Laine Buckingham, Co-founder of WATCH

Women At The Center Honors (WATCH) is a fundraising event that benefits the Junior League of San Francisco (JLSF) Endowment Fund.  Produced by JLSF Sustainers, this luncheon honors two exceptional women who through their personal, professional, and volunteer lives have had a positive effect on their communities.

Vivanista: The WATCH Luncheon has been in existence for 6 years now. How did you come up with the idea for the WATCH Luncheon?

Laine Buckingham: I was the JLSF Sustainer Council Director that year and Catherine Pyke, Program Officer for the Hearst Foundation, and I wanted to do something Sustainers could be in charge of. Catherine spoke so glowingly of fundraising maven, Dede Wilsey, and her ability to speak extemporaneously on nearly any topic that a lightbulb went off.  We wanted to honor extraordinary women in our community who volunteer their time to charitable endeavors.

As the Sustainer Director I put the program together to garner support from the JLSF leadership and develop a budget that would make it through the approval cycle.  To put it mildly, it was not easy but well worth the effort.

What was your vision for WATCH when you first started?  Has that changed over the years?

The vision has remained constant: honor women who have contributed in a very substantial way. The annual event has grown substantially in both attendance and donations.  I believe this year the fundraiser generated over $50,000 for the Endowment Fund.

Why do you think WATCH has resonated with women?

There are so many worthy of honor. We all know them. We all are them. I love the opportunity to bring together women from all parts of the community.

All honorees have been inspiring but who has been the most surprising recipient?

We try to select a JLSF member as one of the honorees each year which is not difficult since the Junior League provides meaningful training for women who go on to great accomplishments.  It was no coincidence that Sandra Day O’Connor was a member!

The sad thing for me that is that we never got to honor Libby Pfau, an amazing civic leader and JLSF Sustainer, before she passed away.

Honoree, Katie Cardinal, with Watch co-founder Catherine Pyke

Here is the criteria we developed to evaluate honorees.

• Exercised leadership during times of change or extraordinary challenge
• Demonstrated skill as a visionary
• Participated in a major effort to contribute something new and necessary to the community
• Served in a continuing leadership role in one or more of the city’s leading organizations that serves the needs of the Bay Area
• Given generously of her own time and resources through philanthropy or community leadership, and
• Successfully inspired others to give of themselves to follow in her footsteps.

What can other charitable organizations across the country learn from WATCH, especially when it comes to engaging Sustainers?

Sustainers are trained and experienced community volunteers and fundraisers. We know what we’re doing and how to do it. Give us the ball and let us run.

As a fundraiser, what qualities do you think make an event Chair successful?

The Chair needs to take in the big picture at the high level and also pay attention to detail. The balance is in letting people do the jobs they signed on for while guiding the event to its best performance.

What fundraising innovation do you wish would be invented?

This started me thinking. I wish we had a way to connect with others based on interests. For instance, I’m not going to plaster my charitable endeavors across Facebook, but there are people I’d love to connect with who are associated with similar organizations and disciplines.  What if we could figure out a way to capture that for everyone we know or want to know?

[Editors Note: Vivanista is already working on this and will release the capability by end of Q2, 2010]

What is your life motto?

“If it’s worth doing, it’s worth doing right.” I had this on my resume for years but then I noticed it on a whole lot of other resumes. Wish I had thought to trademark it!

What is your greatest extravagance?

Cooking. I make the time to cook. Whether it’s fine dining or comfort food, I love working with good, fresh ingredients. I sometimes make desserts to give away. I keep a tiny, tiny piece for me and let someone else enjoy the rest.

Obsolete item you won’t toss?

I don’t know that I’d say obsolete but I keep emails. They are a snapshot of the world at the time they were delivered.

What talent would you most like to have?

Maybe in my next life I can be a professional tennis player.

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For more information on the Junior League of San Francisco and the Watch Award Luncheon, please click here.