Thank-a-Thon madness
It seems as though my year so far in the Fellowship has been full of “1st-annuals”. In Aspen, I was appointed coordinator of the 1st annual Day of Music where we programmed a morning and afternoon of free music for the community and visitors. Here in LA, I am lending a hand with the 1st annual Children’s Musical Masquerade (a children’s benefit concert) on Nov. 14th and just last night, I helped coordinate the 1st annual LA Chamber Orchestra Thank-a-Thon.
A Thank-a-Thon is the distant cousin of the more commonly known and feared phone-a-thon. You know phone-a-thons don’t you? Phone-a-thons are those events where an organization rallies its fund-raisers and board members together to call a “hit-list” of potential donors and ask them to open their checkbooks. Usually, people equate phone-a-thons with walking across hot coals or forgetting to wear pants to work. Thank-a-Thons, thankfully, are quite different.
In a T-a-T, constituents of an organization (in this case it was musicians, board members and staff) gather a “hit-list” of its existing supporters (such as donors and subscribers) and do absolutely nothing but say “thank you” to them.
Despite their rare implementation, T-a-Ts are a great way of accomplishing goals on many levels. They create positive relations between an organization and its supporters; they promote interaction between constituents that may not normally come in contact with one another (board, musicians and staff); they soften up callers and those being called for other forms of phone interaction; and they can be a great way to have fun.
Organizing the T-a-T, as good as it may seem, had its painful moments. Originally, we had planned on scheduling two dates for the event relatively close to each other but due to a Dodgers playoff game, the first date was cancelled. When we tried to reschedule, the alternate times just did not work out. In the end we had to roll our sleeves back, cut down on the number of calls and hope for the best.
Last night, I am happy to report that we packed about twenty staff, board members, musicians and their kids into our offices at the AON building, downtown LA, and collectively called over 400 donors and patrons in just under 90 minutes. We got through our whole list with plenty of time to spare and socialize around wine and pizza.
It was a fun experience for all. Mostly, the people we called were very appreciative for the thanks and were in many cases shocked that we were not asking for anything. All in all, it looks as though this new 1st annual, like the Aspen Day of Music, will live to see its 2nd.
A Thank-a-Thon is the distant cousin of the more commonly known and feared phone-a-thon. You know phone-a-thons don’t you? Phone-a-thons are those events where an organization rallies its fund-raisers and board members together to call a “hit-list” of potential donors and ask them to open their checkbooks. Usually, people equate phone-a-thons with walking across hot coals or forgetting to wear pants to work. Thank-a-Thons, thankfully, are quite different.
In a T-a-T, constituents of an organization (in this case it was musicians, board members and staff) gather a “hit-list” of its existing supporters (such as donors and subscribers) and do absolutely nothing but say “thank you” to them.
Despite their rare implementation, T-a-Ts are a great way of accomplishing goals on many levels. They create positive relations between an organization and its supporters; they promote interaction between constituents that may not normally come in contact with one another (board, musicians and staff); they soften up callers and those being called for other forms of phone interaction; and they can be a great way to have fun.
Organizing the T-a-T, as good as it may seem, had its painful moments. Originally, we had planned on scheduling two dates for the event relatively close to each other but due to a Dodgers playoff game, the first date was cancelled. When we tried to reschedule, the alternate times just did not work out. In the end we had to roll our sleeves back, cut down on the number of calls and hope for the best.
Last night, I am happy to report that we packed about twenty staff, board members, musicians and their kids into our offices at the AON building, downtown LA, and collectively called over 400 donors and patrons in just under 90 minutes. We got through our whole list with plenty of time to spare and socialize around wine and pizza.
It was a fun experience for all. Mostly, the people we called were very appreciative for the thanks and were in many cases shocked that we were not asking for anything. All in all, it looks as though this new 1st annual, like the Aspen Day of Music, will live to see its 2nd.
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