Edward L.
Gardner. But when it came time to select an honoree for this year’s medal, Carnegie Hall’s board and management were stumped. They canceled the benefit. Why Because an honoree is not chosen just to give a speech and be feted. He or she must be willing to make a big donation, usually from the company’s coffers, and &151 more important &151 to invite friends and contacts to the gala who will buy $20,000 tables or single tickets for $2,000 to $3,000, bringing new support to the organization. With banks, brokerage houses, real estate firms, hedge funds and even law firms struggling for survival, Carnegie Hall realized it had nowhere to turn as it contemplated a gala for this year. “We simply didn’t feel that last fall was the right time to be asking companies and business leaders to make large event commitments,” said Susan J. Brady, director of development. The time-honored system of black-tie charity tributes is breaking down, another casualty of the worst economic climate in decades. “This idea of getting on the phone and saying, ‘Wouldn’t you like to be honored at our gala’ &151 that’s more difficult, more challenging now than in my 30 years of experience at this,” said Will Maitland Weiss, executive director of the Arts and Business Council of New York, which encourages companies to support the arts.
The most coveted honorees are men and women who can lean on the people they do business with. “The issue,” says Jason H. Wright, a former senior vice president for public affairs at who sits on three nonprofit boards, “is ‘Do you have a list’ When you’re a corporate executive, you’ve got suppliers from accountants to printers to whatever to ask.” When you’re a chief executive, other chief executives reciprocate. And when you’re an executive from a glamour business &151 Wall Street once qualified &151 your appeal goes further, to people who will pay for a chance to meet you.