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Rich White People

by Brendan Kiley

On July 17, PONCHO—a major Seattle arts-funding nonprofit—fired its executive director, Gordon Hamilton. "This is stunning news," said Jim Kelly, executive director of 4Culture, another major local arts-funder. "I always thought of Hamilton as a guy who was shaking PONCHO up in a really positive way."

Hamilton was an executive at Safeco before applying to PONCHO four and a half years ago. Kelly recalled Hamilton telling the story of his job interview: "During the interview, they asked him, 'How do you perceive PONCHO?' And he said, 'I perceive it as a party for rich white people.' And they gave him the job, which is admirable."

PONCHO is generally regarded as a deep donor to large arts institutions (its largest beneficiaries in 2008 were the ballet, the opera, and the Seattle Rep), while 4Culture is generally regarded as a broad donor to organizations large and small, as well as individual artists and building projects.

PONCHO's total assets declined from $1.4 million to $1.3 million in 2007, according to an independent audit. That decline was part of the reason Hamilton was fired said Janet True, president of PONCHO's board of directors. (Initially, both True and Hamilton discussed his departure as a "dismissal." A few days later, True denied this charaterization, saying his departure was "by mutual agreement.")

"The strategic direction of PONCHO is changing," True said. "PONCHO was always an events-based organization, but events aren't the most philanthropic way to raise money anymore. And auctions have changed—it's a lot harder than before to raise money with them."

PONCHO will continue its wine auction (projected income this year: $1 million) and art auction (projected income: $500,000), but change its annual gala auction which, True said, has lost approximately $400,000 in the last three years.

Instead, True wants to institute a citywide awards ceremony—"like the Tonys"—where artists will perform and press the flesh with local donors, hopefully inspiring them to write bigger, more regular checks for, say, a charming choreographer than for a bottle of Bordeaux. "We want the donors to connect more with arts and artists than with an event," True said. "We'd be as happy for them to buy subscriptions and tickets as to donate directly to us."

PONCHO seems, in fact, to be drifting more toward 4Culture's profile: a philanthropic organization better known for shining its light on artists than on institutions.

"That's fine," said Kelly. "The more money for artists the better. But if you're an institution, the last thing you want to hear is 'you're too big for us to fund,' because every dollar counts. It might be more fun to be more connected to individual artists, but it's important to keep funding big institutions."

Hamilton declined to comment.

brendan@thestranger.com