Neighborhood Tours and Partner Events Provide Great Opportunities for Charitable Fundraising
Modernism Week announced that its 11-day festival in February 2019 and its four-day Fall Preview in October 2018 provided an opportunity for dozens of local organizations and neighborhood groups to produce events and raise significant funds. The funds were raised from ticket sales for official Modernism Week events, including neighborhood tours, parties, educational talks, and other events and enabled the organizations to contribute to local Coachella Valley charities or to fund civic improvements. During Modernism Week Fall Preview and Modernism Week 2019, participating partner organizations raised $1.87 million. This includes more than $584,000 in funds raised by local neighborhood organizations from tours.
Modernism Week works closely with local neighborhood organizations to showcase iconic Palm Springs residences and other architecturally significant buildings during tours in many of the city’s 48 official neighborhoods and neighboring cities. Other neighborhood organizations reinvested the funds into their neighborhoods through architectural restoration, improving infrastructure or landscape improvements. This year 29 neighborhoods (including five new neighborhoods and six mid-valley tours) organized 31 tours that featured 148 residences and 5 churches, attracting more than 9,000 participants. These neighborhoods included Canyon Estates, Da Vaal Estates, El Rancho Vista, Hidden Cody, Indian Canyons, Kings Point, Little Beverly Hills, Little Tuscany, Merito Manor, Old Las Palmas, Park Imperial South, Pompeii de Las Palmas, Racquet Club Estates and Racquet Club Garden Villas, Royal Hawaiian Estates, Sagewood, Sandcliff, Sandpiper, Seven Lakes Country Club, Sunrise Lanai, Tamarisk Country Club, Tamarisk Gardens, Tamarisk Ranchos, Tamarisk West, Tahquitz River Estates, Twin Palms, and Vista las Palmas.
Other tours included an overview of Meiselman-designed homes in multiple Palm Springs neighborhoods (funds were designated for the Palm Springs Animal Shelter) and Sacred Spaces, a tour of significant midcentury houses of worship.
Many neighborhoods raised funds specifically to donate to locate charities, including Old Las Palmas that raised nearly $50,000 and will work with the Palm Springs Unified School District that will benefit low-income students in the Coachella Valley.
Tahquitz River Estates raised more than $13,000 from their neighborhood tour, which will help support city-wide CERT (Community Emergency Response Team) training. The Indian Canyons neighborhood raised more than $31,000 which will be dispersed to Palm Springs Fire Department Station 4, Palm Springs Public Library, Palm Springs Animal Shelter, Animal Samaritans, Martha’s Kitchen, Well in the Desert, as well as allocating funds for community beautification in the neighborhood.
This year Racquet Club Estates held their 11th Modernism Week tour and raised $24,000. It will use the proceeds to fund a recently established college scholarship program for a Palm Springs High School student to study design and architecture. In addition, the neighborhood organization offers Beautification Grants to homeowners within Racquet Club Estates to share expenses for needed improvements to the outside of the house.
Many neighborhoods raised funds to reinvest in their communities and their surrounding neighborhood. These include:
Tamarisk Country Club raised nearly $24,000 to benefit Preservation Mirage, an organization dedicated to raising awareness of preservation issues in Rancho Mirage
Vista Las Palmas will use a portion of their profits to be the ‘lead’ sponsor of the upcoming star dedication during Modernism Week 2020 that will honor the Alexander family
Canyon Estates raised money to renovate their Clubhouse restrooms
Da Vaal Estates will use funds to make property improvements
Little Tuscany will use their funds to pay for traffic calming in the neighborhood
Royal Hawaiian Estates is restoring its signature property to its original design
Seven Lakes will apply the funds to historic designation for its clubhouse and other clubhouse upgrades.
In addition to working with neighborhoods, Modernism Week, a 501 (c) 3 non-profit organization also helps various local organizations raise funds to further support their efforts to preserve and promote modernist architecture throughout the community. Ticket proceeds for official Modernism Week events these organizations produced in 2018-2019 generated than $1.29 million for various local partner organizations which included: American Documentary Film Festival (AmDocs), Friends of the Palm Springs Library, Palm Springs Art Museum’s Architecture and Design Center, Palm Springs Modern Committee, Palm Springs Preservation Foundation, Lautner Compound, Makerville, LLC, Mizell Senior Center, Palm Springs Historical Society, Temple Isaiah, Volunteer Palm Springs, American Institute of Architecture (Los Angeles, Orange County, and San Diego chapters), American Society of Interior Designers (Los Angeles, Orange County, and San Diego Chapters), and the Association for Women in Architecture and Design.
“Modernism Week has a long-standing tradition of enabling other organizations to raise funds,” said William Kopelk, Modernism Week Board Chairman. “We are delighted that our neighborhood and partner organizations raise funds that they use for preservation, education, civic improvements or to reinvest back into the local community. The tours and fundraising events produced by partner organizations not only provide them with the ability to raise funds, but also allow them to showcase their neighborhoods and organizations to national and international tourists.”
This year, Modernism Week will continue its long-time scholarship program by awarding eight scholarships on June 1 to deserving Coachella Valley students who have chosen educational paths in the fields of architecture and design. The scholarships, which will total $40,000, include matching funds from One Future Coachella Valley. Since the Modernism Week scholarship program was initiated in 2011, a total of $163,000 has been awarded to-date.
“Giving back to the community is one of the most important aspects of Modernism Week,” said Chris Mobley, Chief Executive Officer. “Our Board of Directors and staff are committed to partnering with community organizations to help them generate revenue through event ticket sales. We are especially pleased to award our annual scholarships to deserving students. These are just a few of the many ways that Modernism Week contributes to the local community.”
Modernism Week celebrates midcentury modern design, architecture, art, fashion and culture in the greater Palm Springs area with two valley-wide events each year; one in October and one in February. The February 2019 event generated more than 152,000 attendees $57 million in revenue for area hotels, shops, restaurants, and other local businesses from Palm Springs to Indian Wells and beyond.
Later this year, Modernism Week will offer its annual Fall Preview October 17-20, 2019 (tickets go on sale August 1 at 12 p.m. PST) and will stage the 2020 Modernism Week event February 13-23, 2020 (tickets go on sale November 1 at 12 p.m. PST). For more information about future Modernism Week events, visit modernismweek.com
