11. “It’s a little bit too soon to tell, since our show is at the end of the year,” says CityStep Chair Max L. Hodges ’03. “Ticket sales for the annual benefit ball are our main source to raise money; we apply for grants, but I don’t believe any of those have been affected. We are not expecting much of a change and are lucky that the funds are internal.”

Thanks to financial security, the Harvard Friends of American Red Cross do not have to worry about scrambling for funds. “There has been more interest in helping us,” Yasin says. “People have a greater awareness and want to get involved with disaster services.” The Harvard Friends of the American Red Cross had over 20 people show up for the introductory training, which was “double last year’s numbers,” Yasin notes.

Without the tension of financial shortages, student organizations like HRO and the Concert Commission are thinking ahead on ways to share with relief efforts related to Sept. 11.

Rather than losing financial support, Shwayder says, “The events have effected [HRO] in the opposite way. We’re planning a national tour for next summer. We have discussed going to New York City and Washington, D.C. and making it a benefit tour; maybe donating to the United Way or the Red Cross.” Lee and the Concert Commission are considering a Benefit Fund, in which certain concerts are deemed benefit shows and proceeds go to affected families.

Events that have already made their annual appearance on Harvard campus are looking forward to next year. Evening With Champions 2002 might have a few alterations, but nothing major will change. “There has been a reduced interest in figure skating and we need to rethink the way things are going for us,” Mendez explains. “We are not going to end it because it’s a popular show. It will be a smaller production, but no less in quality.”