When Anthony Sisti told the local Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation board that he wanted to do something in the region that no one had ever accomplished — raise $1 million at its annual Promise Ball within three years — the room fell silent.
“Their eyes glazed over and no one said, ‘Yea, let’s go.’ Certainly there was cautious optimism,” said Sisti, president of the board of directors for JDRF’s North Central Connecticut and Western Massachusetts chapter and the systems director at Travelers. Sisti wanted to challenge the board.
“I said, ‘This has to be a million-dollar ball. … It’s not about bragging rights,” he explained, but rather, about funding research that finds a cure for juvenile diabetes.
“But there is a level of excitement to do what has never been done,” Sisti said. “I’m looking at the goal post and I’m not naïve. A million dollars is a lot of money in any economy. It’s the same corporations getting hit over and over again.”
As he told the board members, “It’s like being an Olympian. It’s great to get the gold, but it’s great to beat the record.”
JDRF’s record was set last year, tying with the St. Francis Foundation’s Miracle Network charity ball. Each raised $800,000 last year. JDRF’s annual gala had hit that mark after big increases in each of the previous three years.
“When the $500,000 became $600,000, it opened the door [to achieving the $1 million goal]. The real door opener was when we made $800,000. That was the reality check,” he said. “I had to paint it with a sense of reality. … I had to build up everybody’s confidence so that this might not seem as half-baked as it seemed.”
Like A Business
Sisti treats fundraising for a nonprofit like running a business, he said. He created a business plan that broke down the various pieces necessary to accomplish the $1 million goal.
“It is a well thought-out plan, as opposed to a dream that may or may not be attainable. You’ve got to treat it like a business,” he added. “You’ve got to get the right players, like a sports team. No one person can make this happen,” Sisti said.
Susan Dunn, president and CEO of the United Way of the Capital Area, agrees. In addition to having a foundation that is a good cause that people can relate to, getting the right people involved are the necessary ingredients for a really successful fundraiser, she said.
“People give to people. A lot of it is about the ask — who is doing the ask,” she explained.
Bringing on board well-known business leaders, such as Howard Carver, a retired partner of the accounting firm Ernst & Young as co-chair of one of the ball’s committees, is key. Honoring other local notables, such as John Kim, president of Prudential Financial and Richard Forde, chief investment officer of CIGNA, boosts attendance and donations at fundraising events, Dunn said.
Devil’s In the Details
After creating a roster of volunteers to help lead the charge – there are about 100 volunteers involved in organizing the ball – a number of factors are necessary to create an event touted as one of the main social events of the year in Greater Hartford, Sisti said.
Sisti and Mary Ann Slomski, executive director of the JDRF local chapter, have been setting the stage for the May 5 Promise Ball since 2004. They booked the Connecticut Convention Center in 2005, and began figuring out the rest for the past year.
The black-tie optional event will include a cocktail hour with hors d’oeuvres, dancing to a Boston band called Legit, a live auction with a professional Seattle-based auctioneer, a sit-down dinner, two silent auctions and one live auction, a cappuccino bar and a martini bar.
“It is like planning a wedding, absolutely,” Slomski said, but with 600 to 800 guests.
Slomski attributes the support received by JDRF to a few factors. A number of people have a personal connection to juvenile diabetes, which build a passion to find a cure for the disease.
It also helps that the organization ranks among the nation’s most efficient by Forbes Magazine and Charity Navigator, with between 85 to 90 percent of its donations going directly into education or research dollars.
“When we speak with various business organizations, they want to know that the money they are donating is going to research, and the majority of it is,” Slomski said.
Reaching Their Goal
So far, Slomski, who operates the local chapter with a staff of three, reports that JDRF and its volunteers have raised more money at this time compared with last year.
An enhanced Web site, jdrfpromiseball.org, is one of the reasons, Slomski said, noting that a volunteer designed the site to make it easier for interested donors to bid online for the approximately 200 silent auction items.
Tickets, which cost $200 or $300, also can be purchased online, as can corporate sponsorships.
The evening has to be fun and entertaining for those attending, she said, so they have added various elements to achieve that goal, such as “gifts” for those sitting at the tables with the highest auction bids, and the creation of a new cocktail called the Million Dollar Martini.
“You want to make it spectacular, we want to make it unique,” she said, who anticipates raising $1 million before expenses are subtracted from that amount, estimated to be about $100,000.
