What inspired this fundraising campaign and how was it put together?
We had three options: We could cancel. We could postpone. We could go virtual. As our largest fundraising event of the year, we knew that canceling just wasn’t an option for us. Not knowing what the future holds, we were reluctant to postpone and decided to go virtual – and we had six weeks to figure out what our new virtual event looked like! We were full steam ahead with our combined Development and Marketing teams at the helm. This was truly an “all hands on deck” effort, and we leaned on the Board, our entire staff, volunteers, families who have utilized our services, and event sponsors and donors to help us pull it all together.
What were some of the challenges and how did you address them?
It was a challenge to pull it all off so quickly and was definitely a “learn as you go” process. Thankfully, we have a wonderful team and band of supporters who are creative, innovative thinkers. We researched and found solutions quickly to some of the technical and logistical challenges, we enlisted the help of media and local influencers to help spread the word and expand our reach, and we leaned on our community of supporters to help build content.