Fund-Raising Is Important Part of Mandela Visit

If Nelson Mandela’s tour of the United States goes as organizers hope, not only will the black South African leader deliver his anti-apartheid message to huge audiences nationwide, he also will raise several million dollars to pay for the trip and help fund political and social work back home.

Money is very much a part of Mandela’s 12-day, eight-city U.S. tour, which gets under way Wednesday when he arrives in New York and ends in California on July 1.

The coast-to-coast trip will incur some mighty costs. But organizers hope Mandela will inspire admirers--from regular folks to Hollywood celebrities to corporate giants--to dish out some mighty donations for the cause.

Those who would market the Mandela name on souvenirs and trinkets have not been forgotten. Hundred-dollar silk jackets and commemorative coins are on the list of memorabilia under consideration.

Organizers say the money raised will pay for the trip, which carries a price tag estimated at $300,000 to $400,000. The remainder will go to the African National Congress, Mandela’s organization that leads the fight against apartheid, South Africa’s system of racial separation.

The importance “is not only that people be able to see and honor Mandela and hear his message, but also have an opportunity to concretely donate to help the struggle in South Africa,” said Mae Ngai, deputy operations director for the New York Anti-Apartheid Welcome Committee, which is overseeing preparations there.

“So even if that means just $5, we think most people will welcome that opportunity to give to the ANC.”

In Los Angeles, New York and Detroit, $1-million fund-raising goals have been set--the money to be collected through elegant receptions and dinners, rallies in sports stadiums and other events.

Whether such fund-raising goals are realistic remains to be seen. Some donations are already in hand, but an accurate tally is difficult because the fund-raising efforts are decentralized and sponsored by individual groups in each city on Mandela’s itinerary.

So far, the office of Detroit Mayor Coleman Young says $300,000 has been raised there through donations from big business and others. In Los Angeles, movie studios and production companies have pledged tens of thousands of dollars; in New York, singer Billy Joel has booked Yankee Stadium and is lending it to Mandela for a rally.

And one of the country’s largest unions--the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees--is asking affiliates to pass the hat.

But with preparations for Mandela’s tour mired in what seems to be a constant state of disarray, lofty fund-raising goals may be in jeopardy. Experts in fund-raising caution that there has not been adequate time to gear up major money collection projects.

Even if money comes pouring in, questions remain as to how much will be left after the bills are paid. While some cities are donating services such as police protection, organizers will still have to fork over big bucks for some items, such as the Coliseum in Los Angeles--a key venue for Mandela to reach a large audience.

“Events like this always cost more than you think,” said a veteran fund-raiser in Los Angeles. “The big problem here is that they had to put it together in such a short time. There hasn’t been enough time to organize, find underwriters and hit everybody up.”

The ANC, a financially strapped organization that is emerging from decades of banishment, says it needs money to support and repatriate tens of thousands of refugees, set up district and branch offices in 14 regions of South Africa, launch literacy campaigns, and give job-training classes.

“Our needs are enormous,” Lindiwe Mabuza, the ANC’s chief representative in the United States, said in an impassioned plea for contributions during a news conference last week in Washington. “We have a grave need for financial and material assistance,” she said. “And there is no other source of revenue.”

Mabuza said the ANC--outlawed until shortly before Mandela’s February release after 27 years in prison--needs everything it takes to convert from an underground network to an openly active party: trucks, telephones, bicycles and other “instruments of democracy,” such as fax machines, television and radio stations and newspapers.

Money raised during the tour will be channeled into one of two funds: the tax-exempt Mandela Freedom Fund, established for educational, business and communications projects, and the nonprofit Democracy for South Africa, which is dedicated to political work.

After New York, Mandela is scheduled to visit Boston and Washington (where he will meet with President Bush), Atlanta, Miami and Detroit before he arrives in Los Angeles on June 29. From Los Angeles, he travels to Oakland the next day and then departs for Ireland.

Mandela and much of his entourage will travel from city to city on a private jet furnished by a company that organizers refuse to identify. The U.S. State Department is providing security, and many companies involved in preparations, such as public relations firms, are cutting their rates for the tour in sympathy to the cause.

Others are working free of charge, such as Roger Wilkins, the tour’s national coordinator. Wilkins is a senior fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies, a Washington-based think tank.

In Los Angeles, where Mandela is scheduled to preside over a rally and concert at the 90,000-seat Coliseum on June 29, sources involved in preparations expect the sales of tickets--at $10 apiece--to cover all or most of the local costs, assuming most tickets are sold.

“When you are dealing with something like this, you have to make sure there are no hidden costs (or) you can wind up sinking the same ship you came to sail,” said Danny Bakewell, head of the Brotherhood Crusade. The Crusade, along with several other organizations, donated $80,000 to the effort.

