Questions raised over MACC fundraising consultant

Mountain Arts Community Center Foundation board members say consultant Patrick Emanuel is worth every penny. Exactly how many pennies they aren't saying.

"Anyone who has an interest in the [MACC] Foundation or with any questions, contact the Foundation," board president Buffie Harper said. "Have a conversation with us, not just ask a question and expect a two-sentence answer, so that you understand."

She said no one has discussed any financial concerns with her, including Town Manager Honna Rogers and Councilman Dick Gee. Rogers said her request for financial documents was simply related to ongoing memorandum of agreement negotiations between the town and the Foundation, but she did acknowledge subsequent Signal Mountain Town Council concerns about "a specific line item - how much are you paying your consultant."

"Because these groups in a way represent the town, it's us making sure everything is in order, is in line," Rogers said. "I think it just takes some explanation sometimes from the other side, not that anybody is wrong, just explaining what the situation is. I think what the council was asking in the last meeting was they had some inquiries from citizens and they were unable to answer those. They asked me to get financial documents so they could answer them."

Supplying the town with regular financial documents will be mandated by the MOA, which should be finalized in a month or so, Rogers said.

"People are poisoning the water and they don't know what's going on," Foundation board vice president John Harper said. "It comes out like people are lined up, marching in the street, and they're just not there."

At the town's most recent agenda session, council members discussed concerns they had received from local residents about the paid fundraising position as well as how the money is being raised and distributed.

"I think a member of the town council made a legitimate request," said Gee. "I think those answers were coming anyway; they would've been produced without the request. I feel like at this point it is a question that Susan [Robertson, vice mayor] and whoever she is representing in this question that they'll have to decide whether they're satisfied or not. I'm satisfied."

Buffie Harper said Emanuel's contract is month to month and can be terminated by either side at any time.

"There's no consultant I've ever met who has been retained for years and years," Emanuel said. "This has always been intended to be an incremental situation in order to get [MACC Foundation] to the next level."

Emanuel said he is contracted to work 16 hours a month. He also "donate[s] eight additional hours on top of that." He is paid by the hour for his stipulated contract hours.

"My pay and contract are not impacted at all by what is raised," he said. "[In those cases] the consultant is in a very bad place to be in because it makes it look like you're just out there raising money for yourself."

Buffie Harper said the amount of money Emanuel makes is "a pittance" compared to typical consultant wages. John Harper said "it's more of a labor of love on his part."

"There's been no other board member to step up and say 'I can do this for free,'" said longtime Friends of MACC/MACC Foundation board member Ellen Heavilon. "Speaking from absolute personal experience, I know how much time he is giving versus what he is actually charging us. If anybody said 'I'd like to step up and do it as a volunteer,' there's nobody that would say please don't come on board, we have a paid professional. The benefits absolutely are outweighing the cost, and to me it's a small cost."

Emanuel's self-imposed goals are divided into four parts: establish the Foundation, define the partnership with the town through an MOA, conduct a visioning process and create a strategic plan, and then construct a capital campaign accordingly. Visioning meetings will take place throughout March.

"The fundraising just got a little ahead of the project," said Gee. "They're in an unfortunate position because they really don't have a concrete goal to work against right now. This visioning process is really the keynote of the whole process. Then the Foundation goes out and says, 'We've got this great thing going on Signal Mountain. We're trying to raise two, three or whatever the number is millions of dollars."

How much money needs to be raised will depend largely on the vision yielded through the upcoming process.

"Does it say we have to have a capital campaign or does it say we have to have full-time staff or does it say all that needs to be done is the floor and the windows replaced?" said Buffie Harper. "Not that we're not working toward things. We've been asked by the town to help with sprinklers."

The Harpers said they have conducted two successful mailing campaigns with Emanuel's help. Both brought in "well above" the national average fiscal return as well as personal previous returns, they added. One brought in 20 percent, John Harper said. Emanuel said the Association for Fundraising Professionals shows the average return on a direct mail campaign is 1 to 2 percent.

Emanuel was also successful in finding sponsors to help offset costs at fundraising events, according to board members. The Music on the Mountain series Emanuel initiated also helped build relationships with businesses and potential donors, he said.

"We've never had anybody sponsor anything. Never," Heavilon said. "If you just take all those sponsorships he collected so far, that's probably paid for him. It's building that rapport with these sponsors that's really going to matter when it comes to making hundreds of thousands of dollars for repairs to that building to really make it grow."

Building up existing fundraisers like Hodgepodge, with the addition of Kid Podge and live music, and establishing new events like Mom's Market and Thanksgiving at the MACC comes with a greater expense.

"Like any new business we're not making money the first year in a new business," said John Harper. "We made money, just not as much as we wanted. It's our first year. We just started out."

Emanuel said he has 10 years of experience as a development officer. He would not name organizations or campaigns he's worked on but said he's been involved with several multi-million dollar endowments. He presented the board with a contract in April 2010 at its request. Legal counsel looked over the document, and the majority of the board voted to retain Emanuel's services, according to Buffie Harper.

"We're the only organization of a public/private partnership that has anywhere near the challenges [Mountain Education Fund] had," she said. "[MEF] started with a very dedicated group of volunteers but they saw that if they were going to take it to the next level, they needed a professional full-time director."

Emanuel has helped bring board membership from "down to as low as six" to 15 members, including people like Alexian CEO Matt Fox and school board representative Chip Baker, she added. He also helped create five subcommittees, where in the past there have been none.

"When I found out Friends of MACC had morphed into a foundation and were getting real serious about doing some fundraising, trying to support the MACC, and taking a much more professional approach to everything is when I got excited about it," said former mayor and current Foundation board member Paul Hendricks. "I certainly think Patrick has been an important part of that because of his enthusiasm and knowledge."

There has also been some board turnover because of his position.

"There's some grumblings about having a paid consultant is the undertone," Heavilon said. "I think it's just there's never been a paid person before so it kind of goes against what we've been doing this whole time. My thought about a paid consultant is you see definite results."

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