Philanthropy

This year for Christmas, 500 families got an amazing present - their January mortgage payment was taken care of, paid, virtually erased from their to-do list.

Instead of their usual holiday party extravaganza’s, ING Direct gave $861,513.25 (about $1,700 per household) to 500 families. I’m not sure which piece I’m more blown away by, that they did something so generous or that they usually spend almost $1 million on holiday parties.

But, it has me thinking…If every big company did this, what would happen?

Would the parties really be missed? And couldn’t they happen anyway with some fancy sheet cakes from the grocery store on a Friday afternoon in December.

Think about how this would help the people in our country that are suffering because of our economy?

If you own a big company…or work for one, think about making this happen in your community. What an example ING Direct has set. What a high, and halo-lit, bar to reach….

You all know that I feel very strongly about giving back. I have and will continue to donate a huge part of my time to non-profits on Martha’s Vineyard.

During the winter, though, when the glitter of our fundraising efforts lives only in our summer memories, I’m careful to remember those islanders around us who need housing, heat, food and gifts…

Whether you live on the Vineyard or somewhere else, how do you give back? Do you concentrate your efforts on the local community or the world community? Let’s all inspire each other with our ideas…please comment below!

We’re full into autumn now at the beginning of October. As I sit on my back deck, and enjoy a glass of wine at the end of the day, dusk comes noticeably earlier and there’s a chill in the air. It was a mild October day today, but the warmth of summer has gone.

It was a monumental summer.

Two of the events that I co-chair raised close to two million dollars to support causes that are near and dear to my heart - affordable housing and the Vineyard’s first YMCA.

My daughter, Aly, is home and working by my side which thrills me to the core and highlights what I believe is at the heart of this island community - family.

Parties, events, friends, sailing and exquisite food have made the summer move quickly, easily and laden with satisfaction.

And, finally, I’ve gone out on my own. I took stock, and I made a decision. To remain small, personal and conscious. To give back to this Vineyard that I love. To feel good about what I do and how I serve my clients from the moment I wake up to the moment I fall asleep. To create a new way. And to that, I say, Cheers…and thanks for being here with me.

At the end of July, I helped raise well over $1 million dollars for the Island Affordable Housing Fund…the following week it was close to $1 million for another worthy cause.

Martha’s Vineyard is inches away from having its very own YMCA, and I was so pleased to co-chair their magnificently successful event on August 3rd: Sunday brunch and All That Jazz.

Featuring Vince Giordano and the Nighthawks of Manhattan, the place was swinging with their music - they actually use original instruments from the 30’s and 40’s to attain their one of a kind sound. This was a summer fundraiser to be sure, filled with Edgartowners and summer people. The Harborview provided the food, and Our Market supplied the bubbly and the Bloody Mary Bar.

Our live auction raised $95,000 from seven items including a Boston Whaler and a charter sail on a yacht (a bit of a sailing theme here!). Ticket sales equaled $205,000 bringing us to $295,000. And then, an anonymous (and longtime friend of the YMCA) offered a $500,000 dollar for dollar challenge grant.

The YMCA needs $12 million to break ground, and this event places them at $11.7. A $17 million total will complete the project. The goal is to raise the remaining $300,000 through individual pledges and donations so that they can break ground this fall.

It was an incredible event, and working with Jim Swartz and John Klein, co-chairs of the capital campaign, and my fundraising co-chair, Tina Miller, was outstanding. We looked at all of the other events - and they had one common theme - they all happened at night. So we flipped things around, shook them up and landed on brunch - and it worked. I can not thank this Vineyard community enough for their generousity

If you’ve ever visited the chic and stunning Delano Hotel of South Beach, you’ll appreciate the fact that we transformed the Ag Hall in West Tisbury, into the Martha’s Vineyard version of the Delano. White couches, white pillars, flowing white curtains and sparkling lights adorned the Hall; the bright colors of women’s dresses and the clink of ice in glasses filled the room; the music of the and the festive mood inspired an event that surpassed any fundraising event on the Vineyard to date.

The food, provided by Jamie Hamlin, was divine. People actually parked out next to the shrimp table - grilled in something exquisite and topping oil laced Italian bread. The tenderloin was succulent; the tempura divine. The band rocked all night, but the party really started when Jim Belushi took the stage for a set of rockin’ blues…and massive flirting with the audience.

Houses on the Tube is the island’s only telethon and three days on the phones raised over $1 million dollars for the Island Affordable Housing Fund the weekend of July 25th. The Fund will use this money, so generously collected from the Vineyard community to build affordable and LEED platinum certified housing on the island - sustaining the people who make this island as magical as it is.

I am so delighted to be part of this event. As co-chairs of the fundraising committee, Kenn Karakul and I have helped raise over $2.5 million in eight years.

Thank you, everyone, for supporting these efforts and being part of the most wonderful community in the world.

Central to my business and my life is the practice of responsible philanthropy. Active in fundraising for many non-profits on Martha’s Vineyard, the work that I do for the Island Affordable Housing Fund (IAHF) is some of the most rewarding. This summer marks my eighth turn at co-chairing their main fundraising event, Houses on the Tube, which brought in over $500,000 last year and has collectively raised over $1.5 million. To highlight the work that the IAHF does, I’ve asked the fund’s executive director, Patrick Manning, to engage in a tete a tete with me.

