Living near a resort in the Foothills of Tucson can be an educational experience.
To wit:
Early this morning, in walking through the grounds of the Loews Ventana Canyon Resort, my wife and I learned from a placard that the 375-room facility is hosting a three-day national conference: the Nonprofit Storytelling Conference.
Breakfast was being set up on a large patio, and the fitness center, with its view of city lights in the valley below, was full of conference attendees, most of whom were women.
We surmised from the name of the conference that the attendees were authors, podcasters, influencers, and literati who tell stories for a living or like to listen to stories.
Wrong!
A subsequent internet search revealed that the attendees were fundraisers and development directors from nonprofit organizations. They were at the conference to learn how to tell stories that would appeal to donors and get them to donate more money.
Conference prices were as follows:
Ticket Only: $895
Ticket and Videos: $995
Videos Only: $595
The Tucson conference was advertised last year as a “smaller, more immersive” event. The organizers had gone on to say:
We’re taking over the entire Loews Ventana Canyon Resort, nestled right up against the Catalina Mountains. That means no distractions—just 500 fundraisers, storytellers, and creative thinkers in one breathtaking setting. Because of the resort’s size, we can only offer 500 tickets (this year we sold 800).
Picture this: sunrise spilling over the red rock hills just behind the hotel… trails winding up through the saguaros… conversations that last long past sunset on the patio… and food so good you’ll remember it long after your flight home.
Next year’s conference will be in Atlanta.
A more intimate and intensive meeting will be held at a place called the Farmhouse in Poulsbo, WA, for two days in December. Limited to ten attendees, the cost is $3,500 per person. The author of the following book will help the participants develop a fundraising plan.
This suggests that there is a lot of money swirling around in the nonprofit sector.
I saw that firsthand years ago, when as a favor, I consulted with a large nonprofit. In spite of its mission of helping the disadvantaged, the organization’s key players were as obsessed as investment bankers with pay, perks and status.
That’s not surprising. After all, the word “nonprofit” in an organization’s name doesn’t change human nature.
The same for the word “socialism,” but that’s a discussion for another day.
Anyway, with respect to nonprofit storytelling, I’d like to see a story based on the phrase, “No good deed goes unpunished.” It would capture the experience of the Cantoni household and other households in donating to various causes and charities. Inevitably, the recipient sells donor contact information to other nonprofits, resulting in donors getting a daily barrage of solicitations in the postal mail.
Come to think of it, the nonprofit sector doesn’t need stories to raise more money. It just needs to pledge that donations won’t result in the shady practice of selling the private information of donors.
Mr. Cantoni is an author, freelance writer, and retired business executive. Contact: [email protected].
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