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History
The Beginning
In 1983 it was as usual the best of times and the worst
of times. Wisconsin had just passed its first in the
nation Gay Rights law and Wisconsin had also
recorded its first AIDS case. President Ronald Reagan
was in the White House and Governor Tony Earl was in
the East Wing. Impulses from both the best and the
worst would help fuel the creation of the New Harvest
Foundation.
The pride in having little old Wisconsin surpass so
many other big coastal states where advocates had
been trying to pass similar state laws for many years
was tangible. If we in Wisconsin could do that, what
else could we do? Larger communities had recently
started gay and lesbian foundations. As we looked
around and found we did not have one, the natural
impulse was of course we should have one in our own
advanced community. Weren't we as good or even
better than some of those places?
Yet, the reality of the "advanced" nature of the
community did not live up to the bright gleaming
phantasm. Resources from the community to fund
needed services were paltry. One of the main sources
of income for community organizations was
volunteers doing the coat check at the local gay bar.
Party loving friends Dick Wagner and Dan Curd along
with other friends started to host theme events to
help. An "Alice B. Toklas Birthday Party" for the
United, "A Night on Key West" for the Gay Center
and other events helped raise some cash. This
showed that asking for help and providing some
fun could work.
The Planning
The situation provoked discussions among a
group of young and just getting established
professionals who saw a community need and
resolved to do something about it. But they
wanted to do it right and there were some past
examples of community organizations
squabbling over the proceeds of fundraising
events. So with six months of discernment
discussions, mainly held at 739 Jennifer Street, a
house with a history of fairy spirits, this group
sorted through many principles to guide the new
effort.
Among these principles was that, as a
community of substance, we could pick
mainstream society rather marginal models.
Thus it was agreed rather early that an ambitious
fundraising goal and a foundation for ongoing
fundraising would be the focus of the effort.
Jerry Dahlke, a professional fundraiser,
specializing in the arts, encouraged big thinking.
This meant that the focus of the foundation
would be on the potential donor community. This
was a conscious choice for a new direction since
most local community efforts to that date had
been activist based. Some for awhile had felt
that the model of an umbrella organization with
all community interests represented might be an
alternative. However, the foundation model
decided on also fit with the desire not to
compete with community organizations by
creating another membership organization, but
to have a self-renewing board for the
foundation. One principle early agreed about by
the board was to require gender parity. The
group of discussants had a lively mix of men
and women and wanted to build that partnership
for the future. While it was recognized that some
community organizations could be gender
focused, this effort could not be.
One problem with a focus on the donor
community was that many had no connection to
the activist community and wished some
distance from the same. Remember it was a
different time. The problem was addressed by
being clear about the purpose of the foundation,
but by embracing a non-exclusive
identity/orientation for the foundation. Thus it
was hoped that fundraising might not be
exclusively gay/lesbian. There was also a
desire for a potential public gay/lesbian
community dinner or event that would attract
mainstream interest as had by then occurred in
other places, but had not then yet occurred in
Madison. These folks saw no reason why the
Urban League dinner was a must on the public
schedule, but there was no comparable
gay/lesbian event. One way to reach out to the
larger community and make nervous closeted
folks feel safer was to follow the early model of the
United which had ostensible straights, known
jocularly as "OSs" on the board. So we recruited
among others Dane District Attorney James Doyle, Jr.,
who had supported the Dane County nondiscrimination
ordinance and agreed to lend support
to the foundation.
As noted in some past occurrences there had been
problems with distributing funds based on either
claims of need or on claims of contributed
effort/volunteer hours. It was decided that the new
foundation would be a regular grant based awarding
organization like mainstream and government funding
sources. This also reflected a desire that community
organizations be nurtured in grant-writing skills so
they could also seek those broader funds.
The Name
One of the big problems was what to call the
Foundation. Most of the others around the country
had moved towards the slightly ambiguous approach
by not explicitly including gay or lesbian in the name.
Milwaukee's foundation was known as Cream City
based on a brick color. This problem was discussed
for many months. Some suggested an attribute or
symbol of the broader community like Dome might be
a name but this provoked no sympathetic responses.
Themes about cows were likewise rejected. Finally at
one meeting Karla Dobinski suggested New Harvest.
It drew on the vaguely agricultural linkages and
Midwestern nature of Dane County. It had an
implication that this was new work of bringing in
bounty that had been
cultivated but not yet reaped for the community.
It also spoke to the hope we had for younger
generations not having to go through the grief
some of us had experienced growing up in the
shadows. Some quickly thought of named
categories of giving like harvesters, gleaners,
etc. And many bad jokes were made about
harvesting fruits. An early symbol used for the
Foundation was a cornucopia patterned on the
state coat of arms. One curious later follow up to
the name was when we applied to the IRS for tax
exemption. Under the Reagan era government
we were cautioned not to mislead people into
thinking we were an agricultural organization.
This was of course well before Will Fellows and
his book Farm Boys with his standing joke about
how one pronounced John Deere.
The Launch
How to announce the new effort was the next
problem. Most mainline fundraising efforts set a
goal and then quietly raise a substantial sum to
have for a launch announcement. At this time
many gay/lesbian community organizations had
annual budgets of $3,000 or less. A goal of
$10,000 at first seemed wildly optimistic. But
eventually by planning a three-year giving option
the goal was set at $25,000 for the kickoff.
Organizers and future board members dug deep
and persuaded some friends to help so over
$10,000, then an unheard of sum, would already
be committed by the time the effort went public.
Though there remained many doubters that
professional people would contribute their skills,
time, and funds to the effort rather than just
party at the bars, an initial Board was recruited.
Next, Mayor Joe Sensbrenner was asked and
agreed to sponsor the kickoff event. The venue
of the Marquee Room at the Civic Center was
chosen as the site. The invites went out. And
people came. And the Foundation was launched
with a great success and a toast to our future.
Dick Wagner - February 2, 2004
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