Back

Community Rock spotlight: Black Tie Dinner

06/03/2024

The challenge

Black Tie Dinner is the largest fundraising dinner for the LGBTQ community in the nation. In addition to their national beneficiary, the Human Rights Campaign Foundation, Black Tie Dinner selects up to 20 North Texas beneficiaries each year to receive funding. To date, Black Tie Dinner has distributed over $30 million.

To support their desire to grow, Black Tie Dinner needed to thoughtfully organize, prioritize, and execute transformational projects. They decided to partner with Sendero to develop a five-year strategic plan to effectively scale and continue to make a substantial impact in the community.

Our approach

The Sendero team began the project with a discovery phase that would inform the strategic plan. This phase included stakeholder interviews to better understand the organization’s strengths, challenges, and opportunities. Working from this information, the Sendero team collaborated with Black Tie Dinner stakeholders to develop a five-year plan to achieve the organization’s growth and impact goals.

One significant consideration of the strategic plan was the organization’s board governance structure, which is comprised of volunteers who commit to two-year terms of service. For this reason, the Sendero team emphasized the need for ample documentation, realistic resource planning, and transparent communication so the five-year plan could be executed in full.

The final five-year plan included more than 20 recommendations for specific initiatives, including a robust digital transformation strategy. Sendero worked with Black Tie Dinner to implement three of the phase one initiatives:

Clarifying board expectations

• Facilitated information gathering sessions and defined time commitments and objectives for each role
• Developed role descriptions for all board positions, including event chairs, committee members, and advisors
• Documented existing processes and procedures
• Created a formal knowledge transfer process and associated materials

Optimizing the board selection process

• Completed a current-state assessment of the board makeup
• Developed a future-state structure to increase networking opportunities with candidates, enhance transparency of the selection process, and ensure diversity of membership and leadership
• Strengthened the talent pipeline by developing a recruitment campaign to identify North Texas professionals with applicable skills for board service

Identifying additional avenues for sponsorship

• Researched options to expand the event, as Black Tie Dinner is currently hosted in the largest ballroom venue in the DFW area
• Recommended supplemental fundraising initiatives that could scale outside of the physical event space restrictions
• Created a monthly giving plan called Steps for Progress

The results

As a result of the project, Black Tie Dinner began its 2024 board term by using the board knowledge transfer process, role descriptions, and role documentation. For future board terms, Black Tie Dinner will be able to leverage the new talent pipeline to recruit qualified members from a variety of backgrounds.

The Annual Black Tie Dinner takes place every November. Moving forward, in the months leading up to the event, the organization will leverage the additional sponsorship avenues from Sendero’s recommendation.

“I started my journey with Black Tie Dinner as a member of Sendero’s DEI Committee when researching organizations we could amplify during Pride Month. After meeting with the Black Tie Dinner team, I recognized an opportunity for Sendero to make an impact through our pro bono consulting program. Today, I’m proud to be a member of the Black Tie Dinner board and to help raise critical funds for the LGBTQ community.” – Daniel Okun, Consultant, Sendero

---