How They Got Goldie Hawn
Sometimes it’s a musician. Last year it was circus performers. The Jewish Social Service Agency’s Spring gala has always included entertainment. This year, they’re taking it up a notch.
Chief development officer Lori Ulanow says organizers wanted a celebrity who would attract more attendees and help the organization raise its largest amount of cash for the year. After some brainstorming, the actress Goldie Hawn was proposed. So JSSA Googled her agent, sent a pitch for why Goldie should headline their event, and got the thumbs up. (We could write a million how-to articles, but sometimes, ya just gotta ask.) Lori says finding connections between her and the organization also helped. She’s a DC native (grew up in Takoma Park, Md.), she’s Jewish, and has her own nonprofit, MindUp, focused on mental health, which is one of JSSA’s focus areas.
Sure, circus performers can do this but Lori says the benefit of bringing in a celeb is widespread: Attendees have the option to pay extra to have photos taken with her and the publicity around her speaking engagement sheds more light on the organization. Plus the actress is active on Twitter, so a tweet to her 522,000 followers wouldn’t be so bad either. JSSA also invited Goldie to bring any family to the gala since the theme is "Family Ties." Lesson learned (so far): Find a celebrity who might have a few not-so-obvious connections to the nonprofit.
Photo by Drew DeGennaro
DC-based Duke Ellington School of the Arts has attracted performers from Dave Chapelle to Stevie Wonder to its annual Performance Series of Legends for 7 years. This year’s March event, which will raise over $1M, will feature Sting and Paul Simon. CEO Rory Pullens says he started talking to staff last summer about getting an icon to headline this year’s show. That’s when the school's dance chair spoke up and said he was Sting’s first dance teacher and taught him the choreography for his first music video. Phone calls were made and Sting jumped at the invitation to perform at the fundraising event. He even asked if he could bring tour-mate Paul Simon. (How generous not to turn him down.)
Rory, here with Duke Ellington alumni Denyce Graves, who headlined a previous year, echoes Lori’s advice about linking the person to the organization. In the case of the school, performers want a way to give back, so they’re willing to help the school raise money for kids aspiring to be like them. And they want to leave a legacy. He also says it’s vital to tap into the organization’s network to see who might know a celebrity. You never know if the guy over in accounting was Beyonce’s prom date. (Actually, you probably would, since that prom photo would be tattooed on his face.)
