Virtual Gala

About the project

Opportunity Partners hosts an annual fundraising Gala to help raise money to continue to provide services for people with disabilities. Unfortunately in 2020, OP had to cancel their Gala due to COVID-19. OP was able to pivot to hosting a virtual Gala in 2021, but the Advancement team and a lot of catching up to do. They weight was on our shoulders to somehow pull off a completely virtual Gala and still raise funds to keep our services open. The planning process felt insane, but we pulled it off and surpassed the fundraising goal.

I provided all print and digital design assets for this Gala. This virtual Gala was in May 2021, and I started conceptualizing the colors and design in January of 2021 (the same month I started working at OP). I like to make all of my print materials have a cohesive look, and there was no exception for digital assets — especially with the event being completely online.

Print assets included save the dates, invitations, envelopes, invitation inserts, and DIY cocktail recipe cards. 

Digital assets included social media graphics, email headers and graphics, presentation slides during the live program, screen graphics on stage, lower thirds for live stream, and any photos needed of auction items for the live stream.

I also ran OP’s social media accounts during the timeframe of this Gala. I made a detailed social media plan from the first save the date post through the final thank you/wrap up post. I designed graphics, collected photos, and scheduled posts in Hootsuite for the event. 

A fun element we added to the virtual Gala was a “Gala-in-a-box.” This was a take-home box full of Gala goodies that guests could purchase before the event to have everything they would need to have an awesome at-home Gala experience. However, the boxes we ordered were just plain black boxes and needed some sprucing up. I got crafty and hand lettered over 200 boxes for the event. The boxes turned out great and every guest who ordered one loved it!