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Inappropriate solicitation


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Hi everyone,

This is to do with events here in England with the Royal Ballet. I was recently targeted (having spent several hundred pounds over the years via credit cards) by the Royal Ballet marketing department. Asking me to donate money to help carry the costs of pointe shoes.

For an extra large donation $400+ I could have the shoes signed by a ballerina (they didn't specify which), and for $250 I could have.... wait for it.... a signed photo of a Royal Ballet principal!!!!!!!

This angers me on several levels:

1) The Royal Ballet's ticket prices are exorbitant, the highest in the world, but this is not the issue here, the issue being that these mounting ticket costs, especially with the disparity of the quality of the product onstage (separate issue) should mean that at the very least one can be assured that the basic costs of running a company - toe shoes being the basic fundamental of a ballet company - should be covered.

2) It's deeply tacky to receive begging letters. However, I was targeted due to the fact that I had used credit cards on expensive seats and was therefore considered a safe bet. My visits to the RB have been very rare of late, due to my dismay at the consistent poor standards, but this was not taken into any kind of consideration before I was solicited, rather the sum was seen as making me a safe bet. On one occasion after a particularly atrocious performance I wrote a letter of complaint to the ROH and have to this date received nothing back. It makes receiving this begging letter really offensive.

3) The special price tags to receive "signed shoes" and "signed photographs" (oh the humanity, it beneath contempt.

The whole affair has just angered me, and left me with a deep distaste for the current management. I know that similar sponsorship and fundraising drives are in place in the US, but are they so overt, tacky and solipsistic? And do they at least take into account the attendance of the targeted before they solicit you?

The main point which disgusts me is that I am obviously on a "has spent more than X amount with us over the past few years" list and this really angers me. More than anything is confirms that the RB as an institution is based on money not artistry.

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On one occasion after a particularly atrocious performance I wrote a letter of complaint to the ROH and have to this date received nothing back.

Perhaps if the Royal Ballet could rise above it's present abysmal level one could feel a little more sympathy, but until standards begin to rise it's impossible for most of us to care much about this sadly declining company anyway.

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Simon, this particular appeal has been running for years, but until now it had been limited to the Friends of Covent Garden.

I've never responded to it as, like you, I think they get quite enough of my money anyway, and I also dislike the pathetic-ness of the idea that without my extra help they'd be reduced to doing Sleeping Beauty on half-pointe.

However, it works: they get quite a lot of money through this channel, I believe. Obviously it appeals to people more than 'give us some money so we can afford to pay to have the theatre cleaned/ pay the director's secretary/ buy more light bulbs for the dressing rooms'.

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Jane, what annoyed me is that the letter I wrote was in response to the triple bill of three weeks ago. This coincided with the letter for pointe shoes, so the fact that I paid by credit card obviously bumped me up to the begging letter list whilst this was the performance which made me realise my decision of last year not to attend the RB anymore was in fact the right one for me.

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Sigh... it sounds as if one more aspect of American culture has jumped the pond.

I'm sorry to say that this kind of letter is quite standard here. Of course, I can't judge the tone of your particular letter, but the practices you cite are common. Fundraising wisdom here holds that 1) donors give more if you cite a specific need (pointe shoes, rather than the generic "costs of keeping the company alive"), and 2) donors will respond if you offer a "premium", as they are called here.

Some of this is self-fulfilling prophecy. If donors get used to receiving a t-shirt, a mug, or a tote bag (common premiums), they start to feel denied if they aren't offered one! What they don't realize in most cases is that they are buying these items, and their donation is accordingly reduced. At least, that's the formal view of our taxation authorities. I was taken aback recently when we sent an unsolicited donation to our local modern dance company, and received out of the blue a package with all the "gifts" appropriate to our "giving level". Frankly, I would rather they just spent the money on themselves (although younger daughter did seize on the tote bag and declared it would make an awesome dance bag ...)

As for aggressive and unpleasant solicitations, the ones I hate most are when the letter thanking me for my largish donation comes attached to a plea for more!

