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Charities To Drop AIDS Ride Promoter
Whitman-Walker Clinic, Food Group to Handle Their Own Fundraisers |
Washington Post
Friday, May 31, 2002
By Carol Morello and Leef Smith
Sponsors of the upcoming
Washington, D.C., AIDS Ride, a three-day bicycle trip to raise money for
AIDS charities, said yesterday that registration for next month's event is
lagging dramatically and that they will sever ties to the event's promoter
after the June ride is over.
The Whitman-Walker Clinic and Food & Friends, which each received $1.7
million from last year's AIDS Ride, are the latest in a series of
corporate and philanthropic sponsors that have recently decided to break
with Pallotta TeamWorks, a private, for-profit company that stages the
fundraising events. Although Pallotta has been criticized by some for its
high expenses and New Age rhetoric, the split with Whitman-Walker and Food
& Friends was amicable, according to charity officials, and was not
prompted by the low registration.
Pallotta will still run this year's 330-mile AIDS Ride, which will leave
Norfolk on June 13 bound for Washington. But with registration down 40
percent, the charities are concerned that net proceeds will plunge as
well. Each participant is required to raise $2,400 to join, though many
collect far more from friends, family members and co-workers. Pallotta's
fee for the D.C. ride is $225,000. Expenses are paid by the sponsoring
organizations.
Instead of participating in the AIDS Ride, Whitman-Walker, which offers
health care to AIDS patients, will look for more corporate donors in the
future, said its executive president, Cornelius Baker. Food & Friends,
which delivers home meals to AIDS patients, will stage its own bike ride
next summer.
In a statement put out by the two charities, Dan Pallotta, head of the
company he founded in 1994, offered to provide "pro bono advice if they
ever need it."
Officials with both charities said their decision not to renew their
contract with Pallotta did not signal dissatisfaction with the
California-based company, which has netted them $14 million from six
previous rides.
"We feel Pallotta has done a good job," said Craig Shniderman, executive
director of Food & Friends. "But it's like taking a bus trip and having
the choice of being a passenger or a driver. We've been a passenger for
six years. We think it's time for Food & Friends to drive the bus."
This year, Pallotta
TeamWorks will run 23 charitable athletic events across the United States
and in Africa and Europe. Pallotta's fee for each AIDS ride runs from
$225,000 to $450,000. Locally, it has also organized the Avon Breast
Cancer walk, held in May, and this August it plans a new nighttime walk
from Fairfax County to the District for suicide prevention.
Pallotta TeamWorks has
vowed to be more cost-conscious this year. Spokesman Janna Sidley said the
company has renegotiated vendor contracts, eliminated brand-name snacks
and reduced the size of its stage.
"We are doing our best to
be good stewards of donors' money," Sidley said. "These events are
expensive to put on."
Pallotta events are
characterized by emotional opening and closing ceremonies, slick marketing
and creature comforts for participants, including cucumber eye masks and
massages. Expenses run into the millions, but net proceeds are often high,
too. Many participants describe Pallotta events as life-changing. But
recently, many riders and walkers have complained that the events' purity
has been clouded by excessive promotion.
Wayne Turner, coordinator
of ACT UP/DC, an AIDS activist group, praised the Washington charities'
decision to break with Pallotta, which he called "an AIDS profiteer."
"I'll tell you what really
pains me," Turner said. "It's the thought of the tens of millions of
dollars that, instead of staying in the community to provide life-saving
services to people dying of AIDS, have gone to overhead and production
costs and promoters' fees to produce these very expensive and poorly
performing fundraisers."
Last year, after receiving
52 percent of the donations to an AIDS ride in California, two
beneficiaries decided to drop Pallotta and operate their own ride this
year. Pallotta filed suit, still in arbitration, to block the ride, which
was held this month.
Bonnie Osborn, spokeswoman
for the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center, said the event drew 670
riders, less than a quarter of the number who participated last year. "It
wasn't as successful financially as the other AIDS rides [coordinated by
Pallotta TeamWorks], but we believe in the next two or three rides, it
will be," she said. "In the long run, it was the correct thing to do,
financially and morally, to be a good steward of the nonprofit dollars
that are given to us."
Earlier this month, Avon
Products announced that it is reassessing its Pallotta-produced walks for
next year.
Shniderman and Baker said
they do not expect to raise anywhere near the $3.4 million they split
after last year's ride -- a return that was only $117,000 more than
expenses. Barely 1,900 riders have signed up so far, compared with the
3,200 last year, more than one-third of whom did not ride. The 2,018 who
did raised almost $7 million.
Baker and Shniderman said
the controversy over Pallotta's methods is partially responsible for the
lower turnout. They also blamed the recession and the events of Sept. 11.
The ad campaign for the 2002 ride began Sept. 15, and by the end of last
year, registrations were a quarter of what had been expected.
Also yesterday, the mother
of a woman who died while participating in the 2000 AIDS Ride filed suit
against Pallotta TeamWorks in federal court in the District, alleging
negligence.
Rochelle Jaffe said her
daughter, Eve, 31, came into a medical tent staffed by volunteers and
complained of dizziness and nausea. According to the suit, the medics
repeatedly administered intravenous fluids even though the woman kept
regurgitating clear liquid. According to the suit, Jaffe was overhydrated
and died of cardiopulmonary arrest, in effect drowning as her lungs filled
with the fluids.
Sidley, the Pallotta
TeamWorks spokeswoman, declined to comment, saying the company had not
seen the suit.
