How to Help Arts Workers Hurt by the Pandemic: Give, but Safely

As the coronavirus began to shut down movie theaters across the country this past week, Nellie Killian, a 38-year-old film programmer in Brooklyn, had an idea.

On Saturday she and three colleagues launched an online appeal to raise funds for laid-off theater workers in New York.

“You are telling these big corporations you should be closing for health reasons, but the people who are going to pay the immediate price are these hourly employees,” Killian said in an interview. “It really is a very small-scale stopgap effort to try to get people grocery money for this week.”

So Monday, she sent out a tweet, targeting the public, of course, but addressed to a few of the high-profile stars who have tested positive for the virus.

“Hello @tomhanks, @RitaWilson, and @idriselba, If you are bored in quarantine and would like to support movie theater workers in NYC who aren’t getting paid this week, help us get the word out!”

By late Wednesday, the GoFundMe page had raised more than $54,000 from 1,100 donations, and more than 330 people had applied for financial help.

With the COVID-19 virus hitting the nation’s cultural sector hard, a growing number of financial appeals are being launched to help people in the industry who are suddenly facing missing paychecks, lost gigs or other expensive, unforeseen demands.

Initiatives of this sort, born from the best of human impulses, have surfaced before in the days following events like Hurricane Sandy or the attacks of 9/11. And like those days, when a few unscrupulous types tried to hide among the well-intentioned, charity experts warn donors to react with their heads as well as their hearts so that only the many legitimate funds benefit from their generosity.

“It’s unfortunate that disasters, whether man-made or natural, sometimes bring out the worst in people,” said Kevin Scally, the chief relationship officer at Charity Navigator, a nonprofit group that evaluates the quality and performance of charitable organizations.

Nothing but good will is evident in the appeals that have launched so far. One is devoted to helping low-income artists. Another focuses on bookstore employees. One appeal is looking to raise money so that musicians in Washington will be able to livestream their gigs. Others are seeking help for dancers in New York, musicians in Austin, Texas, and performance artists in San Francisco.

Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, a nonprofit charity that awards grants, has launched a “COVID-19 Emergency Assistance Fund,” that has so far raised more than $450,000 toward a $1 million goal. Its website says the campaign will “help entertainment professionals meet Corona-related expenses and other challenges brought about by the evolving pandemic.”

The efforts have sprung up primarily in major cultural centers like New York, Washington, San Francisco, Boston and Chicago. Seattle, which has been particularly hard hit by the outbreak, has seen a surge of support for people whose performances, exhibitions and readings have been canceled or postponed. Not everyone views charity as a tax strategy, but there can be distinctions between crowdfunding campaigns and federally recognized organizations when it comes to the deductibility of donations.

On its website, GoFundMe notes: “Donations made to a personal GoFundMe campaign, rather than a charity campaign, are generally considered to be personal gifts and are not guaranteed to be tax-deductible, but you can always check with a tax professional to be sure. You will not be issued a tax receipt from our company.”

However, since changes in the tax code have raised the standard deductions, many taxpayers stopped itemizing. It doesn’t matter which kind of charity taxpayers contribute to if they don’t itemize their taxes because they can’t deduct charitable donations.

Charity experts say that among the steps people can take to ensure their generosity reaches its desired home is to make sure their giving is a deliberative process.

The office of the New York state attorney general, Letitia James, suggests that donors “should never feel rushed or pressured to donate, and never make donations in cash, by gift card, or by money wire,” according to an email from Morgan Rubin, deputy press secretary. “If you receive a charitable solicitation, do some research to determine whether the charity is legitimate.”

Sean Delany, a former chief of New York State’s Charities Bureau, a division of the attorney general’s office, said potential donors might consider whether there is a registered charity that would benefit the same individuals they wanted to help. In cases where online appeals offer the only apparent avenue to efficiently aid a particular group, it’s important, he said, that donors determine whether the information is accurate.

“Before donating to a crowdsourced or other private solicitation, donors should investigate the sponsors and the beneficiaries to the greatest extent possible through publicly available sources,” Delany wrote in an email. “In particular, donors should consider the credibility of the sponsor’s stated motivations and whether the sponsor may have a personal financial interest in the donated funds.”

One of the benefits of using professional websites like GoFundMe is that they are set up to protect details like credit card information.

Jacob Harold, an expert in charitable giving and executive vice president at Candid, an organization that tracks nonprofits and foundations, said he advises people to give to institutions rather than individuals, and highlights a Coronavirus response list compiled by Americans for the Arts.

“In most of those cases there is actually an institution there as opposed to an individual, who is incredibly well-intentioned and will no doubt make some good out of it” but lacks a proven track record of giving. “I am not saying this to discourage people from giving informally,” he said. “I am just saying we should take advantage of the institutional structures we have in place.”

Stephanie Gillis, the senior philanthropy adviser at Giving Compass, a nonprofit that is a clearinghouse for information about charities, said large donors would probably lean toward giving to established organizations but that the online efforts approach the problem from a different place.

“There’s more giving capacity in the crowd than there is at the top, ironically,” she said. “If we all give $25 and there are 3 million of us, that’s huge.”

Killian, who is collecting money for the theater workers, said her campaign is typically raising small sums — many people are giving $20 to $30, she said — and she believes there is a place for the short-term help she is trying to provide until people can find other support.

She suggested that donors might consider the cost of a movie ticket as a guide.

“If you are not going to a movie this month,” she said, “throw it to the cashier who is not getting paid.”