For decades, the charity preview of the North American International Auto Show has raised millions of dollars in unrestricted funding for a small group of children's charities in Southeast Michigan.
But the so-called "auto prom," which drew thousands in black tie attire to Detroit's Cobo Center every January and was one of the biggest, one-night fundraisers in the region for decades, may never come back in the same format or raise the amount it once did.
The annual infusions to the charities were never promised, but they came almost every year for more than 20 years. Charities began budgeting for the annual event. The 2019 show raised $4 million for the children's charities.
Following contractions in recent years, eight core charities are on the list of beneficiaries. They've now lost the revenue from the preview for the second year in a row, not including a $37,000 grant each received from the DADA Charitable Fund at the Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan last year to help soften the hit.
With the show's planned move last year to June and an indoor-outdoor format as a result of shifts in the automotive world and the cancellation of the show in 2020 and again this year, the charities are now faced with the fact that they can no longer count on raising money through charity preview.
"With this latest announcement, I think we're going to have to regroup and assume it's not coming back," said Debora Matthews, president and CEO of The Children's Center in Detroit.
The DADA is planning a "charity initiative" of some sort as part of the six-day Motor Bella show slated for late September at the M1 Concourse in Pontiac to continue the longstanding commitment to children and families in need, DADA Executive Director Rod Alberts said in an emailed statement.
But the shift in format and location, uncertainty about the future of the auto show in Detroit and how long the pandemic will remain a threat, it's looking less and less likely the charity preview will ever return to its traditional format and place as one of the region's largest one-night fundraisers.
It would be the DADA's hope to return to the traditional format with the event, Alberts said. "But right now, we are focused on making 2021 the best show possible under current conditions."
"It is too early to talk with certainty about future years," he said.
The Children's Center has been able to count on raising money through charity preview for most of the past 25 years, Matthews said.
"We've always called it our million-dollar night."
In 2019, during the last January, charity preview at Detroit's Cobo Center, The Children's Center raised $374,000. It brought in another $513,000 from its Ford Motor Co.-sponsored Auto Glow after party at Ford Field for a total of $830,000.
The funds accounted for more than 3 percent of its $25 million budget that year, Matthews said, and nearly half of the amount it needed to raise through philanthropy that year.
The money was unrestricted or "no-strings-attached" funding the nonprofit could use wherever it needed to meet costs that weren't covered under its behavioral health youth services contracts with Wayne County Integrated Health Network, she said.
In 2020, it budgeted $885,000 from the charity preview, prior to COVID's arrival on the scene. When the event was canceled last year, the center had to cut about 50 of its 280 employees and shut down its behavioral analysis services program for children with autism to make up the loss, Matthews said.
It still ended fiscal 2020 in September with $1.7 million loss, though PPP dollars are expected to help offset that once the U.S. Small Business Administration completes its audit and determines what portion of the funds will be forgivable and convert to revenue, she said.
It had budgeted $580,000 from the preview for the fiscal 2021 event that won't be happening now, she said.
"We, of course, are going to try to tag on to Motor Bella, but we have no way of knowing ... (how much) we could make this year."
"We've got to regroup and come up with some sort of fundraising, whether it's another event or some other strategy to make money," Matthews said.
Farmington Hills-based Judson Center, a provider of autism and foster care and other services, has been a beneficiary of the preview for over 20 years. It raised $405,000 through the 2019 event toward its $27 million budget that year.
"That money helped to cover costs across the board in every program that we have … programs that don't generate money to cover their costs," President and CEO Lenora Hardy-Foster said.
"The amount is one thing. But the loss of unrestricted funding is crucial."
With the loss of the funding last year, the nonprofit held off on filling several open staff positions, cut the number of letters it sends to donors to reduce publishing costs and cut costs in other areas, she said.
Judson would love to continue as a beneficiary of a preview event for another two decades, Hardy-Foster said, and will always be grateful to DADA and the team behind the auto show.
"However, based on the past two years, we have to become creative in thinking of new opportunities to generate unrestricted income," she said.
Boys and Girls Clubs of Southeastern Michigan raised $490,000 from the last charity preview two years, or about 10 percent of its $5 million budget.
"One of the most important things charity preview provided was unrestricted dollars. … the other thing it (did) is connect us to the automotive industry — not just for the resources but for the mentors it provides," said CEO Shawn Wilson.
Last year, with virtual fundraising, its return to Pontiac and the launch of its Fashion Industry Club in Detroit, the nonprofit was able to make up for the charity preview loss, Wilson said. Fifty-seven percent of the nonprofit's donors last year were new.
"But you don't know how many will come back," as the club looks to make up a gap again this year, he said.
The nonprofit budgeted more conservatively this year, anticipating it could make $200,000 from the preview. But Wilson isn't sure if BGCSM, which is operating on a $6.5 million budget for 2021, will be able to raise as much through a charity fundraiser at Motor Bella. There are many variables, Wilson said, including the nature of the enthusiast event planned and the unknown status of COVID-19 vaccination by the fall.
"I'm not sure it'll ever fully come back in its current form, but I hope our partners are committed to finding a new and innovative way to impact youth across southeastern Michigan," he said.
"Ultimately, at this point we will need to pull any projections out of our budget (and) hope for the best but develop a strategy to overcome the gap."
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