I served as Alexander Hamilton Scholars' (AHS) Creator Director of the Gala in 2019 (and again for the Virtual Auction in 2020). I was tasked with conceptualizing the theme and creating all design, marketing, and communications materials, including posters, save the date imagery, invitations, and social media and website graphics.
Through intentional marketing, well-design materials, and persistent communication with donors new and old, the 2019 gala raised a record high of over $260,000. We were also able to recruit nearly 20 new donors to the organization.
To begin conceptualizing the theme of the 2019 gala, I drew inspiration from the high-contrast, deeply iconic art deco style. I wanted to create hyper-stylized material with a metallic golden foil appearance.
I researched typefaces I could use to emulate the art deco style, and settled on Birmingham Titling by Paul Lloyd for main headers ("EMPOWER NOW"), New Year 2017 by Faraz Ahmad for detailing ("the" and "celebration"), and Omnibus by Alan Carr for subheadings (dates, locations, etc.).
I designed the invitations and worked with the volunteer Gala Chair to create a mailing list for targeted invitation outreach.
I created materials for social media marketing (below) and constructed a communications calendar with all self-written and designed copy and content for this campaign.
Social media button
Website banner with hyperlink to ticket purchase page. Also used in 'Save the Date' outreach.
Banner for Facebook
I designed the gala programs with a run of 300 copies. Being mindful of the age and accessibility needs of our donors, I used a larger sized typeface for ease of readability. I kept the inner pages black ink-only and designed the page sizes to fit as a fold on standard 8.5x11" paper to save on printing costs.
I worked with Greater Giving software to build the event and ticket website. I used Greater Giving to manage the event -- using it to track ticket sales, auction items, and run the night-of for live auction and bidder tracking.
I learned basic HTML coding to customize their prebuilt templates with our branding standards for this event.
(I don't have any screenshots from the Greater Giving website, unfortunately, and it was deleted after the event [and subscription] ended. You'll see a screenshot from the AHS website linking to the Greater Giving tickets page.)
The gala was a success, both in terms of strategic marketing campaign work and well-performing philanthropic work the night of the event. I gained new design knowledge, sharpened my copywriting skills, learned basic coding, discovered the intricacies of tax laws and reporting for nonprofits, and co-ran an intricate, high-profile event!