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Yes, Simon, this is American marketing at its finest :thumbsup: There's a theory called (by me) "Milk your market," which means that the people who are already giving you money are not only much more likely to give you more, but oh, so much easier to reach, since (obviously) they already have your number, as it were.

One of the side effects of this, though, is that the company has to have extra staff to handle all the member benefits. Someone has to package and send out those signed toe shoes and photos, not to mention arrange the parties, backstage tours, etc.

The Next Big Thing is having the artistic director address the audience before every "show," if you'll pardon the expression. Once considered the sign of the amateur or very small company, the kind where everyone in the audience knows everyone on stage, it's now working its way up the ranks of small to mid-sized companies in the U.S. Surveys have shown that audiences like this.

So it's all our fault, really. Not theirs. :wacko:

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I remember reading in the last decade or so that recent British governments have been reducing the amount of money given to the arts, and that the Royal Opera House, which has always relied on public funds for the bulk of its budget, has been among those hardest hit. The articles I read indicated that this trend is expected to continue, and that British arts groups are going to have to reach out to new sources of funding.

So I think that the type of solicitation you received, Simon, is just the tip of the iceberg. One aspect of the situation that differs sharply from that in the States, though, is that contributions to non-profit enterprises such as cultural institutions are not tax deductible in Britain. This is a huge difference, as tax deductibility is a major attraction for many American donors. In fact, end-of-tax-year appeals (such as Giannina's Christmas card) are standard over here. So I don't know how successful this approach can be without such a lure.

I can understand that to someone who isn't used to this kind of appeal it can seem tacky, but to those who are, the offer of autographed toe shoes and photos is actually quite restrained. There have been a number of discussions on this board about commercial tie-ins and other gambits by American companies to bring in cash, some of which make toe shoes and photos look like the acme of dignity. There's always a tension between the aristocratic heritage of ballet and the other high arts and the modern liberal culture of capitalism, and for one to exist in the world of the other involves compromises and conundrums. It's one of the major issues in the arts today.

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I buy my tickets for NYCB on-line with a 4th ring society membership. I joined the 4th ring society because I want to see the ballet at least once a week, and I'm not a rich person. $30 for me and a friend to go to the ballet is a great deal (even though I watch the whole thing through binoculars). It's fun.

I'm not annoyed by mailings asking for donations (I've also been solicited by SAB asking for money to be used for scholarship funds), nor am I annoyed that there is a box to add a donation on the website when I order a ticket.

What I was annoyed at was a volunteer calling me (at work!), trying to sell me Spring subscriptions. I appreciate aggressive marketing of ballet and all the volunteers who do this work, but I don't like telemarketers, no matter what they're trying to sell me, especially when they call me at work.

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To add to your comments lampwick, the telemarketers who won't take "No, I can't afford to this year" or some such explanation but who insist on calling back night after night ad nauseum.

Thank the phone company for caller ID, but even with that my ire does mount. :wacko:

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I remember reading in the last decade or so that recent British governments have been reducing the amount of money given to the arts, and that the Royal Opera House, which has always relied on public funds for the bulk of its budget, has been among those hardest hit.  The articles I read indicated that this trend is expected to continue, and that British arts groups are going to have to reach out to new sources of funding.

Ari,

The problem over funding in the UK is huge, and no mistake. However, the Royal Opera House, due to its Royal Charter has not had its funding cut, and although it does not rise in tandem to inflation rates, it still receives over 70% of all arts funding for dance in the UK.

Many highly worthy companies with huge artistic integrity such as London Contemporary Dance Theatre have been forced to close over the past decade, but the Royal Ballet is allowed to stay afloat. Most dramatically a few years ago when the company was bankrupt and pulled from liquidation due to HUGE cash injections.

Again, I wouldn't mind but for the quality of the work. This current bugbear of mine stems from the triple bill which I was so appalled by and was swiftly followed by the begging letter.

I wouldn't mind donating to Merce (including my vital organs, I love his work so much) or several other companies, but when I've paid £66 for a ticket and come away feeling the way I did, bankrupt for a company which appears to be artistically bankrupt, the last thing on my mind is donation.

