Your Comprehensive Step-by-Step guide to planning and executing a Virtual Gala at Home

When the first wave of COVID-19 cancellations hit in March 2020, The Gala Team was caught completely off guard -- just like everyone else.

But we immediately understood that these cancellations were devastating to our nonprofit partners. Their annual galas are important planks in their fundraising effort, and cancelling the event put their mission in jeopardy.

As we looked ahead at all the upcoming events on the calendar, we wondered, "What are all of these nonprofits doing to do?"

We realized that we were their fundraising partner, so it was our responsibility to find a solution for them.

So on March 13, 2020, we created "The {Virtual} Gala Team", and we immediately started wrestling with the idea of executing a virtual gala with the then-inconceivable requirement that EVERY participant would need to be in his or her own home, broadcasting from his or her own computer.

What?

That sounded impossible.