Done while I was Gala Chair for the Rancho Santa Fe Community Center, a volunteer role.
Gala Chair · 2014
Rancho Santa Fe Community CenterA Moroccan fantasy.
A community center, a fundraising night, and one big question: how do you make people forget they're in a community center?
The real problem
The ask was a fundraising gala. The real job was getting people to feel generous, and that's hard to do in a room they walk past every week.
What I noticed
Galas can blur together. Same tables, same speeches, same auction. When the night feels ordinary, the giving does too.
The call I made
Take everyone somewhere else entirely. Rather than decorate the room, I chose to transform it, so guests felt they'd landed in another world from the moment they arrived.
What I built
As Gala Chair I led the theme and the transformation. Every detail turned the community center into a Moroccan fantasy, so the night felt like an escape, and giving felt like part of the magic.
The lesson
People give more when they feel transported, so spend on the feeling, not the centerpieces.
The work
What I brought
- Concept
- Theme
- Event design
- Venue transformation
Photography by Cary Pennington Photography.
This work was created for the Rancho Santa Fe Community Center. All rights belong to the organization.