The Growing Challenge
As the backers of every thriving venture discover, success comes at a cost. The auction’s organizers must now decide how best to manage and build on their event. “I think we all want to make each auction better than the one before, and so far we have done that,” says Scott Lutgert, a Naples real estate developer and chairman of the 2005 event. “But I’m not sure we can continue at this pace forever, without changing the formula.”
None of the trustees wants the foundation to act and feel like the other philanthropic organizations with which they are involved. For example, the Naples foundation claims to be atypical in involving men and women on an equal footing. “When I go to events with Children’s Hospital trustees in Boston, where Bill has been deeply involved, I am there as his spouse,” Ann Bain says. In contrast, she adds, “We are equal partners” in the wine auction. The social element also plays a large part in future development: None of the group wants to expand the ranks of the trustees so much that the group loses its cohesion. “We have all formed very close friendships through this group, and that is vital,” Galloway says.
Scaling the organization has become the thorniest issue. For the first time, the foundation is hiring full-time staff, including an executive director and a professional to oversee the grants process. Trustees admit that theirs is a delicate balancing act. “The day we hire too many people and become institutionalized, we will lose our touch,” Brian Cobb worries. “The passion of the trustees is what keeps this going." But other trustees are more cautious, arguing that the novelty
value of fund-raising may wear off as the challenge of beating the prior year’s track record grows more daunting. At some point, these dissenters say, professional staff will need to share that burden if the organization is to be sustained. Other philanthropists may turn to the Naples group for tips on how to manage specific aspects of a grass-roots charitable group, but even the most optimistic of the trustees warn that it may be difficult to export the model as a whole. Part of their success, they claim, stems from their unique backgrounds and experience. But an important factor lies in the fabric of Naples itself, a second-home community for wealthy executives that gives the fund-raisers a rich target for their philanthropic activities. Naples remains a small, close-knit town; these philanthropists know each other and their community intimately, and can readily identify with the city’s needs. Above all, Clinton says, “This is a group that came together organically, to share their passion for wine and for children’s charities, and, much as I wish it were the case, I’m not sure you can clone that. It’s up to others to figure out a new way to achieve the same goals in their own communities.”
The Auction’s Beneficiaries
The founding trustees set up the auction to benefit the Boys & Girls Club, and the group has decided to limit their largesse to children’s charities in their local community. In each of the auction’s four years, the number of beneficiaries and size of the donations has grown. In 2004, they had intended to donate the auction’s proceeds to 15 charities, but the take was so much larger than the prior year that the $5.2 million went to 18 groups, ranging from Fun Time Early Childhood Academy and the Boys & Girls Club to the Guadalupe Center of Immokalee and the Florida Gulf Coast University Early Learning Literacy Center. In 2003, of the $5.14 million raised, $3.75 million found its way to 14 charities. In 2002, the trustees were able to donate $2.5 million to eight groups.
Illustration by Tim Bower.
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