I wrote a piece for The Stamford Advocate on how the gala season has exploded on the "Gold Coast" of Lower Fairfield County, Connecticut. One source told that me that 50 years ago there would only be one or two galas in the autumn and only one or two galas in the spring. Now there are two or three galas per week:
Fairfield County charities turn to galas to raise funds
Flowers flown from abroad. Live animals. Goody bags with luxurious gifts. Back in the financial world's heyday in the 1980s and 1990s, fundraising galas in Fairfield County were "hugely extravagant," says Elaine Ubiña, a photographic chronicler of the philanthropic scene with the website Fairfield County Look.
"Hedge funds ... the whole world of finance, everybody was just doing incredibly well and had less regard for the kind of money they were spending on the events," Ubiña said. "They knew there was always somebody who would underwrite" the lavishness of parties.
While the embellishments arranged for galas have been stripped down from years past, that has not meant any slackening in the number of special events put on by charities in Fairfield County and the rest of the greater New York City area.
"The competition is really fierce," said Christopher J. Riendeau, senior vice president of the Stamford Hospital Foundation.
Riendeau said that there are only five ways for nonprofits to raise funds: special events like galas, runs and golf outings; annual giving campaigns; large gifts of $25,000 or more from donors; planned giving in which nonprofits are named in donors' estate plans; and grants given by corporations and foundations.
As major gift-giving has decreased, more regional charities are undertaking special events, Riendeau said.
"The special event dollar, particularly on the corporate sponsorship side, is not infinite," Riendeau said. "It's definitely finite. I worry that we're going to get to this super-saturation point."
According to 2012 data from the Chronicle of Philanthropy, Fairfield County's $1.3 billion in giving ranks it 10th in the nation.
Read the full piece here.
Lawyer and Legal Journalist
