How to fundraise after Sandy: conference calls today & Monday at noon EST

The Chronicle of Philanthropy, 10/31/12

No matter where your nonprofit operates, it will feel the effects of Hurricane Sandy, which arrived just as many organizations were about to mount their year-end holiday appeals. Join The Chronicle for a free conference call on Thursday, November 1, and Monday, November 5, to learn how you should handle fundraising in the wake of the storm. Raymund Flandez, a Chronicle reporter, will tell you what he's learned as he talks to nonprofits nationwide, and Bob Ottenhoff, head of the new Center for Disaster Philanthropy, Terry Axelrod, founder of the Benevon fundraising firm, and other experts will take your questions. The one-hour calls will start at 12 noon EST. To participate, sign up online.

Music superstars join telethon for Hurricane Sandy Relief Effort on Friday

Dave Itzkoff, The New York Times' ArtsBeat blog, 11/1/12

NBC Universal will show a one-hour telethon on its broadcast network and cable television stations on Friday night to benefit Hurricane Sandy relief efforts. The telethon will be held at NBC's Rockefeller Plaza studios and hosted by Matt Lauer, co-host of "Today." Among the musicians scheduled to perform are Bruce Springsteen, Billy Joel, Jon Bon Jovi, Sting and Christina Aguilera; Jimmy Fallon, the host of NBC's "Late Night," and Brian Williams, the anchor of NBC Nightly News, will also appear. The telethon will be shown simultaneously on NBC, Bravo, CNBC, E!, G4, MSNBC, Style, Syfy and USA, and streamed live on the NBC.com Web site. It will be broadcast live from 8 to 9 p.m. Eastern time for the East Coast and on a tape delay for the West Coast. NBC said that money collected from the telethon will be donated to the American Red Cross.

How NOT to market to people after Hurricane Sandy

Connor Simpson and Rebecca Greenfield, The Atlantic magazine's Wire blog, 10/30/12

There's been a small treasure of social media fails since the storm hit. Most notably, American Apparel [is] taking serious criticism for sending out an advisory [Monday] night for a 26-hour storm sale special: 20% off in all states affected by Sandy. But American Apparel isn't the only company taking criticism for capitalizing on Sandy in name of capitalism. The Gap, the chino-peddling bastion of innocence, got caught up in the storm and tweeted this: "All impacted by #Sandy, stay safe! We'll be doing lots of Gap.com shopping today. How about you?" Looks bad, right? The Gap at least realized the error of their ways and apologized. American Apparel? Still tweeting about Disco Pants. But they weren't the only hipster clothing retailer to take advantage of the storm's stranding everyone inside. Urban Outfitters offered free shipping Monday morning, attempting to capitalize on the college students stuck inside all day wasting time looking at those boots they've been watching: "This storm blows (but free shipping doesn't)! Today only...." But the ultimate social media fail, in our humble opinion, comes from Groupon. The daily deal sent out for Midtown in New York [Tuesday] morning was for a restaurant called Dans Le Noir whose selling point is that they serve you a surprise meal in complete darkness. The Bad Deal wasn't very impressed with the offer. "With massive power outages throughout the region (including my apartment), suffice it to say we've had enough darkness in NYC," they write. Why would anyone buy for a Groupon experience most are getting at home for free? 

How are NYC dance orgs coping after Sandy?

FROM TC: Yesterday, the team at Dance/NYC emailed: "To understand the storm's impact on dance making and performance in the metropolitan area, and assess immediate recovery needs, we are writing to request your testimony. Help us tell your story and help you by writing Lacey Althouse at [email protected]. Join the conversation on Twitter @DanceNYC #sandydance. Our offices on East 18th Street are without power and closed, but we are working hard to monitor the field virtually." [Here are some early tweets from the @DanceNYC hashtag:]

• Artistic director/choreographer Larry Keigwin of Keigwin + Company tweeted: "I am missing our residency on Governor's Island, but pushed the living room furniture aside and we danced."
• White Wave Dance: We had to cancel 9 performances :(
• InspiritDance: Since many of our company members are teaching artists (paid by the hour), we're out of a week of pay.
• Ice Theatre of New York was hit hard - lost office space and also temporarily perf & rehearsal space @ChelseaPiersNYC

For displaced artists looking for alternate rehearsal/performance space...

FROM TC: Lisa Niedermeyer from Fractured Atlas wrote me yesterday, "With so many artists looking for alternative space to teach, to rehearse and to hopefully produce their cancelled shows... www.NYCPASpaces.org is a great resource for folks who don't know where to start in finding alternative space. Unfortunately we don't have up to date status of which venues are open for business. I'm doing the best I can on twitter and emailing venues to know who is open and who needs help. But we can sure save people a lot of time by making it easy to look for alternatives in the areas of NYC that they know have power and transport."

Actors Fund offers help to arts professionals affected by hurricane

From the Actors Fund of America website

Even though our website and NY Office number continue to be periodically affected by outages caused by Hurricane Sandy, we are open for business, and our staff is here to help during this very difficult time in the Tri-State region. We've been receiving messages from people in need of emergency financial assistance, last-minute work, access to medical care and others who just want to help our community by making donations to assist those hurt most by the storm. If your home or apartment was damaged in the storm and you don't know who to contact for help; if you are without work or between gigs and have no steady income; if you are without medical insurance and in need of medical care; or if you simply are at risk with no friends or family to go to for emergency financial help -- the entertainment and performing arts community can continue to reach out to us for assistance. That's why The Actors Fund exists. We ask you to please spread the word to friends and family who may not have internet access, and let them know The Fund is here to help. Call the New York Office at 917.281.5936 or The Actors Fund Work Program NYC at 212.354.5480. Alternately, you can send us a Direct Message on Twitter (@TheActorsFund) or a private message via Facebook (www.facebook.com/TheActorsFund) -- all communication is confidential. Also, The Al Hirschfeld Free Health Clinic in NYC is open and operational! To find out about eligibility or to make an appointment, call 212.489.1939.