Only 12,000 tickets were sold as of Friday, according to Brenda Shockley, project coordinator for the Los Angeles Mandela Reception Committee. But Shockley noted that publicity for the event is just beginning. Groups are being encouraged to buy blocks of tickets that can be given away to the poor.

If the Coliseum event does cover local costs, a $1,000-a-head reception at the old armory building in Exposition Park, scheduled for the same night, would generate pure profit, organizers said. Organizers hope to get 500 to 800 paying guests.

The city of Los Angeles is absorbing the cost of police services, traffic control and other logistics, a spokeswoman for Mayor Tom Bradley’s office said.

Bills to be paid include use of the Coliseum, which will staff the event with 1,625 ushers, ticket-takers, concessionaires and security guards. Organizers have budgeted an estimated $200,000 for that, though Coliseum sources put the expected cost closer to $165,000. Another expense is 35 rooms for Mandela’s entourage at the Biltmore, at a discount rate of $106 a night. The hotel is waiving the usual $1,800 charge for the presidential suite for Mandela and his wife, Winnie, a Biltmore spokeswoman said.

Los Angeles is seen as a major source of funds because it is home to a number of liberal politicians and wealthy entertainers.

Enthusiastic support is coming from “every phase of the entertainment industry because people understand what this man stands for,” said Paula Weinstein, who produced the movie “Dry White Season” and is helping to seek donations from studios and production companies.

In Atlanta, a flap erupted over an offer by Coca-Cola to provide a plane for Mandela and finance other parts of the trip. ANC leaders rejected the offer because of Coca-Cola’s holdings in South Africa.

The dispute underscored a strict condition that Mandela’s followers have imposed: No corporate donations are to be accepted from firms with investments or franchises in South Africa.

“A lot of companies who claim to have left South Africa, what they have done is what we describe as a sham disinvestment,” said Tandi Gcabashe of the American Friends Service Committee in Atlanta.

Organizers say several corporations are coming on-board. Among them, Reebok is helping to organize the tour, and Xerox Corp. has loaned office supplies.

Meanwhile, “low-keyed” marketing aimed at capitalizing on anticipated Mandela mania is being planned to raise additional money.

Under consideration are items such as $100 silk jackets, all-cotton T-shirts (no polyester blends allowed), posters, commemorative silver coins, limited-edition bronze busts and coffee table books of photographs taken along the tour.

“It just dawned on a lot of people that, since this is America, there’s going to be T-shirts, posters, buttons--whether authorized or not--because that’s the American way,” said Stephanie Vardavas, licensing director of ProServ, the firm chosen to license and merchandise Mandela tour paraphernalia.

“And it was best to harness that energy and turn it to the benefit of Mandela’s cause rather than let energy be dissipated without doing any long-term good.”

ProServ, based in Arlington, Va., manages the careers of 250 sports stars, including basketball star Michael Jordan and tennis ace John McEnroe, and was chosen because its founder and chairman, Donald L. Dell, formerly represented black tennis player Arthur Ashe.

By the end of last week, few licensing contracts had been issued, and manufacturers cautioned that time was running out.

An exception was Costacos Bros. Inc. of Seattle, commissioned to produce Mandela posters. Bob Porter, director of production and licensing, said the firm will print 50,000 posters initially, probably priced from $5.50 to $7.50 each.

In New York, Joel was booked into Yankee Stadium this week--but instead turned the facility over to Mandela’s people for the night of their rally, according to Kip Cohen of Bill Graham Presents, organizers of the event.

Carl McCaskill, a press spokesman for the Mandela committee in New York, said the goal there is to net $1 million.

Private fund-raising events in the city will cost guests up to $2,500 each, and will include a dinner hosted by actor Robert de Niro, director Spike Lee and comedian/actor Eddie Murphy.

“Creative fund-raising” is being pursued by Little Steven Van Zandt, a rock singer who heads Artists United Against Apartheid. He has asked club owners and theaters around town either to donate their take for an evening or have their artists perform as a special tribute to Mandela.

In Detroit, most tickets for a rally at the 49,000-seat Tiger Stadium on June 28 will be sold for $10 or $20 apiece, but a batch of 5,000 will sell for prices ranging from $100 to $1,000.

In Boston, couples will pay $5,000 to attend a fund-raising reception at the Copley Plaza.

In Miami, where Mandela will address the annual convention of the AFSCME, members are being asked to contribute to show their “continued support” for the ANC and the fight against racism, said Bob Harman, the union’s public affairs director.

Wilkinson reported from Los Angeles and Chen from Washington. Also contributing were Times researchers Lisa Phillips in New York, Leslie Eringaard in Detroit, Edith Stanley in Atlanta and Anna M. Virtue in Miami.