A reputable Dallas event venue became an unwitting villain on social media last week over its refusal to return a $13,000 deposit to a nonprofit that helps low-income women receive breast cancer treatment.
The nonprofit, Bridge Breast Network, said on Facebook that it canceled its annual fundraising gala and reluctantly gave up the money due to concerns about attendance by its immunocompromised supporters.
“Our clientele base is cancer survivors, people in cancer treatment, as well as radiologists, nurses, and doctors,” said Van Williamson, president of the nonprofit’s board. “And our donors are all in their 80s and 90s. There’s no way we could have it.”
The Facebook post came five hours after the cancellation agreement was signed and resulted in a torrent of angry reactions on social media that vilified the event space, The Hall on Dragon.
“They need to move their Sept. event but The Hall on Dragon is keeping their deposit no matter what they do. I think that’s pretty awful. Don’t you?” tweeted Stephanie Johnson, who said she is alive today because of treatment from the nonprofit.
The dispute isn’t as straightforward as it seems. Rather than a heroic nonprofit versus a money-hungry venue, it’s an example of how a global pandemic ripped up the rulebook for event contracts as spaces had to redo all their bookings in order to stay in business. The Hall on Dragon said it had to reschedule 150 events.
“Although neither party is to blame for the current crisis, neither party contemplated that a global pandemic would arise and cause the government to prohibit our operations,” The Hall on Dragon said in a statement.
The gala typically draws 270 people and raises around $90,000 for the nonprofit’s mission of providing breast cancer diagnosis and treatment for uninsured, underinsured or low-income patients. It helps 1,500 to 2,000 women per year, with 35 to 50 of them receiving surgery and the rest getting mammograms or biopsies.
The initial deposit for both the venue and the catering ― $13,000 — translates into $130,000 in medical care because clients receive nearly $10 in services for every $1 thanks to medical partners that provide free or reduced-cost services, according to the nonprofit’s website. That’s enough for five surgeries for breast cancer, the second most common cause of cancer deaths for women in Texas with an estimated 3,213 fatalities last year, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services.
“That’s five women who need surgery that we’ll have to say no to this year,” said Terry Wilson-Gray, executive director of Bridge Breast Network.
Last year, it had to turn away 15 women.
“That could have easily been me who didn’t get treatment because of that deposit,” said Johnson, who was uninsured at 38 when she connected with the organization.
Bridge Breast Network describes itself as the last line of defense for women who need a breast cancer diagnosis or treatment.
“We’re the Alamo, the last one standing when it comes to treatment,” Williamson said. “People ask us, ‘Where do people go next if you can’t help them?’ They don’t go anywhere. They go home. We’re the last option.”
The nonprofit, which works in 28 counties, brought in $4 million in revenue in 2018 despite having just five employees, according to the nonprofit’s 990 form filed with the Internal Revenue Service. It spent 96% of its revenue on patient services, while $62,188 went toward fundraising.
“They’re just a local group of ladies in a small office who do a lot of great work,” Johnson said.
After the Facebook post, The Hall on Dragon, which hosted the gala for the last two years, contacted the nonprofit to remind it about a sentence in the agreement barring it from making disparaging comments about the venue. The nonprofit then removed the name of the venue.
But the damage was done.
The Hall on Dragon is a 700-person-capacity event space that hosted former first lady Laura Bush in December and is in a prime location in a popular part of downtown Dallas. It’s a locally owned business in one of the worst hit industries during the pandemic.
Nationally, event delays, cancellations and downsizing due to COVID-19 is estimated to cost wedding and events businesses over $670 million from 2019 to 2020, according to research firm IBISWorld.
“If we were to take every person’s request to move their event a year out or nine months out, there would be no venue to have an event,” said Lance Hudes, part-owner of both The Hall on Dragon and CN Catering, which provides the food for all events at the space. “I can’t allow that to happen for the hundreds of employees this business supports and their families.”
Hudes knows it looks bad to keep a nonprofit’s deposit but said his company suggested as many alternative dates as it could. The venue offered to let the nonprofit move its Sept. 12 event to any open day left in 2020. The nonprofit said the only two Saturdays left were the ones after Thanksgiving or Christmas — not ideal weekends for fundraising events.
The nonprofit wanted to cancel its 2020 gala and receive its $13,000 back. However, The Hall on Dragon said that within six months of the event, the contract states that the deposit is nonrefundable. In addition, the contract said the nonprofit owed another $13,000 30 days before the event, but Hudes waived that cost.
While not ideal, Hudes said it was the best way for both sides to eat part of the cost during a time when both are dealing with the economic fallout of COVID-19.
The Hall on Dragon, which has rave reviews online from customers and has won numerous awards from popular wedding site The Knot, has had no business for two months and received a Paycheck Protection Program loan to keep paying its employees. CN Catering had its last wedding on March 14; its first wedding since reopening was Friday.
The venue, which now has a 400-person capacity instead of its usual 700 to allow social distancing, expects to be at only 20% of its previous levels in July and at only 50% in August. Hudes said this decision was one of many hard decisions he’s had to make to keep his businesses alive.
“I feel awful for them [Bridge Breast Network],” Hudes said. “My bookkeeper died from cancer a month ago after nine years with us. She was part of my family. My grandmother died from a brain tumor. My father had prostate cancer. Cancer has touched me and my family, so I don’t take this lightly.”
Disputes over deposits in the aftermath of COVID-19 cancellations aren’t unique and there never seems to be a right answer, said Jacqueline Hill, owner of Jacqueline Events & Design and vice president of the Dallas chapter of Wedding International Professional Association.
“It’s always sad for both sides,” she said. “It feels like a lose-lose because the venue wants to protect its clients, but it also has to protect its business. One side can’t suffer; it has to be a give for both.”
But there is one person who thinks there’s a clear right answer on what to do.
Dallas attorney Mark Ticer, who is doing pro bono work to help clients get deposits back from canceled events, said venues shouldn’t be allowed to ask clients to move their dates.
“These venues are thinking they can change clients to a different date and it will be the same, but it’s not,” Ticer said. “These people signed the contract expecting a certain date.”
A key provision in event contracts is what’s called “force majeure,” which is French for “an act of God,” meaning if something like a hurricane takes down the venue then both parties are free from their obligations.
Bridge Breast Network’s original contract contained a force majeure clause, Williamson said, but it gave the venue discretion to determine what counted as an act of God. He consulted an attorney, who told him $13,000 wasn’t worth fighting for because of the legal fees.
But every dollar counts at the nonprofit, especially at a time when fundraising is harder than ever, Williamson said.
“Everyone got whacked by COVID — some more than others,” Williamson said. “But when you start hitting nonprofits that work with the lowest income earners to help them survive, you’d think you would have more understanding. But, you know, I work in business, too, and sometimes you have to make tough calls.”