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"What I was annoyed at was a volunteer calling me (at work!), trying to sell me Spring subscriptions. I appreciate aggressive marketing of ballet and all the volunteers who do this work, but I don't like telemarketers, no matter what they're trying to sell me, especially when they call me at work. "

A plea for clemency, in the midst of ire.....

I dislike marketing tactics like this. That said, I am less annyed by opera or ballett companies soliciting me than I am by storm windows, vinyl siding, credit card companies, etc. ad nauseum.

I want to let people know that many of the telemarketers that NYCB uses (for example), are not volunteers. In many cases they are students at the school, who may or may not be on adequate scholarship to cover their living costs. I don't know anyone who does telemarketing who *likes * it. It can be deadly dull, and the responses from people called are usually not pleasant.

Many ballet students are on the other end of your phone lines. They aren't calling you because they want to annoy you, they are calling you because their rehearsal schedules won't allow them to get any other jobs and they would like to buy a new pair of legwarmers or sweatshirt.

So please remember that support comes in many forms. The dancer you might be singing paeans to on this board might be the person you snarled at last night during a solicitation for spring subscriptions call. I have direct personal knowledge that this is indeed the case--I am not being Pollyanna-ish or making it up.

One can always tell telemarketers not to call you at work, or screen your calls at home.

Yes, it is annoying, but one can simply throw the letters away or not answer the phone.

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My pet peeve has always been the 'contribution' slot on the mail order form---so much so, that I buy my tickets at the box office. I'm sure the seats ordered by mail are not so good if the contribution slot is left blank. I like to twit the NYCB marketeers by telling them I would never order tickets without knowing who's dancing----and not being much of an opera goer, I think it a bit outrageous that ABT has to share any contribution with the Met Opera Company.

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Juliet,

Sorry if I came off as too harsh. I was actually very nice to the person who called. I told them that I appreciated the call, will be attending the ballet many times this spring, but had to get back to work. I was a telemarketer in high school myself and used to work retail and all kinds of jobs when I was young. In this economic situation, as a graphic design/ web person, I may yet still need to work a job like that at some point.

I shouldn't have said I hate telemarketers. The call was a just bit much. I'd rather look at a brochure on my own time.

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Again, I wouldn't mind but for the quality of the work. This current bugbear of mine stems from the triple bill which I was so appalled by and was swiftly followed by the begging letter.

I wouldn't mind donating to Merce (including my vital organs, I love his work so much) or several other companies, but when I've paid £66 for a ticket and come away feeling the way I did, bankrupt for a company which appears to be artistically bankrupt, the last thing on my mind is donation.

So your real objection is to the quality of the company's work, then, not the solicitation? I sympathize -- I've often felt the same when I see bad performances from companies whose normal standard is higher. The trouble is that companies need money to survive regardless of current artistic levels, and you can't use each performance as a test of whether you're going to continue to support its work. Or, rather, you can, but whether that's a wise long-term strategy is questionable. If you believe in a company, if it has a history of artistic integrity, if it's achieved things that you want to see preserved and built on, then I think you have to grit your teeth and hope that things will improve. Of course, that's hard when you see artistic policies and performance levels that anger you on a consistent basis. By all means make your displeasure known, to the company, to newspaper letter columns, to boards like this, to whatever outlet you can find.

But companies still need money to exist. Whether you contribute to them above the cost of your tickets is of course up to you. But instead of thinking of a contribution (or the purchase of a ticket) as an endorsement of existing policies and standards, think of what might happen if the company's funds dried up. Then there would be no possibility at all of getting it back on the right course.

In writing this, I've been thinking as much about the current situation at the New York City Ballet as that at the Royal. I know there are people, some on this board, who are so opposed to Peter Martins's leadership that they've stopped giving money to the company. While they are of course entitled to do as they wish, my own attitude is what I just wrote.