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Cyclists take off in AIDS fund-raiser - 700 riders
leave at sunrise in first S.F.-L.A. LifeCycle ride |
Monday, May 13, 2002
San Francisco Chronicle, Christopher Heredia
Some did
it to support someone they know with HIV, or because funding for AIDS
treatment and prevention is not keeping pace with the rate of new
infections. A few just wanted to test their own physical stamina. Whatever
their reason, 700 riders took off at sunrise today for the inaugural AIDS
LifeCycle, a 600-mile journey from San Francisco to Los Angeles to raise
money for AIDS prevention and treatment.
"I lost too many friends to AIDS," said Peter Baty, a 34-year-old
interior designer from Palo Alto, who gathered at the University of San
Francisco for today's ride kickoff. "I can't not do it."
The new ride was created out of a dispute over money between the
organizer of the 8-year-old California AIDS Ride and the two AIDS
charities it benefited: the San Francisco AIDS Foundation and the Los
Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center. The charities claimed ride organizer
Pallotta TeamWorks didn't return enough money to the charity causes it was
intended to benefit. As a result, the San Francisco AIDS Foundation and
Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center started their own ride, which began
shortly after 6 this morning.
As a result of the rift, Pallotta, a Los Angeles commercial
fund-raiser, which started the AIDS Ride in 1994 and has contributed $40
million to the two groups, countered with a lawsuit, claiming breach of
contract. A Los Angeles judge dismissed the case. But the legal wrangling
left some past riders angered, and many have decided to skip both events.
Baty, who has participated in the California AIDS Ride for the past five
years, considered taking a break this year. He heard about the dispute and
decided to throw his support behind the new ride. "I'm really excited to
be part of a new beginning," he said. He was joined by veteran AIDS ride
cyclists and first timers, HIV-positive and HIV-negative riders, parents,
couples and singles. Each had to raise a minimum of $2,500 and train for
several months leading up to the ride.
Despite the dispute, Pallotta's California AIDS Ride-9, from San
Francisco to Los Angeles, is set for June 2 through June 8. Company
officials say more than 1,000 riders have registered.
Even with the $4.4 million raised for LifeCycle as of today, with more
to come before mid-June, AIDS Foundation executive director Pat Christen
said it is going to be a "belt-tightening" year for the 20-year-old
organization. "But I'm thrilled with the outcome," she said. "It was an
ethical decision and the right decision for the long term. I'm proud about
the people who have stepped up, the larger community. I promise we're
going to do right by the people we serve."
The ride will conclude Sunday in Los Angeles.
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"Backlash
Against Charity Sweating" |
Time Magazine, Trend
Alert
By Rebecca Winters
Monday, March 25th 2002
Walking three days to raise money for breast-cancer research or cycling
hundreds of miles for AIDS causes seems like the pinnacle of virtue. And
the field of rigorous charity sports events is booming. So why are
breast-cancer advocates circulating brochures that ask participants to
"think twice before you walk"? And why are AIDS charities embroiled in a
nasty legal fight to break ties with one of their most successful
fund-raising events, the lucrative California AIDSRide? The charity
endurance event--that unassailable, feel-good fund-raising strategy--is
beginning to suffer a backlash, as participants and nonprofits question
how hard-raised dollars are being spent.
Both the AIDS bike rides and the Avon Breast Cancer Walks, which together
netted $69 million last year, are produced for charitable causes by a
for-profit firm called Pallotta Teamworks. In the 1990s, Pallotta elevated
the folksy fund-raising trend to a well-marketed mass movement with glossy
brochures and inspirational videos. But that kind of approach is turning
off do-gooders like Carol Peeples, 44, a teacher in Salida, Colo., who
raised $2,500 for a Pallotta-run Avon Breast Cancer Walk last year.
Peeples and other walkers received a coffee-table-book-size color catalog
promoting various Pallotta causes, like a suicide-prevention walk in
Washington; they were required to watch a "safety video" that some
described as a Pallotta infomercial; and they saw Pallotta merchandise,
like books by the company's founder, all along the route. Cyclists on last
year's California AIDSRide, meanwhile, were upset that only 50% of funds
they raised went to fighting AIDS, with some of it spent on a fireworks
display that was virtually invisible under the midday Los Angeles sun.
Pallotta argues that charitable causes deserve the same marketing muscle
as for-profit companies and points to the hefty $223 million it has sent
to charities in its nine-year history. But the rebellion in the ranks
won't go away: the AIDS cyclists are planning their own ride, which,
despite a legal protest from Pallotta, will take place in May.
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Gay & Lesbian Center, Hit by Budget Woes, Cuts 60
Jobs |
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Los Angeles Times - March 23, 2002
Gay &
Lesbian Center, Hit by Budget Woes, Cuts 60 Jobs
Layoffs: Facility that serves thousands got into a costly fight over
competing AIDS rides.
By Bob Pool
Leaders of the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center--caught in an escalating
controversy over competing AIDS fund-raiser bicycle rides--fired 60
employees Friday as part of a far-reaching reorganization. Operators of
the 30-year-old Hollywood center said they face a $4.5-million budget
shortfall, caused primarily by costs and confusion created by the launch
of this May's San Francisco-to-Los Angeles AIDS/LifeCycle bike ride.
Among the victims of the reorganization was center Director Gwenn A.
Baldwin. She will step down after the AIDS ride. "We're devastated and
sad," said Bonnie Osborn, a spokeswoman for the center, which calls itself
the world's largest gay organization. She said the layoffs affect about
20% of the organization's staff.
The cutbacks include elimination of the center's primary-care medical
program, which served about 2,300 people. "We're exploring ways to help
these patients get served," Osborn said. Officials of the center
blamed a "combination of factors" for their budget problems, including the
recession and the effects of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. But the
biggest factor was the center's decision last fall to sever its
long-standing ties with California AIDS Ride and create a rival
fund-raiser, AIDS/LifeCycle.
