“What you do has a far greater impact than what you say.” -Stephen Covey
TRUE! Inspired is the word that describes how we feel with one of our partners. Amanaah Refugee has developed different fundraising events that vary from volunteer events, sports, and galas. As you may know, the #1 challenge that most non-profit organizations faced is to raise funds while maximizing existing resources. That's why Amaanah and Karana jointed efforts to add more value to every dollar spent in audio visual and technology support for their Annual Financial Gala: Rays of Change.
Integration and Empowerment= Amaanah
Amaanah Refugee is a non-profit organization founded in 2008 with the passion and mission of empowering women and children who are refugees in the USA, specifically in Texas. Their primary focus is to meet the long-term needs of women, children, and families who have arrived through the refugee resettlement process and help them to integrate into their new community. As a non-profit organization is crucial to have funds to ensure that education, healthcare, and other services are available to them. Jida Nabulsi, CEO of Amaanah Refugee is committed to refugees from all over the world accommodating them in a different culture full of kindness and opportunity.
The challenge of making a gala to raise funds where funds are really raised.
Raising funds without hurting the existing resources could be tough. That’s exactly what happened to Amaanah when coordinating their Annual Financial Gala: Rays of Change. In this event the organization has the forum to explain the mission, report successful stories thanks to the organization and obviously continue with the fundraising efforts. Reduce cost could be a nightmare because a formal event demands a nice venue, dinner and technology support. Did we mention technology support? Yes! That’s how Karana get involved in this picture.
"The AV is integral for a gala event because of the size of the room and making sure that the delivery of our message is heard and seen is the reason everyone attends and gives. Without the right team of AV this partnership could have been a nightmare for the evening program." -Nabulsi says.
In previous years the event has an attendance of 1000-1500 guest. That implied a big investment in the three most important elements: venue, food/beverages, and audiovisuals. This year the real challenge was to decrease the investment for the gala by moving the event to a smaller room or venue. The goal was a room with a capability of 500 guests meaning that they will use 1/3 of their previous budget for the 2019 gala.
Partnering with Karana to maximize results
It is common that most hotels have their preferred AV vendor (in-house). Having the in-house AV company for your event has pros and cons, but in this case, the budget was one of the primary points to consider. They needed an AV company where they can obtain more value for the assigned budget.
"We opted out of using the third party from the hotel and went with Karana and they did not disappoint."
Decreasing the budget for the fundraising event can't be equal to lower quality. Rays of Change has precedents. This event has been done in previous years. Karana became a strategic partner in learning and understanding the high standards and details for this event.
Karana Audio Visual provided a full production service, which includes:
Audio System for 500-700 guests: 6 speakers, 2 sub-woofers, podium microphones, wireless microphones, digital mixer M32.
Lighting: Stage lighting to improve the quality in the image magnification (IMAG) service and colored up lights behind the stage to complete the design.
Pipe and Drapes:80 ft of drapes to cover the front of house and between screens.
LED Video Walls: 2 LED screens of 9' X 16' with floor support, 4 lift towers, and trussing.
Image Magnification (IMAG): 1 HD Professional Camera with camera operator.
Video Switcher:To change images seamlessly between the speaker's image, videos, logos, and presentation slide shows.
AV Engineers:Video, Audio, Camera, and the Event Director.
"Definitely this was a smooth experience with Karana versus other vendors. The relationship was so great that the hotel we hosted our event offered to drop their third party rates completely... Having that element of passion was a deal breaker for me." -Jida Nabulsi
The initial audiovisual request for this event was 4 speakers, 2 screens and 2 projectors. A discovery meeting was performed to determine what was the real need of AV and technology equipment. The main goal was to deliver a brand message, keep the standards of previous events, maximize room space, and add value to the investment. That's how having LED Walls was the best way to go, where you can save space in the front and behind the screen and the set up looks sharp. Instead of having 4 speakers Karana's audio engineer decided to use 6 speakers in order to cover the whole spectrum of the room. The videographer and the camera operator were using a clean audio feed from the Midas M32 digital mixer. The event was a huge success.
"The staff was courtesy and hard working. I was there early the day before and the crew was already setting up and in good spirits. I never realized the amount of work needed to put on a good show and Karana did an amazing job having a great crew with them." - Nabulsi says.
Now, what about tangible results? Rays of Change was able to received 450 attendance, increase the ROI by 56% and decrease the audio visual costs to a 60%. The event raised $78,000 for the cause which means 22% of the annual goal.
Amaanah Refugee Services help hundreds of families every year thanks to the community donations and volunteers. Everybody can help. You too! Donate now.