Winners of the 2014 Gold Awards for Fundraising Excellence

By Margaret Battistelli Gardner

Special Events (less than $10 million)
MOSHAV Concert
Jewish Federation of Delaware
(Submitted by Jewish Federation of Delaware)

The Numbers
Attendees: More than 150
Corporate sponsorships: $5,000
Ticket sales: More than $5,000
Pre-concert VIP reception: $348,100 (in the form of donations to the organization’s Federated Annual Campaign)

Our judges were impressed with this unique take on a special event by the Jewish Federation of Delaware. MOSHAV is an Israeli-American Jewish rock band from MOSHAV Mevo Modi’im. JFD tapped the band to play a concert at a Wilmington venue, with proceeds going toward the organization.

Part of JFD’s vision is to “bring Jewish people together into a community coalition, grounded in Jewish teaching and heritage.” And as music is “one of the greatest connectors,” a concert was quite fitting, according to Seth Katzen, CEO of JFD.

“Music strengthens and creates connections between individuals. Leveraging the power of Jewish music and peer-to-peer networking was the strategy behind our MOSHAV concert concept,” he says.

Katzen provided a sample of a recruitment email that the organization used to invite locals to be on the concert committee. It was a unique approach: The only requirements for joining the committee were committing to attend the concert, letting the organization use your name for recruitment purposes, and inviting your friends to attend and also spread the word.

Tickets were $18 general admission or $50 for preferred seating with perks such as a pre-show open bar and a meet-and-greet with the band, etc. An interesting twist was that the preferred-seating option was available only to those donors who pledged to contribute $365 or more to JFD’s 2014 annual campaign.

The concert and the no-meeting committee membership, with its emphasis on peer-to-peer communication, helped the MOSHAV concert stand out and be a huge success for the organization.