Quote:
Originally posted by Replaced_Texan
Do ya'll go to galas or other fundraising parties for charities/not-for-profits? If so, how many a year? How do you choose which ones you go to? Is the event more important than the cause? Do you expect to have fun at them or do you just go with the expectation that you're there to support the cause and any ancillary fun is just gravy? Do you ever go to galas with the expectation that they're going to be a hell of a lot of fun?
Answering my own poll: I probably go to a half-dozen or more a year. A majority of the ones I go to support the arts in some way. Most of the rest support some sort of health care (either a disease or an institution). Most I choose because I like the organization or I like the people associated with the organization. Some I go to as a sort of quid pro quo. I invite someone to an event for an organization that I'm very interested in/involved in, and I'll get an invitation a month or so later with a personal note from that person hoping that I can make it. Usually, I expect to have fun at the events that I go to because I know that I'll run into at the bare minimum a dozen or so people that I know. It's a fairly tight scene. The ones I don't expect to have fun at are the more stuffy, blue blood events. I try hard not to end up at these events, though through work, I sometimes have to. There are three fundraisers where I expect the fun to be as good as any other party that I'd go to, and I wouldn't miss them for the world. One in particular from last year, I have no very clear memory of (and neither does anyone else) but the photographs will keep me out of political office for a long time.
R(roped into another planning committee)T
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One to three a month in-season, depending on what's happening and how busy I am. I choose them based on who hits me up most of the time, except for a limited number of organizations and politicos I have a more direct connection to. We also have a preference for ones with good auctions - I buy a lot of stuff, including vacations, at charity auctions.
About equal parts arts, politics/social causes, including a fair number of civil rights organizations, and business related, with many events mixed (e.g., a "health care for all" group heavily supported by every HC organization in town. I avoid blue-blood events like the plague, and consider a good reason to reject an invite that the event is blue-blood infested. Medium fun quotient at these things - I can't think of an annual fundraiser I think of as a wild time, but if they're snoozers I won't go back.
