Power of Celebrity, Part 3: Reputation Cuts Both Ways

After meeting hundreds of celebrities from sports, politics, movies, music, and fashion, I’ve come to realize that most organizations don’t have a clue what they are getting when one of them agrees to attend, paid or otherwise. Always do your homework. If you are preparing to ask someone to be the keynote speaker at your event, make sure you know as much as possible about their social media posts and any controversial things they might have said or written. 

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For however long that celebrity is standing up on your stage, your reputation will be riding with that person. If some bad event happens in the future, and there’s a picture of your celebrity at your gala event, you can be sure that the photo will surface. You won’t always be able to avoid honoring a “Bernie Madoff,” especially if the misdeeds aren’t discovered until years later. But you can always ask a few pointed and hard questions before the deal is done. Keep in mind that you may never be able to anticipate what position a celebrity may have on an issue that is completely unrelated to your cause but which they (and you) may receive some unwelcome attention. Do you really want to have to send an email to your donors explaining that you completely disavow the organization from statements made by a celebrity who appeared at one of your events? That’s a less-than-ideal position to be in. A reputation hit can cause untold harm to any non-profit. If you’re paying for a celebrity to attend, or if you’re planning to give a special award to a celebrity, there needs to be a cold and hard business decision behind that. What is your downside? What could go wrong? What happens if your celebrity endorser does something bad? Is the potential upside worth the potential downside?

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The situation is a little different if a celebrity attends but isn’t paid. In that case, they’re just like anyone else. 

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If a member of the press calls and says, “Mr. Jones was arrested last week on child endangerment charges, and we noticed they were at your last gala. Do you support Mr. Jones and all he now stands for!?” Of course, that will never happen, but if it did, your answer would be, “Mr. Jones is one of the thousands of people who supported our organization last year. We’re very sorry for his troubles, but we have no contractual arrangements with him. We wish him well.”

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It’s called plausible deniability, and it totally provides cover. There is no downside in reaching out proactively to celebrities who may have some connection to your organization’s mission. If you read that a celebrity was spotted at another organization’s rally, especially one that competes with you for the same donation dollar, it’s completely fine to contact them and ask for their celebrity support by attending a fundraiser. The stars may have to line up perfectly for that to happen, but if the cause is important enough to someone, they may decide to prioritize your event over their career. Comping the celebrity’s spouse or significant other can sometimes be a positive inducement.

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Some celebrities bring notoriety that can make non-profit Executive Directors very nervous. One organization I know hired Lance Armstrong, post-scandal, to be a featured speaker at their event. Inviting anyone even mildly controversial to a fundraiser needs to be thought through carefully. In the case of Lance Armstrong, the organization knew its membership and knew that they still respected Armstrong for his remarkable cancer-fundraising achievements. Overall, Lance was a net positive that evening. Other non-profit organizations might have seen him as a net negative. Armstrong, to his credit, was candid, personable, open, and well-spoken and did a good job supporting the non-profit’s message. The charity he founded, LiveStrong, has raised hundreds of millions for a very worthy cause, and I deeply respect the fundraising work he has done, which is something I said to him personally when I met him.

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To protect your reputation and that of your celebrity benefactor, make sure you never embarrass or call out a celebrity in a way that causes them to feel uncomfortable. You must be respectful and thankful at all times, even if you find out that they are a big-time political supporter of someone you despise. It all goes with the territory.