The center said that last year's California AIDS Ride, run by the Los
Angeles-based promotions company Pallotta Teamworks, suffered unexpected
cost overruns that cut into the event's profits. Center leaders
joined with the San Francisco AIDS Foundation to create AIDS/LifeCycle and
announced its first ride would be held May 13-19. Pallotta, which had
scheduled its ride for June 2-8, unsuccessfully sued to block
AIDS/LifeCycle. Osborn said the center spent $600,000 fighting the
lawsuit. She blamed negative publicity over the dispute for scaring off
potential AIDS/LifeCycle riders--who would have been expected to raise
about $3,800 each for the center and foundation. "We're $3.4 million below
budget for AIDS/LifeCycle. We have a lot of fixed costs for a first-year
event. It's not going to make nearly as much money as we anticipated,"
Osborn said.
Baldwin, who said she is stepping down voluntarily, defended the decision
to start a rival bike-ride fund-raiser. She stressed that the center
intends to continue providing AIDS and HIV medical services to about 2,000
patients. Officials at Pallotta Teamworks, who are reportedly also
struggling to recruit riders for their AIDS ride, were unavailable for
comment Friday. But others in the AIDS and gay communities said they were
not surprised by the cutbacks. "I was flabbergasted by their
decision to have two rides. That was a recipe for disaster," said Michael
Weinstein, head of AIDS Healthcare Foundation, which assists AIDS
patients. "They almost guaranteed themselves financial problems.... A mass
layoff is bad for any institution. For the premier gay and lesbian
organization in the country, it sends a message of weakness."
But Gay & Lesbian Center leaders defended the cuts as necessary to
maintain "a solid foundation" for the future. Its annual budget had been
$36 million. "The center leadership is making these changes so that
important programs will continue for our community now and in the future,"
said Eric M. Shore, co-chairman of the group's board, in a statement.
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Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center Statement |
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March 11, 2002
"The Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center announced today that it is ending
its relationship with Pallotta Teamworks Inc., and will not be a
beneficiary of future Pallotta Teamworks events.
The Diamond Center is deeply grateful to Pallotta
Teamworks, and to the thousands of volunteers who have participated in its
events, for the significant contribution they have made to AIDS vaccine
research. However, in light of recent disappointing fundraising results,
the Center has determined that it is no longer appropriate for it to
continue to be a beneficiary of these events."
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Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center decides not
be a beneficiary of the AIDS Vaccine Rides |
PR Newswire - March 12, 2002
Pallotta TeamWorks, producers
of the AIDS Vaccine Rides, today announced the Aaron Diamond AIDS Research
Center would no longer be a beneficiary of the AIDS Vaccine Rides.
"The Aaron Diamond Center
is deeply grateful to Pallotta TeamWorks, and to the thousands of
volunteers and riders who have participated in the AIDS Vaccine Rides.
Over the years, the Vaccine Rides have made a significant impact on AIDS
vaccine research and the money raised has contributed to many important
gains in the fight against AIDS," said Dr. David Ho, Scientific Director
and CEO of the Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center.
"Pallotta TeamWorks is
extremely disappointed that the Aaron Diamond Center will not be a
beneficiary of the Vaccine events, and thoroughly disappointed with the
results of last year's AIDS Vaccine Rides," said
Dan Pallotta, CEO of
Pallotta TeamWorks. "That's why we've cancelled the Montana and Alaska
Rides for the future -- we're just not willing to produce events with
these kinds of returns. Unfortunately, it has proven much more difficult
and much more expensive than we thought to get people to ride for a
vaccine. We did all the same things we do on other events that return 65%
or more to charity, but people just didn't respond to the cause. Much less
money was raised than we had hoped. People perceive the need for a vaccine
as a problem for Africa or Asia -- not relevant to their lives. That has
to change, or we can't continue this vital work -- we realize that the
public does not have the patience for an event with such a low return.
Bottom line -- we need people to sign up if these things are to continue.
The AIDS epidemic in Africa and around the world needs a vaccine --
desperately. If America doesn't stand up for that idea, who will?"
Pallotta TeamWorks is
taking specific steps to bring more participants to the cause for next
year. "We're trying less remote locations -- we're doing an event in New
York. We're trying an event without bicycles, to see if we can get more
participation that way. Pallotta added, "One significant step is our
partnership with AOL/Time Warner who will be sponsoring our 2002 AIDS
Vaccine Rides. Their involvement will dramatically reduce the cost of
promoting the events and help raise even more awareness for the cause."
In two years the AIDS
Vaccine Rides netted over 8 million dollars for Aaron Diamond AIDS
Research Center, UCLA AIDS Institute, and the Emory Vaccine Center. The
net proceeds of the rides give these scientists the freedom to test bold
and pioneering theories, which traditional, conservative sources are often
reluctant to fund. Additionally, the net proceeds are given to these
scientists free of restriction, so that they can go to work immediately on
the approaches they feel are most promising.
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Pallotta TeamWorks 2001 Record of Impact
21% return to charities from 2001 AIDS Vaccine Rides |
|
Friday March 1, 2002
Pallotta TeamWorks has
released their 2001 Record of Impact on their corporate website. All events
reported a smaller return to the benefiting charitable agencies. The most
striking of these is the 21% return to beneficiaries of the AIDS Vaccine Rides.
The three 2001 Vaccine
Rides raised $19,472,000 from the efforts of 3,972 riders with only
$4,012,000 returned to the beneficiaries. Pallotta TeamWorks
collected a $1,015,000 production fee. This is in addition to
payment to Pallotta TeamWorks for staff wages and office costs which are
part of each event's expense budget. A breakdown of wages and office
expenses is not provided in the Record of Impact. California AIDS
Ride 8 wages amounted to over $1.3 million and can perhaps be used as a rough
guide.
