How a National Environmental Group Regained Control of Its Annual Gala

BRAINSTORMS

By Domenica Marchetti

Staff members at the National Parks Conservation Association, in Washington, did not panic when a longtime supporter who had sent his regrets for the organization’s annual fund-raising dinner last April showed up unexpectedly at the event.

When the surprise guest learned that his name was not on the list of attendees, he was ushered to a help table, where a senior staff member recognized him and saw to it that he was given a name tag and a seat at a VIP dinner table. The misunderstanding — apparently, the donor’s secretary had mistakenly called to say he would not be able to attend — was easily smoothed over and forgotten.

After more than a decade of hosting the annual dinner, which this year brought in about $500,000, National Parks Conservation Association employees and volunteers understand well that mastering the social intricacies of a fund-raising event — from devising a seating chart to attracting big-name honorees to making sure those honorees, as well as big donors and other prominent guests, are well-tended — can be just as important as the amount of money raised. Indeed, attention to such details can help determine whether an event will fizzle or become a must-attend occasion.

“We have it pretty much down to a science now,” says Sandra A. Adams, senior vice president for the association. But, she adds, making last year’s dinner a success took a lot of time, planning, and hard work on the part of the charity’s staff, trustees, and supporters, especially since the group chose, for the first time, to organize the event without the help of an outside consultant.

“We felt that since we had been through it a few times, we had developed enough in-house expertise on logistics to handle the details ourselves,” Adams says.

The National Parks Conservation Association was established in 1919 to help preserve and promote the national park system, through restoration, education, and advocacy. The organization has 100 employees in its Washington headquarters and 80 in regional offices across the country. Its annual dinner began not as a fund-raising event, says Ms. Adams, but as an opportunity to honor individuals who help protect national parks. The event has honored the former secretary of the interior Bruce Babbitt, Jimmy Carter, the oceanographer Sylvia Earle, the author Tony Hillerman, and Sen. John McCain, Republican of Arizona. The money raised at the dinner, now attended by about 500 people annually, accounts for only a small portion of the group’s $23.7-million in annual contributions and revenue, but it is key in raising the group’s profile nationally and especially in the nation’s capital.

As the dinner grew in popularity, attracting more prominent donors and members of Congress, so did the challenge of organizing and executing the event successfully. For years, the group had relied on a management consultant to see to such varied details as handling the contract with the hotel in which the dinner was held, choosing the color of the table linens, deciding how many courses to serve during the meal, and registering guests at the reception area.

But the association found that some staff members were spending too much time dealing with questions from the professional event planners on details about the advocacy group, its mission, and its supporters. The consultants at the registration desk were not familiar enough with guests to know who might merit special attention or when a last-minute seating change might be in order. Last year, the charity decided to forgo the consultants altogether and instead take advantage of a growing interest among staff members to become involved in what had become the group’s signature event. It brought on board Marion Smith, a former organizer of political events, to direct the effort, and saved about $16,000 in consulting fees.

“My experience is that when staff work on events they know all of the board, they know all of the national council members, they know all of our strong donors,” says Ms. Smith, who handles major donors for the charity. “Things actually get done faster, with less problems, and it’s a way of bringing everybody together.”

The change did require more staff members to take part in detailed plans for the party, including designing invitations and programs, decorations, and volunteering at the dinner itself, helping with registration and socializing with guests. Months before the event, the charity held a staff retreat to discuss the changes.

“Prior to last year, a lot of staffers had been invited as straight guests,” says Ms. Smith. “But everyone took the challenge on quite cheerfully. They knew they had to pitch in to make this thing work.”

Some staff members or departments continued to do what they had done in previous years. The communications department, for example, was responsible for producing a video about the charity that was mailed to major supporters.

The task of compiling an invitation list, meanwhile, which had been handled by the development department, with help from the consultant, became a joint staff and volunteer effort. Program directors were asked to come up with a list of individuals, corporations, and organizations that have an interest in their area of focus and should be included on the invitation list. The development staff produced a list of devoted supporters. A host committee was composed of trustees, members of the association’s advisory board, and donors also put together a list focusing on potential supporters. The development department carefully compared the lists to make sure no duplicate invitations were sent.

