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Getting Big Press (even for little slams)

As far as slams go, Delray Beach's hasn't been around very long (3 years), and our venue isn't all that large (it's a three-bedroom home that was converted to a restaurant & lounge)...

But we get the press's attention here in South Florida, often with better coverage and more frequent praise than other slams, and certainly better than any poetry reading.

The Sun-Sentinel, South Florida's largest newspaper, just published an article in its Sunday edition on the front page of the Art & Leisure section, titled "Delray Beach slam team leads Florida's rise in poetry performance and competition."

Jack Zink wrote the story after we invited him to attend one of our team rehearsals, where he had dinner with us and gave us feedback on our performances (valuable stuff from a newspaper critic!!).

More than just a profile on our slam team, the story provided a brief history of slam and included Broadway's Def Poetry Jam's recent success at the Tony Awards (actually, this was our hook when we sent out the press releases since the DB team was announcing a theatrical revue of its own work at a local playhouse). This hook landed us extended coverage on another event, Hot Air 2003, the Florida State Poetry Slam Team Championships.

The old adage "Know Your Audience" applies to the press, too. If all your shows are nightclub or coffeehouse events, the press doesn't pay much attention. Booking unusual gigs in other locations and generating events that appeal to new audiences ("It's easier to get a new audience than to write a new poem," is the mantra of one of my teammates) also strike the press as a movement, especially if the same people's names don't keep popping up. For this article, we created a partnership with a playhouse which sent out the press releases for us and lended legitimacy to our event.

Press coverage is like a social disease; once gotten, it spreads quickly. This one article has generated tons of interest in slam, both from the media and from the community.

Getting press is not just about vanity or beefing up attendance at shows, either. Getting good press helps a slam team get sponsorships. More importantly, when applying for grants, a slam has documentation of the benefits it has provided to the community.

UPDATE on GrantBack Program: Good News From the IRS

I know that subject line is hard to believe but here's the story.

Larry Lurks (Don't you love that name? It's a name. It's an alliteration.It's a sentence. It's an attitude!) of Kansas City, MO Slam, called a fewdays ago to find out if his grant writer could use PSI's 501c(3) status towrite grants in support of hiring features for their gigs in KC. I didn'tknow the answer to that and so, after another phone call for prodding, Icalled the IRS to get the straight poop.

Here's an approximation of the IRS rules: You can't make a donation to a501c(3) organization and put grand restrictions on the gift and still callit a gift. AND you can't make a donation to a 501c(3) that will ultimatelybenefit you personally or members of your immediate family.

So, the initial take is that we are in a gray area. Consequently, I began toask the questions about the gray area to see what we can do and what wecan't do.

It goes something like this. I can't make a donation to PSI and stipulate itgoes to a scholarship fund for my daughter. That's personal benefit andprobably outside the mission of PSI.

I can't make a donation to PSI and stipulate it goes to a scholarship fundfor anyone (even if they are not my daughter) studying nuclear physics.ThatGÃÃs' outside the scope of PSI's mission.

But, Joe Philanthropist CAN make a donation to PSI for anything whichdoesn't benefit Joe Philanthropist, his spouse, offspring, parents orgrandparents and which meets the mission of PSI.

SO, here it is: If you have contributors in your community, or if you canfind grants in your community, which will help you pay to bring poets,PARTICULARLY PSI MEMBER POETS, into your local slam, they may make taxdeductible donations to PSI in support of those efforts. PSI is obligated totake a "significant" portion of those contributions for its own operationalbudget, but may pass back funds to the local organization in support ofPSI's mission. "Significant" according to the IRS agent I spoke with is inthe 10% area.

Translation: Get a grant in PSI's name to support payments to poets at yourslam or event sponsored by your slam and PSI will Grant Back up to 90% ofthat donation for that purpose. We can do it two ways: 1) The cleanest wayis for PSI to pay the poet directly. Any payment of $600 or more per year issubject to 1099 reporting requirements with the IRS. Or 2) In exchange fororiginal receipts of payment to poets, PSI can reimburse the SlamMaster(only) for that expense up to 90% of the amount of any grant or donationsolicited for that purpose.

I asked specifically about prize money to slam winners, and the answer isthe same: If the donation comes from someone who does not benefit directly,or whose immediate family does not benefit directly, that is deductible too.This is NOT for in kind contributions, only for cash. So free dinner, or $25gift certificates don't count.So here's the process:

PSI receives a donation, writes a tax deductible receipt to the donor, takes10% of the donation for its operational budget, passes 90% back to the localslam in the form of direct payments to poets or reimbursement to SlamMastersONLY in exchange for original receipts for payment to poets. Pretty sweetdeal if you ask me.

How to administer it? Through the GrantBack Program. The accounts arealready set up. It's just a matter of drafting a check out of the accountinstead of offering a credit for internal PSI expenses like Certification orNPS Application fees, etc.

There you go. Good news from the IRS.

Related story on the GrantBack Program below.

Membership Slam II (and two-and-a-half)

The winner(s) of the original Membership Slam were announced at the SlamMasters' meeting in Chicago. It's a tie! With 80 membership each, the prize will be split between Worcester, MA and Ann Arbor, MI. Each Slam will receive one free hotel room at NPS 2003, $300 in travel money, four all events passes to NPS 2003, their venue highlighted on this website, a poetryslam.com e-mail address, (half) a trophy, four SlamAmerica CDs and four NPS 2002 Anthologies.

Says Bill MacMillan, SlamMaster for the Worcester scene, "If Worcester and Ann Arbor, with a combined population of about 300,000 can do this, I challenge the "big" cities to show us what can be done in the major markets. Bring it on, Big Shots!"

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