After moving its annual gala from the Metropolitan Pavilion to the 69th Regiment Armory last year and playing with some new ideas, Charity:Water looked to experiment even more by rethinking the format, content, and ways for guests to donate at this year's Charity:Ball held December 10. Key for the organization, which funds projects that bring clean water to people in developing countries, was finding ways to retain a sense of intimacy for the reception-style event in the vast 31,000-square-foot drill hall, enable all guests to participate, and outperform last year's fund-raising tally of $2.2 million. It was also an opportunity to learn from the mistakes of 2011.
To do that, Charity:Water's internal planning team—led by executive producer Lauren Miller—worked with Empire Entertainment to use R.F.I.D. bracelets, build a circular stage in the center of the space, and turn what had been exhibitions of photos and printed copy into more whimsical, informative installations. "We were taking a lot of risks this year. We went into last year with a lot of unknowns, so I think we played it safe, but I think it took knowing the space a little bit better so that this year we could say, 'Where else can we innovate?'" Miller said.
One of the biggest undertakings was incorporating R.F.I.D. technology into its live auction, a call for bids to fund water projects. Originally Charity:Water planned to use devices from Intellitix to streamline check-in, avoiding the long lines that formed at the entrance last year. To take advantage of the data stored in the bracelets—guests registered each piece with their personal information—attendees were invited to move to a designated area around the stage in order to pledge a specific amount. In those spaces, where different colors corresponded to different amounts, staffers scanned the wristbands, capturing the name of the donor and their contact information. A team of technicians then used the data to feed a real-time tally and display donor names on the enormous screens that dominated three of the venue's four walls.
The idea was to make the 1,800-person crowd feel more involved in the proceedings, and the circular stage was a strategic component of that. Its placement and shape formed a theater-in-the-round setting that put the host, Saturday Night Live's Seth Myers, and Charity:Water founder Scott Harrison in the center of the action and, essentially, closer to more attendees.
For smaller bids, the event sold yellow, helium-filled balloons for $5 a pop, which guests could release into a 28-foot-tall, 20-foot-wide net rigged to the ceiling. As the inflatable orbs filled the structure, it started to resemble a giant yellow Jerry can, Charity:Water's signature symbol. The organization also used the container to decorate the step-and-repeat as well as the edge of the V.I.P. lounge.
The rest of the venue was dedicated to educational exhibitions, which this year the organizers styled as three-dimensional, experiential installations. "Last year, the day before load-in, 2,000 pounds of artwork was accidentally taken off our loading dock and brought to a shredder in New Jersey. We recreated it overnight and the exhibition went on, but $20.000 worth of donated artwork—two 1,000-pound pallets—was destroyed," said MIller. "So this year we really scaled down on print. We didn't need to be so literal; we didn't need all that copy, all those photos."
With that in mind, the producers built a version of the organization's first drilling rig to scale, turned prints of pledges from the nonprofit's birthday campaign initiative into a chandelier, created an installation of pipes to show work being done in Rwanda, and introduced sensory technology via a working well pump. There were touch-screens for attendees to explore Charity:Water's past and future projects as well as a gallery of images lining the entrance hall.
All the changes helped the nonprofit raise more than $3.1 million, and while the team counts the event as a success, Miller is already looking to next year's Charity:Ball. "I think we would take all of these elements and we'll figure out how to do it better next year. We were really satisfied with all of those pieces, and we know there's tons we can do better and innovate on, but they gave us a really great starting point."
