The annual Black Tie Dinner is organized and implemented each year by an amazing group of dedicated volunteers who serve on the Black Tie Dinner Board of Directors. While many of the Black Tie Dinner Board members are also members of HRC, the leadership and implementation of programming of the two organizations are independent of each other. The DFW Black Tie dinner began in 1982 and is a free-standing nonprofit organization that raises funds for gay and lesbian supportive organizations in North Texas through a premier event of empowerment, education and entertainment in partnership with the community. Each year, the Black Tie Dinner donates half of the proceedings of the event to the HRC Foundation, and the remaining money is distributed to up to twenty local beneficiaries that are selected by the Black Tie Dinner Board of Directors. To learn more about Black Tie Dinner, Inc., visit www.blacktiedinner.org. Local HRC volunteers are expected to donate our time to support the Black Tie Dinner through efforts such as helping with table and raffle ticket sales, as well as assisting with other aspects of the dinner. The Black Tie Dinner event, to be held this year on Saturday, November 17, 2007, is the largest and most successful GLBT fundraising dinner in the nation, and is expected to attract more than 3,000 attendees. As in earlier years, a Federal Club Congressional Circle membership entitles you to two Black Tie Dinner discount vouchers, each of which can be used for as $200 voucher towards the full price of a Black Tie Dinner ticket. By comparison, the regular cost of tickets for dinner guests without vouchers is $300 each.
To receive your Black Tie Dinner discount vouchers, the following must be true at the time the vouchers are issued:
1. You must have paid your local DFW Federal Club dues ($120 per individual or $240 per couple).
2. You must have paid at least $400 ($200 for Associates) toward your annual pledge to HRC.
The Federal Club will e-mail (if e-mail addresses were provided to us) or mail vouchers July 5-17 to all members whose local dues and annual HRC pledges are up-to-date. A verification/change request, as well as requests to receive vouchers by regular mail, can be sent to Nancy Caldwell at nancy@dfwfederalclub.org. If you are a member and do not receive your vouchers shortly after that date, please contact Nancy at the e-mail address above.
As a reminder, please do not delete Federal Club email without opening it first. You may be inadvertently deleting your vouchers, which may be delayed if reissued. In addition, check your "spam" or "junk mail" folders as these emails are sometimes misdirected. Those people for whom we don't have a valid email address, vouchers will be sent via postal mail.
Ticket Sales for the Black Tie Dinner in Dallas will be held Saturday, September 8, 2007. To obtain your tickets, you need to provide
- Your voucher(s)
- A check, for $100 per voucher, made out to Black Tie Dinner, Inc.
Black Tie Dinner seating operates by a system of Table Captains, who attend the ticket sales and purchase the table for their group. Therefore, each attendee must identify a table of people to sit with prior to purchasing tickets to the event. Unfortunately, this popular event can be "sold-out" and your Federal Club ticket voucher does not guarantee you a seat! If you need a Table Captain, if you are a Table Captain and need a Table Captain Package, or if you have questions about the table selection process, call Black Tie Dinner, Inc. at 972-733-9200, or visit
www.blacktiedinner.org.
If you have a Table Captain
If you have a Table Captain, give your Captain your voucher(s) and check. The Table Captains will attend Ticket Sales on Saturday, August 25, and obtain your tickets for you.
If you DO NOT have a Table Captain
If you do not have a Table Captain, the DFW Federal Club can seat you at a table with other Federal Club members. Please mail your voucher(s) and check for $100 per voucher (payable to Black Tie Dinner, Inc.) to
ATTN: Brett Gray DFW Federal Club PO Box 191153 Dallas, TX 75219-1153
Brett must receive your voucher(s) and check by Thursday, August 17, with the address to which you would like the tickets mailed.
Requests for seats at a Federal Club table cannot be guaranteed, although we will make every effort to accommodate all guests.
If you have questions on obtaining your Black Tie Dinner tickets, please contact Brett Gray online or 972-381-6074.
Tables are assigned by a lottery system on the day of Ticket Sales. Last year's Dinner was sold out, and a large number of people whose Table Captains came last in the lottery were unable to get tickets. We will sequence your request for tickets in order of date received, so please maximize your chances of obtaining tickets and being seated at a well-located table by mailing your voucher(s) and check as early as possible.