The Importance of Being Holly

"Planning a charity event is far more than wearing a pretty dress and having your picture taken," Holly says. "It's a year or more of planning and organizing an event, often by volunteers who are underwriting large portions of the program themselves because of their support of the charitable organization. I think sometimes people have an image of women sitting around sipping tea trying to decide which color ink to use on an invitation. Nothing would get planned that way."

As soon as the last Mask Project ended, event organizers began planning this year's fete. "The last event was on May 15, 2002; we met on May 16 to do a recap of what worked and what didn't," says Lisa Herzlich, marketing director of the Cherry Creek Shopping Center. "Holly was on the mask ticket committee in 2002, and we wanted her to co-chair it this year because we thought she'd bring in new people. Nonprofits are no different than any other business; you have to look at who your audience is, and you have to keep expanding. You may get 80 percent of your funds from 20 percent of your audience, but you still need the other 20 percent, because someday they'll be the big givers. That's where Holly comes in. She brings an audience to nonprofits that we haven't had before."

In 1999, when Holly chaired Do at the Zoo, the Denver Zoo's annual summer fundraising party, attendance went from 1,500 to more than 2,000, and revenue grew by more than $100,000 over the previous year. That growth was "directly because of a new young constituency," says Rosanne Elkins, the zoo's vice president for development. "Holly really set a benchmark for the event. She brought in a young, hip audience, and the event had a wonderfully fun edge that was exhibited in the invitations, in the way the auction was conducted, and in the entertainment. She made it hipper by getting people to dance instead of just having background music."

Once Holly proved that she could pull off a major fundraiser, she started taking on more. She helped establish the Wild Things Society, a zoo membership for young professionals that has raised more than $250,000 since its inception in 1999. And in 2000, she chaired Zip A De Do, a fundraiser planned by and for kids; that year, it won the I.CON Award for best nonprofit social event in Denver. In Zip A De Do's first year, 700 people attended the event; between 1,500 and 1,800 kids and adults are expected to attend this year's party on May 14.

It wasn't long before people outside the zoo started noticing Holly's talents. Last year she was asked to co-chair Planned Parenthood's annual Choice Affairs with Sally Armitage, and the two women are organizing the event again this year. Rather than have one big benefit, Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains holds several small fundraising parties that run from April to August. Sometimes it's a dinner party in someone's home; other times it's a gallery walk, concert or hike, for which people pay $50 to $100.

"This is the seventeenth year of Choice Affairs," says Lisa Tadiri, the local Planned Parenthood's vice president for development. "Because we've been doing it so long, the same folks have been on the committee, and the typical cast of players has been hosting it again and again. In recent years we've been trying to access different people and get younger people involved."

Getting Holly involved was a smart move. In 2002, the year before Holly chaired Choice Affairs, there were thirteen events; last year there were fourteen, and this year there are nineteen. "Not only has she increased the number of events, but she's hooked us up with new hosts -- people we never had access to before," Tadiri says. (One of those new hosts is Charlie Price, owner of Planet Laboratories.) "We wanted to balance traditional parties, like garden walks and Lannie Garrett concerts, with new, edgy ones. Last year was the first year we had two fashion shows, and both were overbooked."

At the end of one of them, the male models dove into the host's swimming pool. "There was quite a fervor about that," Tadiri says. "It was Holly's idea of a grand finale."

Adding an element of shock has become Holly's trademark. She figures that if people are going to pony up big bucks, she'd better show them a party. "I don't want to do a typical fashion show; I want it to be a spectacle," she says. "I think I feel an internal pressure to make things new and innovative."