San Antonio Express-News (Sunday)
HUNTING FOR REVENUE
COVID put damper on annual galas for most groups
Cover: S.A.’s museums on quest for safe fundraising alternatives to traditional galas.
The outdoor corrals at the Witte Museum didn’t hold cattle but small groups of partygoers wearing jeans and Western shirts — restricted to their pens if they wanted to keep their masks off.
Guests wined and dined for five hours. They ate a dinner of chicken-fried quail, venison enchiladas and mushroom bread pudding accompanied by wine and spirits. A live auction and entertainment by country singer Robert Earl Keen followed.
Each table of 10 cost $10,000, $15,000 or $25,000, depending on how close you were to Keen, who sang on the museum’s back porch.
The Oct. 19 gala was San Antonio’s first major, in-person fundraiser since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Officials of the natural history museum said the event resulted in a haul of more than $1million.
Galas such as theWitte’s historically have been financial boons for the city’s major cultural institutions. And they’re eager to get back into the business of live fundraising events as they struggle with reduced revenue from COVID-19 closures and much lower attendance.
But it’s uncertain how many of the nonprofits will be able to go forward with in-person galas in coming months. COVID-19 cases are once again on the rise. Nonprofits that have scheduled events may have to cancel them or move them online, even if it dampens fundraising.
Gov. Greg Abbott’s COVID-19 directives give Texas mayors sweeping powers to approve or reject outdoor gatherings of more than 10 people. Three days after theWitte event, Mayor Ron Nirenberg indefinitely suspended all outdoor gatherings of 10 or more people.
TheWitte had received final permission on Oct.1 to hold its gala outdoors, with the mayor and City Manager ErikWalsh signing off.
Outbreak of uncertainty
Officials at the DoSeum, San Antonio’s children museum, are discussing whether to hold next year’s gala at all. Safety issues aside, they wonder whether San Antonio companies will have the money to buy gala tables at the event typically held in April.
“There are a lot of corporations that have been extremely generous,” said Sara Pfeifer, the museum’s vice president of development. “But I don’t know if those same dollars are going to be approved for 2021, based on how (severely) they were impacted or not impacted by COVID-19.”
The DoSeum canceled its April 2020 gala following stay-at-home orders issued by the governor and the mayor. Pfeifer said most of the ticket buyers donated the cost of their tickets to the museum. Event tables cost as much as $20,000.
She said the museum raised about $300,000, about 50 percent less than the previous year.
The children’s museum went ahead with its annual luncheon on Oct. 11, holding it virtually. The event raised around $100,000, down from $130,000 in 2019.