The riders raised an
average of $4,728 each - 139% over the pledge minimum of $3,400. The
events cost $3,892 per rider to stage almost $500 more than the pledge
minimum itself. There is no explanation in the Record of Impact as
to why the events achieved such low returns except a vague reference by
Stephen Bennett, President of Pallotta TeamWorks, to the "difficulty of mounting events in relatively inaccessible
locations". As the Alaska Vaccine Ride was held the previous year
with a significantly higher return, this explanation appears a little
weak. A change in Pallotta TeamWorks' corporate structure and
marketing plans is more likely to have affected the outcome.
Click Here to go to the Pallotta TeamWorks corporate website where you
can download the 2001 Record of Impact or go to the CARE Exchange
Financial Overview of the Record
of Impact as it pertains to the AIDS and AIDS Vaccine Rides.
The CARE Exchange strongly
suggests that people interested in participating in charity events review
the
revised
Standards
for Charitable Accountability. This includes guideline for
charities to spend at least 65% of revenue on program expenses and no more
than 35% on fundraising and its administration. BBB Wise Giving
Alliance .
It offers guidance to donors on making informed giving decisions. Back to
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Suit to stop 2nd AIDS ride rejected by L.A.
judge. Concept deemed public domain
San
Francisco Chronicle |
Tuesday, January 15, 2002
Carol Ness, Chronicle Staff Writer
A Los Angeles judge yesterday refused to stop San Francisco and Los
Angeles AIDS charities from staging separate bike-ride fund-raisers from
the California AIDS ride, just two weeks before the ninth annual
California AIDS Ride.
Los Angeles Superior Court
Judge David Yaffe's order terminates a lawsuit by the California AIDS
Ride's longtime producer, Pallotta TeamWorks of Los Angeles, against the
San Francisco AIDS Foundation and the Los Angeles Gay & Lesbian Center,
which have reaped millions from the popular seven-day trek.
The order does nothing to
ease the bitter split between Pallotta and the two groups, which arose
after expenses for the 2001 California AIDS Ride approached 50 percent of
the $11 million raised.
The two groups' decision to
sever their relationship with Pallotta and hold a competing ride, the
AIDS/LifeCycle, prompted the company to file a lawsuit asking the court to
block the new event. Pallotta TeamWorks also sought to keep the two groups
from talking about their problems with last year's ride.
Yaffe denied both requests,
saying that under California law, "you can't stop someone else from
competing with you by saying you own a concept that is really a concept in
the public domain," said AIDS Foundation attorney Kathleen Fisher. A
written order is due today.
Disputes between the
charities and Pallotta TeamWorks over expenses from last year's ride will
go to arbitration in San Francisco.
"We are delighted to be
able to move ahead with our event," said Pat Christen, executive director
of the AIDS Foundation. The AIDS/LifeCycle is set for May 13-19.
Pallotta President Stephen
Bennett said the order would not be appealed, and the California AIDS Ride
would also go ahead as planned June 2-8, with the AIDS Project Los Angeles
as its beneficiary. He said APLA planned to give some of the proceeds to
Bay Area AIDS groups.
Back to
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Letter from Pat Pat Christen, Executive Director, San Francisco AIDS
Foundation
October 11, 2001 |
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Dear AIDS Ride Participant,
As
you know, for the past eight years the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center and the
San Francisco AIDS Foundation have been the beneficiaries of the
California AIDS Ride, an event produced on our behalf by Pallotta
TeamWorks (PTW). After lengthy deliberations, both the Center and the
Foundation have decided to end our relationship with PTW. It is our
understanding that PTW intends to produce a California AIDS Ride 9. We
will not, however, be beneficiaries of that event.
I
am delighted to let you know that the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center and the
San Francisco AIDS Foundation have joined together to create a new cycling
event: AIDS/LifeCycle™. For your information, I have attached a
press statement we have issued in conjunction with The Center providing
additional information on our decision.
Regardless of whether you choose to join us for AIDS/LifeCycle™,
please know that I am grateful for your dedication to help us end the HIV
pandemic and the human suffering caused by AIDS.
Sincerely yours,
Pat Christen
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Press
Release from San Francisco AIDS Foundation & LA Gay & Lesbian Center
October 11, 2001 |
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L.A. GAY & LESBIAN CENTER AND
SAN FRANCISCO AIDS FOUNDATION
ANNOUNCE LAUNCH OF
AIDS/LIFECYCLE -- A NEW CYCLING EVENT
Organizations End Relationship with
Pallotta TeamWorks
Los Angeles and San
Francisco, Oct. 11, 2001 -- The L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center and San
Francisco AIDS Foundation have jointly announced they will co-produce a
new cycling event in 2002 to raise needed funds for HIV/AIDS services.
AIDS/LifeCycle™ is an all-new LA-SF cycling event expected to attract
thousands of riders in the late spring of 2002. A new AIDS/LifeCycle™
Web site,
www.aidslifecycle.org, and a toll-free information number,
866-BIKE4AIDS, will be operational in the coming week.
The L.A.
Gay & Lesbian Center and the San Francisco AIDS Foundation will no longer
be part of the California AIDS Ride for which they have served as
beneficiaries for more than eight years. Both organizations have not
renewed their contractual relationships with the event producer, Pallotta
TeamWorks (PTW), after several months of negotiations. The parties failed
to reach agreement on several important issues, including
reasonable financial controls for PTW production expenses, PTW cross
promotion and marketing strategies, and a reasonable expense budget for
the proposed 2002 event given significant unapproved budget overruns by
PTW during the 2001 event.
