Organizers of the Runway to Hope Spring Fashion Soiree tapped into technology to share the event—and solicit more donations—online. The entire gala Saturday night at Rosen Shingle Creek was live-streamed on runwaytohope.org by Orlando Productions. The focus of the fund-raiser was a runway show with 150 local pediatric cancer patients and survivors escorted by local and national celebrities.
“Maybe you can’t afford to come to the event, but you can sit at home and feel as though you are in the room with us and be moved by these children,” said Tara Fontana, owner of Grapevine Events & Marketing, which produced the gala. Fontana said planners publicized the stream in public service announcements on radio and television and on the organization’s website.
Preliminary estimates are that the event raised more than $1 million from ticket sales, sponsorships, auction items, and donations from the more than 2,100 people who attended the event. Organizers expect that number to increase once they tally the donations made online during the live stream, which garnered more than 2,000 page views.
Television personalities Bill and Giuliana Rancic, who hosted the first gala in 2011, returned as hosts this year. Organizers used two cameras for the live stream: one on a riser in the main ballroom and another backstage where Yoanna House, the winner of season two of America’s Next Top Model, provided behind-the-scenes reporting of the children getting ready.
Since its founding in 2010, Runway to Hope has provided more than $3 million to Central Florida’s three children’s hospitals to support pediatric cancer patients and their families as well as research.
