On Friday, March 11th at about 5:59pm, remaining bid sheets were printed, powerpoint slides were tweaked, and speeches were finalized. By 6:01pm, we began to welcome a stream, and then a flood of press and guests into the $10,000 for 10 Schools Givology Benefit Auction at Hudson Bar in Manhattan. By the peak of the event, the entire venue was packed with people bidding, drinking, mingling, laughing, and learning about Givology and our partners. After weeks of work, it was a beautiful, even miraculous sight for us to see.
The event was a total whirlwind-- I underestimated the number of friends’ faces I would see and overestimated my ability to be in 10 places at once. While I hoped time would slow down even just a little bit so that I could really savor those three hours, luckily with amazing photographers and videographers present, much of it was captured (and more to be available on the interwebs soon!).
The Givology New York City Chapter had worked for weeks to plan the 10K for 10 Schools event, and it was easily the most logistically demanding and complex event that we have hosted to date. A 50+ item silent auction, live auction, two rounds of raffles, ten featured partners, a press gathering, guest of honor, hundreds of lively guests, and a venue with very strict labor union laws created a situation that required serious planning and project management. This was compounded because of the size of our core team-- 12 dedicated volunteers, including 10 full-time working young professionals and 2 students. This truly speaks to the dedication of our team, and ability to rise to the occasion. Looking back even now, it’s so amazing that in just a few weeks with a dozen volunteers, we were able to host the benefit auction, raise over $10,000 and garner the support of 300-350+ guests.
We are
SO grateful and appreciative of the generosity of the 10K for 10 Schools sponsors and attendees. In the weeks leading up to the event, I made dozens of cold calls to businesses throughout New York soliciting auction item contributions. I was often so pleasantly surprised at how open and willing business owners were to extend their support to Givology, even if they were not familiar with us. It provided an excellent way to hone my pitch, and begin to build a strong network of new supporters and businesses aware of Givology's work and mission.
I joined Givology just under six months ago and have found in it, and the planning and execution of this event in particular, the wonderful sensation of being part of something much larger than myself, and creating a wave of impact that I can’t even begin to measure. Especially in New York, you live among millions of people, yet it is easy to lose one’s way. Joining the Givology NYC team, members are empowered to give, learn, have fun, and regain confidence that purposeful and dedicated volunteering can harness crowdsourced potential to create global impact.
We hope to continue to grow the NYC Chapter, and create a model for other Givology chapters to follow suit. In keeping with the 10 theme, here are just a few reasons you should apply to join the Givology NYC Chpater, and Givology global if you are not based in New York.
1.
Create Impact Support 35+ global grassroots education partners, transforming the potential of thousands of children and villages
2.
Join a Community Givology is a growing and diverse family, all committed to positively transforming the world through education
3.
Have Fun Our philosophy is that philanthropy should be social
4.
Engage in Local Activity with Global Reach Experience New York in an impactful way that transcends all global boundaries
5.
Take Ownership of Projects Givology is flat, enabling anyone to initiate and execute their own ideas
7.
Use your Skills for Good If you are more than your day job, Givology is the perfect way to give back and contribute to social good
8.
Gain New Skills Want to learn about something by actually
doing? Members’ roles and responsibilities are based on background, interests and team needs-- help with fundraising, PR, marketing, social media, sponsorships, recruitment efforts, and much more
9.
Expand your Network Givology members work across all sectors and study all disciplines, members meet and build relationships with people of different backgrounds, ideas and diverse talents
10.
We are 100% volunteer, 100% passion, email the NYC chapter recruitment coordinator danielle.wu@givology.org to get involved!
