One of the things I regularly do, and of which I’m very proud, is serve as auctioneer for a number of charities.  Many charities hold gala fundraisers, designed to bring out supporters and give them an opportunity to give generously.  For many, an auction has proven to be a great way to raise needed funds.

In my neck of the woods, we’re getting into the gala season.  The invitations are coming fast and furious.  The schedule is filling up quickly.

In the good days, my neighborhood could field many charities, often overlapping and many poorly managed.  Somebody would support a good cause but have a beef with the way someone else was running a particular non-profit.  So they would start up their own, sent out some invitations and have a gala.  For the invitees, galas were great social events.  After the cold, dark winter, we would emerge from our holes in black tie and see our friends again.  The cost, often somewhat exorbitant, was for a good cause, but the real reason to go was to be on the social circuit.

This year, there is a very different smell in the air.  It’s the scent of fear.  Charities that do important things fear that they will not receive the funding needed to fulfill their mission.  Their paid staff may be cut.  They may not survive.

Charities that don’t do life and death things, but rather things that should be done for the betterment of society, are afraid that their funding will flow toward the life and death purposes.  Peripheral causes will have no claim on the scarce dollar.

Charities that are poorly managed, squander funding, exist primarily so a handful of old ladies have something to do where they can be important, are on the skids.  They are gasping for dollars.  Unfortunately, some of these charities are quite important, but the people who “own” the charity have long since forgotten why they are there.  It happens a lot more than you would suspect.

Over the years, I’ve weaned (or been weaned) off a number of charities.  My expectation is that the folks who manage them, whether paid or volunteer, remember that it is a charity (as opposed to a personal social club) and that they will exercise good judgment by putting the cause first.  If they can’t do that, I won’t lend my efforts to their cause.  I will not give to a charity when its only reason to exist is to perpetuate a social event.

There are some that raise very substantial sums of money, but use the vast majority for administration and purpose unrelated to its cause.  In my view, these are just scams, and unworthy of existence.

But of the real non-profits, doing good and important work, there is pervasive fear this year that they will not survive this recession.  They believe, with some reason, that the charitable well has run dry.  They are now fighting to the last charitable dollar.

As I take the podium as auctioneer over the next few months, I will do everything in my power to separate gala-goers with that last charitable dollar.  It’s not for my lack of concern for the welfare of the guests, but that these are all important, well-run charities, and their demise due to current economic straits will result in substantial, possibly irreparable harm.  I want to help keep them alive and functioning.  And I’m a pretty darn good auctioneer to boot. 

Some non-profits will not survive this economic downturn.  Some shouldn’t.  They suck funding away from non-profits that serve their charitable purposes and use their funding wisely.  Think long and hard about any charity around you, and if it serves an important purpose and functions properly, keep it alive.  And if they need an auctioneer, let me know.  I may be available.