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Humanities Council dinner, auction raises $15K
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Posted on Aug 17 2011
The NMI Council for the Humanities’ anniversary fundraising dinner at the Pacific Islands Club’s Magellan Restaurant on Aug. 12 yielded over $15,000 in net earnings.
Over 300 advocates and supporters attended Friday’s event, which celebrated the council’s 20 years of fostering awareness, understanding and appreciation of the humanities.
Executive director Scott Russell said the amount includes some $4,800 generated from the silent auction—a first for the council. The silent auction featured donated merchandise and artwork from local artists, including Robert Hunter, Karen Cabrera, Tony Cabrera, Leslie Ware, Ed Propst, Del Benson, Gordon Salas, and Jack Hardy.
“We’re still waiting for some last minute tickets to clear but we’re looking at a bit over $15,000 net income. …Under the circumstances, under the very poor economic situation that the Commonwealth is experiencing now, we were very pleasantly surprised,” Russell told Saipan Tribune.
According to Russell, they received feedback that the event brought together all supporters of the humanities “that normally might not get together if it hadn’t been for that event.”
“That was an unforeseen benefit of the fundraiser,” said Russell. “It was quite nice to see all those different people together. I think everybody had a pretty good time.”
Russell said the money will be used only for the council’s programs and not for operations. The council’s 2012 fiscal year begins on Nov. 1.
“We haven’t identified a specific program yet because we’ll be using this probably for next year’s budget. So we have a couple more months in this fiscal year and then we’ll be putting together our budget for 2012,” added Russell.
