Hope Gala

2022, 2023, & 2024
Project Overview
The Breakthrough T1D Hope Gala is an annual fundraising gala hosted by the Mid-Atlantic Chapter. Over 600 prominent philanthropic community leaders come together annually to raise critical funds for type one diabetes (T1D) research. The evening features a fantastic silent auction, gourmet dinner, exciting live auction, inspiring stories from those affected by T1D, and a lively after-party, featuring live entertainment.
2022 Event Highlights
  • Achieved $2M goal at first gala back in-person post-COVID
  • Surpassed auction goal by 23% with over $40K in additional revenue
  • Surpassed peer to peer Champions goal by over $28K and activated 63 individuals in the ballroom for an additional $1K match, resulting in 91% total additional revenue
  • Hired a new auctioneer with under 48 hours notice after cancelation
2023 Event Highlights
  • Selected as the national staff training gala with over 75 national staff members attending
  • Surpassed live auction goal by 15%
  • Achieved YoY live auction growth of 11%
  • Designed Wall of Hope mission-oriented guest experience
  • Surpassed Champions goal by 40%
  • Successfully utilized new online bidding platform, switching from OneCause to Greater Giving indefinitely
  • Introduced two new activations for 2023 and 2024, the Bubbly Bar experiential touchpoint and Live Auction multi-sale sweep experience resulting in $30K additional revenue and improved guest experience
2024 Event Highlights
  • Surpassed Champions fundraising goal by 21%
  • Introduced Glow Wall as experiential interaction
  • Secured, advertised, and sold last minute addition to Live Auction 48 hours before the Gala of tickets and weekend stay to Food & Wine Classic in Aspen
  • Achieved YoY live auction growth of 11%
For the Breakthrough T1D Hope Gala, I am responsible for the logistics, execution, and planning of this annual 600+ attendee event. The Hope Gala is a black-tie fundraising gala based out of the DC market.
In addition to logistics, I am also responsible for the fundraising success of our annual silent and live auctions, raffles/sweepstakes, and our high-school fundraising program, the Champions, resulting in over $300,000 in revenue.
Responsibilities
Breakthrough T1D