The Incredible Fundraising Machine Known as “The Dutterers”

Steve and Dot Dutterer began raising money for the Foundation in 2001 through a Baltimore-based event known as Sail for Sight. As their first foray into fundraising, Steve and Dot did well, bringing in $1,570 from donation requests they made to family and close friends. But little did they know at the time, they were just getting warmed up. Steve and Dot Dutterer Diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa in the 1960s, Steve had lost virtually all of his vision by 2003 and was winding up his career as the finance director for the City of Westminster in Maryland. Dot would also soon be retiring from her work as a teacher and an assistant principal, so they both had more free time to devote to the Foundation and fundraising. The Dutterers first became involved with the Foundation in the late 1990s through a regional group known as the Maryland Affiliate, which would later evolve into the Baltimore Chapter of FFB. Though the Dutterers found great value in the support they received from group members, they wanted to do more and decided to get behind the drive to find treatments and cures. In 2002, Steve and Dot challenged themselves to bring in even more money than their first Sail for Sight, so they casted a bigger fundraising net; they sent out 200 letters and brought in $5,300. While they achieved a fundraising growth rate of more than 300 percent in just one year, that didn’t dissuade them from trying to raise even more money in 2003. Dot did express a little reluctance in reaching out to people they didn’t know as well, but Steve pithily replied, “We’ll let them say no. We won’t say no for them.” So in 2003, they mailed out 1,000 letters and raised $18,000. Incredibly, they had maintained their 300-plus percent annual growth rate. Steve was also reaching out to Lions Clubs all over Maryland. In addition to including them in letter-writing campaigns, he made presentations on the Foundation and retinal research at many Lions Clubs meetings in Carroll County and surrounding areas. In 2004, 2005, and 2006, the incredible fundraising machine known as “The Dutterers” raised $22,000, $26,000, and $28,000 respectively. In 2007, the Foundation in Baltimore began transitioning from the Sail for Sight fundraiser to the city’s first VisionWalk, which was held in May 2008. The Dutterers successfully transitioned their fundraising over to that event, raising a cool $33,000. And in May 2009, their team, called Team Lancelot, raised more than $25,000 for the Baltimore VisionWalk. The Dutterer’s son, Tim, and daughter-in-law, Abbie, who live in Boston, also got into the act by serving as co-chairs of the 2008 Boston VisionWalk. Though Tim doesn’t have RP, he does have congenital cataracts, glaucoma, and corneal problems that have significantly diminished his vision. Steve and Dot also have a daughter, Stephanie Vick, in Richmond, Virginia, who had surgery for amblyopia (lazy eye) when she was a child. Their son Matthew died during surgery for congenital cataracts when he was almost three. The Dutterers have endured a lot of adversity over the years, but Steve and Dot say they don’t dwell on those difficult times. Rather, they focus on all the blessings they have received. They consider the support they receive for their fundraising efforts to be a very big blessing. While Steve wouldn’t mind getting some vision back to play golf again — in 2001, he actually shot a hole-in-one, barely able to see the green — he’s more interested in leaving a legacy. He says, “I’m not backing the research for me. I’m inspired to help future generations.”

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