By Jodie Jacobs

Reprinted from the Chicago Tribune Newspaper

February 20, 2000

Starting early

Photo Caption: Allen Sutker and Brian Abrahams in the Grand Ballroom at Navy Pier during last September's Charita-Ball.

Just when it seems that the only thing young professionals think about is amassing millions, along come 38-year-old Allen Sutker, 37-year-old Brian Abrahams and friends, who say philanthropy is also where it's at.

In 1995, about seven years after co-founding VisionTek, a Gurnee-based computer memory and graphics board manufacturing company that was ringing up $300 million in sales, Sutker's thoughts turned to giving back. The result was Charita-Ball, an annual fundraising bash he conceived with Abrahams, then VisionTek's marketing director (now an independent marketing consultant).

Held at the Field Museum in April 1996, Charita-Ball drew more than 3,300 and netted $340,000 the first year. The annual event, which moved to Navy Pier the following year, has attracted a total of more than 12,000 people and netted more than $1.9 million.

Sutker, a Highland Park resident, gives credit to his parents, Calvin (the Cook County commissioner) and Phyllis, for his view: "I make money so I can take money to do good things."

But the "do good things" idea fermented until 1995, when he mentioned to Abrahams wanting to work for a charity when he retired.

"Something clicked. I thought, I hate when people say, 'I'm going to do this after I do this.' That's putting things off. Brian said, 'Why wait?'"

The two decided that the beneficiaries of their efforts would be the American Cancer Society and the Leukemia Research Foundation. Sutker's friend Jerry Shatal had died from leukemia in 1989. Abrahams' dad, David, died from cancer in 1995.

To also instill in their contemporaries a passion for philanthropy, "we deliberately set the ticket price low at $50. Our primary objective was not raising money, though we did that. Our theory was to get people to start thinking about other people," Sutker said.

Abrahams, chairman of the VisionTek Foundation, which was primarily organized to operate Charita-Ball, explained: "Working in the high-tech industry, we see people who have achieved financial success when very young. They are not plugged into philanthropy because success came so young and so quickly. Look at the fortunes made in the past. It took decades to accumulate. People were in their 50s and 60s. By then they were older and very community-minded and ready to give back."

Approaching their venture, they decided to plan big, aiming for 1,000 people and renting the Field Museum, among Chicago's largest benefit venues.

"People told us that guests would look lost,"' Abrahams said. "They said it's better to get a small room and pack it."

They also had to convince American Cancer Society officials that they were not just two people with more moxie than sense.

"I asked to see [American Cancer Society Chicago area director] Carol Shaw," Abrahams said. "At first, she was very skeptical. She said, 'We don't allow just anybody to use the American Cancer Society name' ... we ended up holding an event larger than just about anything they hold,"

The society took in half of the $340,000 raised the first year and a third of the $430,000, $400,000 and $650,000 raised the following three years, when Children's Memorial Hospital was also a recipient.

Shaw doesn't remember the skepticism, just how impressive Sutker and Abrahams were.

"They are phenomenal. They apply their business philosophy to how they raise money for charity. It has been amazing what they have been able to accomplish over the past four years," Shaw said. "First-time events are not typically highly successful. But the way they approached everything, I knew they would be a success."

To get the crowd, the pair wrote a base list of about 100 people, then told each person to find 20 others. "Everyone came through," Sutker said. "And everyone sent out their own invitations. People felt left out if they didn't get one. I had people calling me up to get an invitation to the event."

One of those recruiters, Rosemont investment banker Rob Chapman, brought in 65 guests.

"It started with, some guys on the North Shore contacting friends," Chapman said. "It started out small. But a person told a friend, who told a friend, who told a friend ... It just goes to show you how networking really does work."

So did offering food, drinks and live music for just $75 (up from $50 for the past three years, and $85 at the door) in a casual atmosphere (suit-to-jeans), according to Abrahams, who says the low price is possible thanks to Charita-Ball's corporate sponsors.

"To bring people in, we emphasized that corporate donors covered the costs so that individual donations went to fighting cancer and leukemia," Abrahams said. "Once we had the people in the' room, we wanted to touch them as much as we could to interest them in future philanthropy."

And touch them they did, particularly through a ceremony performed each year that personalizes death from cancer. The hall darkened as Abrahams spoke to guests who grasped chemical light sticks.

"First we talk about how when you walk down the street and see someone who looks beaten or downtrodden, you do not know the person's pain in life, what happened to him or her. Then I say, anyone who has lost a child to cancer break a stick. You see a few lights go on. Then, anyone who has lost a parent. More lights go on. Friends. More go on. When we're done, there are lights all over the room. You have more than 3,000 people there, and virtually everyone has broken a stick. Everyone has been touched by cancer."

Nancy Greenfield of Highland Park calls the event "magical" for the money it raises and the love it generates.

"Once people started to get involved with Charita-Ball, it started to filter down. People became active in Make-A-Wish.... It all ties in," she said.

Sutker last year used his Charita-Ball experience to help Ross Deutsch of Highland Park hold a fundraiser for pediatric brain tumor research, an event that will be repeated this April. The fundraiser was held in memory of Deutsch's 7-year-old son Rory, who died of a brain tumor in 1998, and of 7-year-old Danny Cunniff, who died of leukemia that same year.

"Originally, it was someone passing away from cancer [and leukemia] that started the ball rolling," Greenfield said. "People got involved, they knew where their money was going to go. I have two kids. God only knows what the future will bring to them. The money and effort help all these kids, if not today, then tomorrow."

Sutker and Abrahams could hardly have said it better.

"We're all lucky enough to be here, walking around," Sutker said. "If what we raise can save one child and that child is yours, that's pretty big."

Sutker plans to put Charita-Ball on hold for a year as he works with Deutsch on his fundraiser. Anyone interested in helping with future Charita-Balls or in the Vision-Tek Foundation can call 847-360-7285.