Invitations to the April dinner were mailed in January, to give guests — especially those who would be traveling from afar — plenty of time to plan for it, and invitations to new supporters often included a personal note from a member of the host committee, Ms. Smith says. “Someone who is new to an organization may not want to attend a large event like this unless he or she knows there will be a sponsor there.”

H. William Walter, one of the association’s trustees, says board members should help “sell” an event like the association’s gala to their peers and to new supporters. “The board commitment is huge in terms of making sure the dinner is a success,” he says. “It’s our job to sell the tables, and to make people feel that it’s an honor to be invited, and that they’re going to have a special evening.” To that end, board members are also responsible for recommending nominees for awards, and then making sure those who are chosen attend the event.

“That is the key to success,” says Mr. Walter, who runs an investment company in Minneapolis. “You have to bring in the people that will attract other people.”

The responsibility of making sure those guests get the experience they are promised, say Ms. Adams and Ms. Smith, lies with the staff. About three months before the dinner, the charity began holding weekly meetings focusing on different aspects of the event. “People would come and go depending on what agenda items were being talked about,” Ms. Smith says. As the date drew nearer, the meetings became more crowded, and staff members were divided into smaller groups to discuss the details of whatever task they were involved with, whether it was registration or decorations or cleanup.

One week before the dinner, all staff members involved met to go over the details of the entire event. “At that meeting, we shared the names of our biggest dignitaries and made sure that everybody recognized their names,” says Ms. Adams. Program directors and officers were given the names of supporters who had an interest in their program area and were encouraged to introduce themselves. They got some tips on how to engage in conversation. “It’s very difficult, if you have a file folder full of research on someone, not to be too personal,” Ms. Adams says. “We don’t want people approaching guests and saying, ‘Hi, and how is your house in Maine doing? ‘ But this is a social event, so we do make sure people come prepared to talk about their program to those who would be interested.”

While such advance preparation is crucial to the success of a high-profile fund-raising event, it is equally important to follow through on the big day itself, Ms. Adams and Ms. Smith say. They offer a list of tips that they believe can help ensure the success of a fund-raising event like the parks association’s dinner:

Carefully design the seating chart. Even though the majority of tables at the association’s dinner are bought by individuals or corporations, there are always guests who are on their own. “They need to be seated with people they know or whom they would like to meet,” Ms. Smith says. “And we also like to make sure that our board members and national council members are seated with some new people so that they can answer questions.” Ms. Adams says she and two staff members spent more than nine hours hammering out the seating arrangement for last year’s dinner.

Keep the seating chart flexible. “It’s always good to have a vacant place at one of the head tables,” Ms. Adams says. “Have the event staff be prepared to slide another chair in.” Or, be sure to have a staff member seated at the head table who knows he or she might be bumped should a surprise VIP guest show up. “Members of Congress sometimes have shown up without letting us know that they were coming,” Ms. Adams says. “And you can’t put a member of Congress in a back row.”

Position a senior staff member at the registration desk. “They know all the people that are coming, and they know the names,” says Ms. Smith. “If there’s a problem, they’ll know how to solve it or who to get to solve it.” Be sure to also have a help desk to deal with last-minute surprises, like the association’s unexpected guest last year.

Treat speakers and honorees as special guests. The parks association holds a small reception prior to its dinner during which its top supporters are invited to meet and talk with honorees and keynote speakers. “We have staff members assigned to keynote speakers to facilitate these meetings and to make sure everybody gets to where they need to be,” Ms. Smith says. The charity also hands out awards recognizing its biggest corporate supporters during this reception. “It’s our major opportunity to let them know how much we appreciate their support,” she says.

Take advantage of staff expertise. During a general cocktail reception that precedes dinner, program staff members are encouraged to search out supporters with an interest in their program area. “Somebody might be really interested in Alaska, so we make sure they meet our regional director in Alaska,” Ms. Smith says. “Just about everyone who is a specialist in a program area has a list of two or three people that we encourage them to chat with.”

Stick to the schedule. “This is something we are absolutely religious about,” Ms. Adams says. “When people come, they know what they’re going to get, and they know they’re going to be home by 10.”

Start planning next year’s event early. “Actually, nobody talks to me about it for about two weeks afterwards,” says Ms. Smith. “Then, amazingly enough, we do start talking about it because we start asking who we’re going to honor next year, and that starts directing the whole tone and tenor of the event once again.”

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