The UWS Gala 2024

UWS Gala 2024 - Event Report

1. Executive Summary

The UWS Gala was held on 21st November 2024 at Shangri La Hotel’s Island Ballroom.

The event raised funds for UWS programmes including Girls2Pioneers, StemFirst, GenSafe, Girls Empowered and Boys Empowered, through the support of roughly 200 attendees, 80+ sponsors, and 45+ volunteers and a global community that donated through crowdfunding platforms like GlobalGiving.

2. Objectives of the Event

• Fundraising: The Gala is our annual flagship fundraising event.

• Sharing UWS’ impact: Our Galas are an opportunity for us to showcase our work, our impact and our vision and plans, in line with that - we had four of our beneficiaries take the stage at the Gala to talk about experience with our programmes. 

• Community Engagement: Engage long standing, crucial donors with the view of long term, future partnerships.

• Donor Appreciation: Engage long standing, crucial donors with the view of long term, future partnerships.

3. Event Highlights

• We were honoured to have a Cabinet level minister from the Government of Singapore as the Guest of Honour at the Gala. 
• Attendance:21 tables comprising ~200 guests
• UWS procured 65+ Silent auctions items in addition to 7 premium items for Live Auction. 90% of these sold.
• The aid of 45 active volunteers, specially roped in for the Gala, contributing 259 hours of volunteer time, was a major reason why several functions worked smoothly. For instance - major functions like Registration, Table Concierge and Raffle Sales - went on mostly glitch free. 
• Impact sharing by our beneficiaries - We invited four of our programme graduates/beneficiaries to take the stage at the Gala to talk about their experience with our programmes. They came well prepared and full of passion, and delivered an engaging account of their journeys which drew widespread interest from the guests and contributed towards procuring donations/pledges for UWS’ work.

4. In summary

The UWS Gala 2024 was a successful event, achieving significant fundraising and fostering valuable connections with donors, partners, and volunteers.The event demonstrated strong community engagement and showcased UWS' impactful work. The generous contributions from our global pool of supporters, gala guests, sponsors, and volunteers was instrumental in raising essential funds. The Gala remains a key opportunity for UWS to strengthen its mission and build long-term partnerships.

Links:

• http://www.uws.org.sg