"Our goal in creating AIDS/LifeCycle™
is to refocus attention and energy on our common cause -- the fight
against HIV/AIDS -- while getting the maximum return from each dollar
raised to support HIV/AIDS services," said Gwenn Baldwin, executive
director of the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center. "We have worked with the San
Francisco AIDS Foundation for almost a decade to help people living with
HIV/AIDS. Supported by our communities and donors, and committed to our
clients, we are eager to create a meaningful and successful fund-raising
experience."
“We are thrilled about AIDS/LifeCycle™,
which will make possible many critically needed HIV and AIDS services,”
said Pat Christen, executive director of the San Francisco AIDS
Foundation. "In partnering with the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center, we join an
organization that shares our commitment to those affected by HIV. This
event will bring together a caring and daring community that is supremely
dedicated to the fight against AIDS. We are confident that it will be
hugely successful.”
With the development of new treatments, more
people are living with HIV than ever before, and the need for support
services continues to grow. The documented increase in new HIV infections
underlines the need for new initiatives in education, outreach and
prevention programs. By co-producing their own cycling event beginning in
2002, the two nonprofit organizations believe firmly they will improve
cost controls, resulting in a greater share of net proceeds to support
their respective client services.
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top
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Press
Release from Pallotta TeamWorks
October 11, 2001 |
| We would like to share with you some
changes regarding California AIDSRide 9 scheduled for June 2-8, 2002
Since 1994, the riders and crew of
California AIDSRide have raised more than $40 million for people living
with HIV/AIDS, making this one of the largest AIDS fundraising events in
America. The L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center and the San Francisco AIDS
Foundation have chosen not to continue as beneficiaries of California
AIDSRide. Pallotta TeamWorks will produce California AIDSRide 9 as
scheduled, and we plan to announce the new California AIDSRide
beneficiaries shortly.
Our goal is to get back to the spirit of
what makes California AIDSRide great — a journey of kindness and a
powerful moving message to show the world your commitment to making a
difference for people living with HIV/AIDS. Next year, California
AIDSRide 9 will benefit more communities than ever before. Your
participation is what makes this all happen. And your commitment — the
heart and soul of the AIDSRide — is just as crucial as ever.
REGISTERED
RIDERS AND CREW — WHAT YOU CAN DO NOW:
Pre-registration and Information: Call the California AIDSRide
toll-free hotline at 1-(888)-683-9255 to confirm your
participation and pre-register for California AIDSRide 9. Because
California AIDSRide 9 will benefit new HIV/AIDS service organizations
across the state next year, you will need to re-register for the event.
Once beneficiaries are announced and registration has fully reopened,
Pallotta TeamWorks will contact you to finalize the registration process.
We will waive your registration fee if you are currently registered.
Refunds:
To request a refund of your participation fee and any donations, please
contact the San Francisco AIDS Foundation at 415-487-3092, or
the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center at 323-993-7601.
California AIDSRide will continue in its
strong tradition as a world-class event to support people living with
HIV/AIDS. We look forward to your joining us for this great journey. We’ll
continue to keep you informed as we finalize details for California
AIDSRide 9. We’d also love to hear from you to answer any questions you
may have. Please call us toll-free at 1-(888)-683-9255.
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Letter from Gwenn Baldwin
Posting on the CAR 9 LA Listserve, October 18, 2001 |
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I'm writing in response to Mr. Hagg's posting of
Tuesday, Oct. 16 [regarding where funds are spent]
. While I don't feel compelled to respond to all of Mr. Hagg's
charges, I do want to be clear about where the funds go.
As many of you already know, the Center operates
the Jeffrey Goodman Clinic, the Pedro Zamora Youth HIV Clinic, an STD
testing and outreach program and the largest pharmacy in the state of
California in terms of providing HIV/AIDS medications. All of these
programs provide life-sustaining services to people living with HIV/AIDS
or in the areas of AIDS education and prevention, and these are the
programs that have benefited from previous California AIDS Rides. The
millions of dollars you have raised over the past eight years have funded
HIV/AIDS treatment, education and outreach, confidential testing, the
salaries of physicians, nurses and other HIV/AIDS clinical staff, have
kept the lights on and these programs under our roof. It is our commitment
to continuing these life-saving services that has compelled us to
undertake, in partnership with the San Francisco AIDS Foundation, our own
new event. We will continue to direct all the funds raised from AIDS/LifeCycle
to support our HIV/AIDS programs and services.
The L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center is a large and
diverse organization, providing a broad range of programs and services.
Among those programs and services are counseling and legal services for
the poor, disabled and immigrant populations, advocacy and counseling for
victims of hate crimes, counseling for victims of domestic violence, a
drop-in center and an extended-stay housing program for homeless youth, an
employment training services program, a full-service mental health clinic
including drug and alcohol abuse treatment, programs and services for
families and seniors and programs to make Los Angeles public schools safe
for LGBT kids, to name just a few. The Gay & Lesbian Center also conducts
an excellent adult education curriculum and a vibrant cultural arts
program that offers both LGBT and straight artists a safe space to produce
theatrical works and exhibit visual arts.
These programs are NOT funded by the AIDS Ride nor
will they be funded by AIDS/LifeCycle. They are funded by individual and
corporate donations throughout the year, by fund-raising events such as
our yearly anniversary gala and Women's Night, and by foundation and
government grants. Our adult education and cultural arts programs are
self-sustaining through course and admission fees and grants and, in fact,
help support many of our other service programs financially.
The only people benefiting from AIDS fund raising
are people living with HIV/AIDS or at high risk for infection. No funds
from the California AIDS Ride have ever benefited our cultural arts or
education programs, including our computer lab, which provides free
high-speed Internet access in a safe space for those who otherwise could
not afford it.
