GREAT STORIES
Broadway Hit Cuts to the Core of Philanthropy
By: Ruthellen S. Rubin, CFRE

Now in its third year on Broadway, AVENUE Q is adorable. It is funny, poignant and relevant. Everyone in the audience laughs, feels warm and fuzzy, and relates to the many lessons that meander through the plot.

When you leave the theatre, you are humming the songs (especially since they all seem to have basically the same tune…) I was particularly drawn in by the raucous hit song in the second act, "The Money Song" - probably because its lyrics speak to my own fundraising tactics:

Give us your money!
Give us your dough!
We're raising money
For a Monster School
But we've got a ways to go.

So give us your money!
Give us your money!
Give us your money!
When you help others
You can't help helping yourself!

Every time you
Do good deeds
You're also serving
Your own needs.
When you help others
You can't help
Helping yourself.

Here's the subplot: The folks in the neighborhood on Avenue Q take up a collection to build a Monster School. As it turns out, those colorful, furry guys that you remember from Sesame Street, like Cookie Monster and Elmo, cannot go to regular school. We all know that they are not "monstrous" - in the way one might think of monsters - they are just "different."

Wanting to do something to make others feel good, the neighbors take up a collection among themselves, but only raise about fifteen bucks. One character astutely observes that they need to ask more people for money. The characters then pan out, each with hat in hand, into the audience.

Give us your money!
All that you've got!
Just fork it over
Or someone will
Get shot!

Although the audience loves it when the characters wind through the aisles, the collection only brings in a few coins and one metrocard. Then, in a totally unexpected twist, Trekkie Monster - a shaggy recluse who spends his days surfing pornographic websites - leans out of his tenement window to inquire as to the ruckus. Because of his grouchy demeanor and seeming worthlessness, the group had not even solicited Trekkie Monster for a donation.

When Trekkie Monster learns of the idea for a Monster School, he is awe-struck by the prospect. Recalling his own painful days as a little monster (being "different" from all the other kids) he is moved to tears. The prospect of such a school warms Trekkie Monster's heart and moves him to make a gesture that gives his life meaning beyond his wildest dreams. As it turns out, Trekkie Monster had been investing in pornographic websites (who wudda thunk?) and had amassed a fortune. From his tenement window, the transformed Trekkie Monster donates $10 million and makes the dream of a Monster School a reality.

There are many excellent fundraising tactics at play in this story: the lyrical and musical marketing of the project; the critical mass of prospects; a really good cause; a compelling case statement; and a team effort of solicitation. However, the deal was sealed because the match was made with the correct major donor prospect. That's fundraising at its best! And, if you hear it from Trekkie Monster, he'll deny that he's the hero. Rather, he'll insist that it was his neighbors on Avenue Q and the opportunity to underwrite the Monsterssori School that gave his life true meaning.

Of course the fundraisers from Avenue Q understand the art of stewardship. They have made sure that Trekkie Monster is involved at the new school as a teacher. I believe he's teaching "Surfing the Net."

Check out this play on Broadway - you'll love it.

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