Special Events Campaigns of the Year: MIND Research Institute and Avow Hospice

GOLD AWARD

MIND Research Institute

Calling All Superheroes Awards Gala

Submitted by MIND Research Institute

The Numbers

Recipients: 2.900 save-the-date cards

4,000 superhero-themed invitations

500 special-themed co-chair letterhead

400 superhero-themed gala programs

300 comic book-themed table favors

Total cost of campaign, including postage: $16,335

Income Generated at Gala: $448,000

Average Gift: $5,600

Cost to Raise a Dollar: $0.04

Our judges, who must all be big kids at heart, really fell for the fun, comic-book feel of the creative for this event. It's got a bright-on-black color palette and superhero graphics, and it's peppered here and there with Batman-esque bursts with "WOW!" written in them. MRI's Peggy Lamberton said that was the idea. The 2011 gala was the first themed gala that MRI had ever attempted, and it was a huge change from what its donors were used to. Namely, it put a whole lot more fun into the annual event and recognized its donors for the superheroes that they are.

Lamberton said the true success of this event, however, came from the fact that the organization's staff was re-energized as well, and the fun new concept engendered a renewed sense of teamwork and camaraderie that is continuing in the everyday culture of the organization. For the gala, MRI's engineering department (which writes the programs it uses to forward its mission of supporting math education in schools) became the in-house art department and collaborated with the development team on the copy for gala materials; its marketing and printing partner became active as a marketing and event decor advisor; 50 percent of the organization's home-office employees volunteered to staff the gala; and the board of directors supported the gala's auction with donations and high bids.

"The amazing experience our employees and supporters had has inspired us to continue our creative path," Lamberton wrote. "More than 80 percent of our donors were introduced to MIND's mission at a past awards gala. We are able to bring in student and teacher honorees to meet the donors. It is a major education and fundraising tradition."

GOLD AWARD

Avow Hospice

2011 Butterfly Weekend

Submitted by Avow Hospice

The Numbers

Number of Recipients: 9,189

Response Rate: 5 percent

Total Cost: $30,269.27

Income Generated: $122,710.50

Average Gift: $275.14

Cost to Raise a Dollar: $0.25

The support materials for the Avow Hospice 2011 Butterfly Weekend were just stunning and decidedly uplifting — depicting both the elegant Butterfly Ball and the whimsical butterfly release that made up the weekend. But then again, how can you go wrong with butterflies? And that is the point that makes this special event so special. Hospice care is about death and dying, but Avow's Kit Chamberlain was quick to point out that it is also about life and the celebration of it. And the Butterfly Weekend was a perfect way to convey that.

Our judges agreed with Chamberlain's comment, "We like the unusual combination of events that make up Butterfly Weekend. The ball is elegant and top-drawer; the (butterfly) release is wide open to the community and the many tourists and part-time residents who join us in the winter months.

"People who were not connected to us were drawn to the novelty of the walk-through butterfly tent and the spectacular image of the butterflies being released en masse," she wrote. "It was truly a weekend with something for everyone!"

The clever theme and events, along with impressive fundraising numbers and the weekend's success in drawing the attention of the community to the hospice's work, combined to make this a Gold Awards winner. The best comment from our judges? It came from Paul Bobnak who wrote, simply, "Winner!"

SILVER AWARD

The Lions Eye Institute for Transplant & Research

Eye Ball Gala

Submitted by The Lions Eye Institute for Transplant & Research

The Numbers

Recipients: 450

Response Rate: Attendance up 46 percent

Total Cost: Sponsors covered all expenses for the past two years

Income generated: $185,000

Average Gift: $300 to $500

Cost to Raise a Dollar: Sponsors covered all expenses

"The Eye Ball — A Gala with Vision." What's not to love? What makes the 2011 iteration of the annual Eye Ball is the organization's fearless jump into new territory. Until 2009, the Eye Ball was predominantly an awards banquet, held within the organization's corporate headquarters to thank surgeons, hospital staff and employees for their part in facilitating the eye-donation process.

"There was a sense among the previous board of trustees that telling our story within the community, nationally and internationally might not be acceptable because of the sensitivity to the organ donor's family and the loss of their loved ones," wrote the organization's Kelley Sims.

But in 2009, the foundation decided it was indeed time to start telling the story of the world's largest eye bank and the only eye bank with a research center. Instead of shying away from donor families and recipients, the foundation invited them into the process. It took the gala public with a big media splash and also added an auction with prizes to suit all budgets (starting bids from $20 to $700) and interests (a basket of massage essentials to a signed NASCAR flag to Judas Priest tickets to a bronze horse).

Since then, attendance at the gala has grown by more than 100 percent, sponsorships have grown from less than $20,000 to $85,000 and giving at the event has become a major part of the foundation's revenue.

"In 2011, the Eye Ball gala was selected by Tampa Bay Business Journal as one of the five best black-tie events in the community, coming from obscurity only two years before," Sims wrote. "Even more important than that distinction is the resounding feeling among our organ-donation community that we're telling their very important story, and the funds have allowed us to improve the quality of life for those who are blind or visually impaired."