Please don't hesitate to contact us directly with
any questions about how your registration fees and donations are used or
about the operations of AIDS/LifeCycle. While we've done a great deal of
work toward launching this new event, we're still finalizing the details.
We'll be as forthcoming as possible as soon as possible. We are deeply
grateful for those of you who have supported us in the past and hope you
will join us for an exciting new event.
Thank you.
Gwenn A. Baldwin
Executive Director
L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center
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Letter from
Steve Bennett, President, Pallotta TeamWorks
November 8, 2001 |
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AIDS Project
Los Angeles Joins California AIDSRide as New Beneficiary
We’re proud
and honored to announce that AIDS Project Los Angeles has signed on as the
lead beneficiary of next year’s California AIDSRide. As one of the
nation’s largest and oldest AIDS service providers, APLA will use proceeds
from the event to support its programs and fund AIDS service organizations
throughout California. Together, we’ll be able to extend a lifeline to
more people than ever before.
In the
past, net proceeds from California AIDSRide remained with organizations in
San Francisco and Los Angeles. But next year, for the very first time,
funds will be available to support vital services and programs for people
living with HIV/AIDS in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Oakland, San Jose, San
Diego, Orange County, San Bernardino/Riverside, Sacramento, Palm Springs,
and elsewhere. It’s an incredible opportunity to expand the impact of the
Ride. And since APLA is 100% dedicated to AIDS services, you can be sure
that 100% of the net proceeds will be used for AIDS-related purposes. For
more information on APLA, visit
www.apla.org.
All of us
at California AIDSRide are incredibly excited about this new relationship.
It’s a chance for us to make a fresh start, and recommit ourselves to the
cause that is the heart, the soul, and the spirit of California AIDSRide:
helping people throughout the state who are living with HIV or AIDS.
We hope
you’ll join us for this incredible journey. We’re committed to making next
year’s California AIDSRide the best it’s ever been, but we need your
passion, your courage, and your support to make it happen. So please, give
us a call at (800) 825-1000. We’ll be happy to answer any questions you
may have, and we really want you with us in 2002.
Sincerely,
Steve Bennett
President,
Pallotta TeamWorks
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Letter from
Dan Pallotta, Chairman, Pallotta TeamWorks
December 10, 2001 |
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A Message to All California AIDSRide 8 Riders Concerning
Marketing on Last Year's Ride, from Dan Pallotta
I hope that this e-mail finds you all well. There has been a great deal of
conversation on the listserv about last year's California AIDSRide - its
tone, its focus, and its message. There are some riders and crew who felt
that Pallotta TeamWorks went way beyond its boundaries with marketing
ourselves and our other events. "Had we forgotten about AIDS?" some were
asking. This is an important concern, and one that deserves to be
addressed by us, and by me specifically. This is a long response - almost
7 pages, but if you really care about these issues, I ask you to read it.
We have not forgotten.
First, let me say that I need to apologize for not communicating the
things in this letter to you sooner. There are reasons for the things we
do at Pallotta TeamWorks, and to the extent that we do something new and
we don't help to educate you about it, they will surprise you, maybe upset
you. I need to take responsibility for that. Sometimes we get so focused
on the work that we forget to communicate how the work is changing.
There is a new company-wide commitment to make you an educated observer
to this experiment called Pallotta TeamWorks - to keep you informed and
up-to-date, and that has to start with me. So, here we go.
The Focus on the Cause
Some people felt that all the focus on what they called "marketing" last
year was an indication that Pallotta TeamWorks had lost sight of the
cause.
California AIDSRide was born, nine years ago, out of the dreamer in me
- a piece of me that is always restless with the status quo. My friends
were dying, and it seemed like everyone except ACTUP was just sitting
around. Black-tie dinners just didn't seem like enough of a response to
me. This was our Vietnam. This was huge. People were in body bags. We
needed to do something huge about it. Something more. I always want to do
things bigger and bolder. That's me. But it's also me to be passionate
about important causes. That's why I rode my bike across the whole
continental United States when I was twenty-two - because it was sickening
to me that people were dying of starvation all over the world by the
millions and no one was screaming about it. I don't always know why I get
so impassioned about these things, and what I do know is too lengthy to go
into here, but I care about people who suffer, I hate injustice. I hate it
- like most of you. So, when you take someone who's a dreamer,
and a risk taker, and who cares passionately about causes, you're going
to get someone who wants to change the way charity is done, and that's how
I feel. Charity needs to change. The whole system needs to change. I don't
think it works. Not the way it needs to work. It's way too small to get
the job done. It needs to be bigger, braver, and bolder. It needs to think
much more outside of the box, just like big business does, or it's never
going to get anywhere, and all the problems that plague our world will
remain, while consumer businesses grow bigger and bigger. One of the areas
in which it needs to take those risks is in marketing.
So I ask you this - don't take my love for marketing and business as an
indication that I don't care about our cause. The extent to which I
experiment with large, impassioned, professional marketing is a sign of
how MUCH I care about these causes.
I am a dreamer. I think boldly. I take big risks. I find the status quo
to be boring and lifeless, and I find my enthusiasm for life in
discovering new ways of doing things - braver ways of doing things. I hate
it when people tell me, "Now, you have to be practical about this." If I'd
been practical back in 1993, we would never have started California
AIDSRide. It wasn't a practical or sensible idea. I think the world has
plenty of practical. Practical is covered. It doesn't need any more. I
think the world needs more imagination. I think it needs more dreaming.
That's me. That's who I am. Like me or hate me, those are my genes.
Sometimes it's a blessing, and sometimes it feels like a curse. But I am a
dreamer, and I always will be.