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So your real objection is to the quality of the company's work, then, not the solicitation?  I sympathize -- I've often felt the same when I see bad performances from companies whose normal standard is higher.  The trouble is that companies need money to survive regardless of current artistic levels, and you can't use each performance as a test of whether you're going to continue to support its work.  Or, rather, you can, but whether that's a wise long-term strategy is questionable.  If you believe in a company, if it has a history of artistic integrity, if it's achieved things that you want to see preserved and built on, then I think you have to grit your teeth and hope that things will improve.

Actually Ari, no. I've been watching the Royal for quite some time now and have stuck with them through some very bad patches but this current ABT model Royal is I feel its very worst incarnation yet.

I don't mind giving to a company I believe in. What I did object to was the crassness of the letter, the tone of, as Jane so rightly said "If you don't give us money the girls go on demi-pointe" then the utter mediocrity of the "bonuses" you get if you give extra. A signed name.

The Royal is not in desperate poverty, but the tone of this letter was awfully twee, like one of those awful adults who talk in baby talk and ask for "hugs".

I admire the ABT site which has the balls to say this dancer is paid for by such and such CEO. It's honest it says this dancer has high fees we can't meet them and so this Warbucks will. Though of course the worrying implication is that ballet hasn't really moved on since the 19th century when certain "stars" were heavily patronised in every sense of the word.

Perhaps that's my biggest grudge against this letter, it was just so utterly not grown up.

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This topic came up at the perfect moment. Just yesterday a woman from Houston Ballet called me literally begging for a donation and continued to talk before I could tell her I was only 17 and couldn't make a contribution right away (she was asking me to do it over the phone). I don't mind making the occasional small donation to the company, but her methods of persuasion were quite pathetic. Actually, it was hardly persuasion because it almost sounded as if she was telling me I "had" to make this donation and they "had" to receive it by this time. I wanted to tell her I didn't "have" to do anything, especially since I've been ignored many times in the past when I tried contacting them in an effort to support the company. This also comes at a time when the new season has been announced and I am not happy about it. :angry:

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o tempora, o mores!

NOT TO MENTINO THE INVITATIONS T RECEPTOINS WHICH AREN'T INVITATIONS AT ALL, BUT INVITATIONS TO BUY A TICKET OR CONTRIBUTE.....

OOPS, CAPS LOCK....

It's awful when you get on hte wrong list, and find that you're being solicited for 1000 dollar donations. It somehow seems so much MORE impersonal than it used to be, when it's not even within reason that you could pony up this much.

it's not hte tip of the iceberg -- it's the thin end of the wedge (to use a very British example) -- and it's only going to get worse. So far the ballet does not REQUIRE a donation of its subscibers here, as the opera has been doing for at least 10 years --but it can't be far off.

With telemarketers, I always tell them, I'm sorry, I'm on the other line and can't talk now.

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These sort of approaches in the UK certainly aren't reserved just for the Royal Opera House. I've had various letters from different companies or venues. Most pushy were representatives from Sadlers Wells who phoned more than once asking very pointedly for a donation and suggesting how much.

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I just remembered that Bruce Marriott did a very funny page about this awhile back -- Jane or Lynette, do you have a link? It was one of his April Fool's jokes about marketing at the ROH.

And OT, becuase it's not dance, but it is American marketing carried to its graceless extreme: a college friend of mine was wooed by the alumni director recently. He invited my friend and another alumna (both attorneys, and therefore on the Rich List of a state school) out to lunch and they had a pleasant talk about life in general. Later that afternoon, she got an EMAIL from him saying how nice it had been to meet her, the college was looking for donors, and based on her income level he suggested she write a check for $10,000.

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I also hate the use of last year's contribution to calculate what you "should" give this year. It validates the bromide "No good deed goes unpunished." :sweating:

And the absolute worst in fundraising that I've seen is the private school that my 14 year old dd attended until second grade (we left during an upheaval at the school, and not in pleasant circumstances) - they not only send my husband and me their Annual Reports, but now send her a solicitation as a 9th grade alumna -let's just ignore the fact that she didn't graduate from that school!

:FIREdevil:

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