Suzanne: What is the Island Affordable Housing Fund and what does it do?
Patrick: IAHF is a non-profit organization that serves as both the fundraiser and the voice of the affordable housing movement on Martha’s Vineyard. It was understood several years ago that there would be a looming crisis where market prices of houses, especially in such a unique and popular venue such as MV, would continue to rise, while salaries of year-rounders would not grow at a comparable rate. The solution is to provide housing that will be forever affordable for the work force, the islanders.

Formed in 1998, the Island Affordable Housing Fund (IAHF) provides grants and loans to organizations, towns, developers, builders, or anyone with a proposal to create affordable year-round housing opportunities that satisfies our criteria. The Fund is also a catalyst and facilitator, providing funding to a whole host of projects that provide affordable housing opportunities to Island residents. Our work is designed to diminish or erase the affordability gap between what it costs to create housing and what year-round residents can afford to pay for housing.

Those that came before me, not only predicted this trend, but were smart enough to set up an organization to raise money, educate the people and try to avert the problem before it really started. As a result, the crisis we are in now is not as bad as other places around the country. There are some spots that have to fly in their school teachers, police officers, fire fighters, waitstaff and tradespeople because they can’t afford to live there. The Hamptons, Nantucket, Jackson Hole, Sun Valley…they are all suffering this crisis right now, and this is what they have in common: a limited amount of land, they’re a popular vacation area, lower than average annual income and many second or vacation homes. IAHF is 10  years into saving the character of the island, Nantucket is just starting to grab hold of their problem, Aspen is ahead of us. Aspen is #1 in this field.

Suzanne: What is Houses on the Tube?
Patrick: Houses on the Tube (or HOTT as it is affectionately called in our office) is our main fundraiser and actually has it’s origins in the desire over the last few years to make our large events inclusive to everyone and unique. It was the hope by people like you, Suzanne, and your co-chairman, Kenn Karakul, that we get people excited to come and not have them dread ‘just another fundraiser’. HOTT has been our most ambitious and our most inclusive. It’s about community and whether you can give $10 or $10K - it all counts equally towards reaching our goal.

Suzanne: What is the event?
Patrick: It’s the classic telethon, similar to Jerry Lewis Telethons where you have continuous live entertainment, sponsors with big checks, the excitement of reaching a goal and watching the numbers rise over a 27 hour period. We have seen everything from the very generous, affluent individual donations to the local waitstaff who come in with their tips for the day to everyone in between. Anonymous gifts of tens of thousands of dollars and children calling in with $3 from their piggy bank. We never know how much we’ll raise, and it’s always been a pleasant surprise. Last year we exceeded our goal by several thousand dollars, and we have high expectations for this year.

You and Ken have come up with brilliant ideas. Before the telethon, our event was ‘Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner’ and guests would pick a dinner with say 2 Harvard Law professors debating during the meal, the cast from Dream Girls providing the entertainment or having David Letterman valet park your car. Your idea to shake things up and try a telethon, which had never been done on the MV, was successful beyond our wildest dreams.

Suzanne: I mentioned the incredible $1.6 million that we’ve raised over the last 7 years. What is the direct impact on the Vineyard community?
Patrick: The inaugural HOTT enabled us to say ‘YES!’ to projects that are community oriented. Historically, we would build one affordable house at a time; now we’re able to build communities of several homes, pocket neighborhoods. Now, we are able to buy and build better homes, greener homes that use less energy - a contribution that will help make these homes more affordable forever.

This leap in our ability to help the community is very much due to you and Ken. You know that there are very few people who will walk the walk, and fewer who walk it on such a grand scale. This work does make a huge difference to so many people including those brand new home owners who just moved into their new affordable homes in Jenny Way. Jenny Way, in Edgartown, is the first pocket neighborhood we built and it holds the esteemed honor of being LEED platinum certified - the first affordable housing community in the U.S. to carry this highest green building rating from the Green Building Council.

Suzanne: Jenny Way is amazing. What are some other current projects?
Patrick: Again, due to the last year’s wildly successful Houses on the Tube event, we have several projects that we can now commit to. One example is Bradley Square, nestled in the heart of the Arts District in Oak Bluffs. We saved the first African American church on the island which was not only a safe worship haven for African Americans, but also served as a welcoming spot for the influx of Portuguese immigrants the Vineyard saw at the turn of the century.

We saved it from the wrecking ball, and the sanctuary is going to be restored as a community room, and the NAACP of Martha’s Vineyard will have it’s first permanent offices in their history within the space. Additionally, 11 housing units, including 4 live/work spaces for island artists will be created nearly doubling the size of the Arts Districts. In West Tisbury, we are building an 8 home neighborhood that we hope will be as close to zero carbonAlso 250 state road , west tis, 8 unit affordable housing community that we hope will be as close to net zero energy use as possible using alternative energy and fuel.

All of this was made possible by the generosity of those involved in HOTT and all of this makes the Vineyard a better place, a sustainable environment, a leader in so many ways and, of course, a strong, flourishing community.

Suzanne: So, when is this year’s event?
Patrick: July 26th and once again, Jim Belushi, the island’s blues brother will be hosting with us - back by popular demand, not to mention that he had such a good time last year, he asked us if he could join us again…

Suzanne: Who else is coming?
Patrick: Ahhh…wouldn’t you all like to know! Several, incredible hosts will be on hand, but I won’t give away all of our secrets…Come to Houses on the Tube! Support the island…that’s the only way to find out!

For more information and to purchase tickets, visit: www.islandaffordablehousing.com