Do I still care about AIDS? Did I ever? There are a few things you need
to know about me. You learn about me mostly through hearsay and newspaper
stories. I'd like you to learn about me and my motives directly from me.
- First, I'm a gay man.
- My former lover Chris died of AIDS.
- I have ridden 3,100 miles in charity rides for AIDS.
- Last year, while California AIDSRide 8 was being organized and
people were saying I had lost touch with the cause, I was acting as the
volunteer Chair of the UCLA AIDS Institute fundraising board, pledging
$50,000 of my own money and getting my friends to raise money for the
Institute as well - over $350,000 has been pledged, all on a volunteer
basis, and I continue to volunteer my time as Co-Chair of the effort.
- In 1999, I took out a loan to finance the Alaska AIDS Vaccine Ride.
I put my house, my business, my savings, every single thing I own on the
line in a guarantee to the bank to do that. Why? Because the whole
damned world is acting like it's not important that we find a vaccine
soon. I think we need to be a lot bolder than that. 75 million lives are
at stake in the poor developing countries of the world.
- In 2000, despite the suicide of my partner, I rode every single
mile of the Alaska AIDS Vaccine Ride, through the cold and the snow and
the rain, with 1,500 people I consider to be heroes.
- In 2000, again, while we were organizing California AIDSRide 8 and
the media was saying I had lost touch with AIDS and was "selling out to
breast cancer" (which, by the way, my Mom has survived), I was taking
out another loan to do three AIDS Vaccine Rides, again putting my home,
my business, and everything I own on the line because I had a dream.
Most people, when they put their life on the line for a business idea,
get all the benefit if it works. In our case, we do it because we hope
for a benefit to charity, so the next time someone tells you I'm an AIDS
profiteer, please set the record straight for me. I would really
appreciate it.
- In 2001, eight weeks after California AIDSRide 8, on which some
people were saying I had lost touch with the cause, my 66-year-old Dad
and I were busting our asses up the Continental Divide on the Montana
AIDS Vaccine Ride. We rode every mile, and my Dad proved himself to be a
hero for the cause. My Dad was a construction worker all his life.
Despite the fact that construction workers aren't always the most
liberal minded when it comes to AIDS, he went to all of his former
co-workers, and told them this was important to him, and asked them all
for donations.
- In 2001, while CAR 8 was happening, we were negotiating yet another
loan package to launch the European AIDS Vaccine Ride, the African AIDS
Trek, the Canada-U.S. AIDS Vaccine Ride, and the Vaccine 3-Day in New
York, and once again, I was putting up everything I own.
So please, don't ever let anyone tell you that I'm not committed to
this cause.
That being said, how can we focus even MORE on the cause on next year's
AIDSRides?
- Every event section in the new catalog started out with at least
five important statistics about the cause.
- Every one of this year's newsletters starts out with a huge
statistic about the cause - a current, very relevant statistic.
- We are launching a Rider Advisory Committee to help us put
additional emphasis on the cause. If you're interested in being a part
of it, call us - 800-825-1000. I will be personally involved in it.
- We will have more HIV-positive speakers on the campsite and at the
ceremonies telling their stories next year.
- We will be working with AIDS Project Los Angeles to make sure
there's user-friendly education and presentations from the camp stage
every single evening.
- We will be working with AIDS Project Los Angeles to have other
charities, especially those that work with minority communities, give
presentations on their work from the stage.
"Marketing" Other Issues
Some people objected to us talking about other causes on the Ride last
year. Yes, we spoke about breast cancer on the AIDSRide. But it's
important for you to know that we were, at the same time, talking about
AIDS on the breast cancer events this year as well. It was a two-way
street.
Some people came up to us and said, "Why are you talking about breast
cancer on an AIDS event? Breast cancer isn't my issue. AIDS is my issue."
"Why were you talking about suicide on the AIDSRide? That's not my issue."
With all due respect, I find that attitude upsetting. Ten years ago, the
country didn't want to hear about AIDS. It wasn't "their" issue. Why is
Africa dying right now? Because Americans don't want to hear about AIDS in
Africa - "it's not their issue." So, the system in which AIDS activists
don't want to hear about breast cancer is the very same system that kept
AIDS off the national agenda during the Reagan years, and that keeps it
off the agenda today.
I do not consider AIDS and breast cancer separate issues. They both
persist because of a lack of dreaming and boldness and kindness in this
world. The lack of dreaming and the lack of common human decency are the
underlying issues in both cases. You must understand that I am not
interested in a world where we only care about one issue. That is not what
my dreams are about or what this company is about. It is because people
only care about one issue, or the issue that affects them the most, that
we have wars and violence. The AIDSRide community must be a totally caring
community. It must be kind without discrimination. It must not be
threatened by the mention of breast cancer. How could the mention of those
who suffer from breast cancer or who suffer in poverty possibly diminish
our commitment to AIDS? How can we segregate our caring and still say we
are caring people? To be wholly human we must be wholly kind. Caring knows
no limits.
I can recall two AIDS charities that did not want us to bring someone
from Africa to speak at camp on one of the Rides because they felt it
would distract people from AIDS in their own community. On an AIDS Ride!
THAT is what happens when you start to segregate your kindness. It becomes
unkindness. It is born of fear, and fear will never be the platform from
which we solve the world's problems. I don't want any part of it.
I find it appalling that people heard all kinds of dirty jokes from the
stage of the AIDSRide, and no one complained about that, but when suicide
was mentioned, a few people were up in arms. With all due respect, I think
those people need to re-visit their priorities.
Fancy Marketing Trailers
Some people objected to the marketing trailers we had out on the
campsites.
Again, I believe in professional marketing. It works. It's the way
we've been able to raise $100 million net for AIDS in eight years. I don't
think that the world of charity uses enough professional marketing
practice. Why does Nike sell billions of dollars worth of sneakers, but
AIDS charities raise only tens of millions each year? Because Nike
markets. It gets out there and it competes for people's attention. Do you
know why people register for the AIDSRide? Because they hear about it.
Somehow, they hear about it. And the trick to getting more people to hear
about it is to market it more, in the smartest, most effective ways
possible. Why is it that we love huge electronic billboards for Apple
computer but we get offended if we see the same kind of marketing for a
cause? Aren't our causes more important than sneakers and computers? We
must get charity a seat at this table. We can't do that by wishing it. We
have to get smart. We have to get professional.
I don't believe that the general public is apathetic. I think they get
distracted by everything out there that people are trying to sell them. I
don't believe that AIDS is competing with leukemia or heart disease. I
believe that AIDS, leukemia, and heart disease are ALL competing with BMW,
Microsoft, Disney, the cruise lines, professional football, and all the
other things that vie for the consumer's attention. We need to get charity
into that mix. That's why, this year, we'll be using television to
advertise the AIDSRides. It's an experiment, but if it works, it could be
a huge benefit for all of us who care about AIDS.
But back to the trailers. Where was the logic in building the trailers?
- The trailers cost about $30,000 - $40,000 each, and we can use them
for years.
- In the past, when we tried to collect new registrations for next
year's ride on the event, it was usually done with a small tent. It was
dark and often damp, with nowhere to write or sit down and read a
brochure. We wanted to change that. We wanted a clean, dry, lighted,
comfortable environment to collect registrations. It worked. On most
events, we registered a lot more people for the next year than we had in
previous years. Now the trailers are paid for, and we can use them all
over Los Angeles throughout the year to market the Ride, and use them
again at camp next year and the year after and the year after that.
- One of the trailers was specifically there to let you know where
all the money from past events has gone. We work hard to be responsible
about letting you know how every penny you've ever raised has been
spent.
- One of the trailers was to sell videos of the event. None of that
money came to Pallotta TeamWorks. And the primary reason we launched the
whole video program was so that you'd have something to take back and
show your friends, and, hopefully, that would become a much more
efficient and less expensive form of advertising than other traditional
forms. Everything we do is to try to improve things.
- One of the trailers was for your suggestions. We want to make sure
you feel heard. We did not simply want a cardboard suggestion box with
no one to talk to. We wanted you to have a place you could go to, and a
person you could talk to, if you had suggestions on ways we could
improve the events.
The Catalog
Some people love the new catalog. Some people hate it. They think it was
way out of line - way too expensive. The catalog looks expensive. As I
wrote in the back, the catalogs actually cost $3.50 each. We don't know if
we'll use the same catalog again next year. We're studying it to see if it
produces more registrations. But there are three main things you should
know:
- On the newest version, by using thinner paper and a different
binding process, we actually have the cost down to $1.80 each.
- It costs us, when our advertising is successful, about $50 to get a
person to call us about the Ride. We feel it is worth an extra $1.80 to
try to get that $50 investment in a person to turn into a registration.
- In years past, California AIDSRide brochures would be sent to about
10,000 people. That's all. If someone called and asked for information
on the Heartland AIDSRide, that's all they would get, and they would
have no idea that California AIDSRide even existed, and vice versa. We
thought that was foolish. This year, 400,000 people will get to see that
California AIDSRide exists, all because of the catalog. The catalog was
another big bold idea. We wanted to see, and still do, if, by sending
one catalog to everyone, so 400,000 people could see ALL the events this
year, including California AIDSRide, we could get a lot more
registrations. This was our biggest reason for the experiment, and we're
seeing if it works.
The catalog is a big experiment. Experimentation is an important issue.
Why? Because our society does not allow charities the freedom to
experiment and test new ideas. We don't complain if Paramount puts out 15
movies, 12 of which flop, in an effort to find one hit, but we ask that
our favorite charities never ever take a chance, which means they never
ever want to try something new, which means they suffocate - they never
have a real opportunity to grow. I'm trying to change that. Pallotta
TeamWorks takes a lot of hits for that. When something new that we're
trying flops or is disappointing, people go after us, ridicule us, and
impugn our character. We're willing to risk that, because we believe the
experimentation is that important. The catalog is one of our biggest
experiments yet. If it was a mistake, well, at least we tried it. But if
it was smart, it could be a huge benefit to California AIDSRide and every
other cause we care about.
Summary
We have not forgotten. About AIDS, about suffering, or about you. We are
so grateful for you. You make the Ride what it is. We want you back. I
want you back. And I also want you to have a better understanding of what
we do and why we do it. I promise to take more responsibility for that.
Forgive me, and forgive us for not doing more of it. We love you, and we
hope to see your smiling faces all over the roads of California and
elsewhere this summer, dreaming, boldly, of a better world for everyone.
For those of you that really believe in what we're doing for the cause
- in our effort to change charity - in this unique experiment - we need
your support. Cynicism is a powerful force, and any time you try something
new - something as radical as what we're trying - the cynics come out of
the woodwork to try and tear you down. Well, we won't be torn down. No
matter how hard they try, we're not giving up. We've been thankful over
the years that people like you have almost always been smart enough to see
through what the cynics say about us. But there are a lot of people who
need our help, and we need yours. So, I'm asking for it. Help us educate
people about what we're doing. Help us make this change a reality. Help us
get to the day where the great causes of the world have a seat at the
table. Then, and only then, can these problems our world sees as
inevitable - from AIDS to breast cancer to starvation - be eradicated from
the face of the earth.
Thank you and happy holidays.
Peace,
Dan Pallotta |
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