A new way to support good causes is in town. Local nonprofit organization Reason to Party Sacramento will host a Spring Gala at 9 p.m. on April 27 at the Old Sugar Mill in Clarksburg. The proceeds will go to Sacramento Splash.
Sacramento Splash was chosen as the beneficiary for the spring gala because it met Reason to Party’s criteria.
“We’re currently working with Sacramento Splash, which is a local nonprofit that helps children go outside and explore nature and learn about science,” said Katie Mattesich, a co-founder of Reason to Party Sacramento. “A lot of local school budgets have been slashed and there’s no longer an opportunity for students to go on field trips.”
The theme of the gala will be Experience the Elements. Consisting of the fire, earth, water and wind elements, the gala will have different themed areas, including outdoor fire pits, fire throwers, an indoor art installation and aerialists.
The event is limited to people age 21 and over. Tickets will be sold for $50, which covers the live performances, complimentary cocktails and appetizers. There is a $6 discount for anyone with a promotional code.
“The promotion code would make the ticket $44, a bit of a student discount, I suppose,” said Reason to Party Sacramento fundraising coordinator and senior communication and political science major Andrew Taverrite. “It’s used more as tracking who’s buying a lot of tickets — what demographics and what groups of people are coming through.”
Mattesich said the organization is giving out promotional codes to encourage people to buy tickets.
Reason to Party was founded in 2009 in San Francisco. Currently, there are two teams based in San Francisco and Sacramento. The nonprofit holds three events in the fall, spring and summer in both San Francisco and Sacramento.
“Essentially, it was created by a few entrepreneurs who were in the tech industry and thought that social networks should be utilized to bring together young professionals in a way that gives back to the community,” Mattesich said. “They launched the website and started running charity events around the city where all the profits would go to a local charity, and in the process, it’d give young professionals opportunities to network, meet one another, give back to the community and have fun at the same time.”
Mattesich said the organization is focused on working with local charities because national nonprofits tend to have more resources to promote their organizations whereas smaller, more local charities may need more assistance with advertising.
“That’s where our social networks and media presence can really come in and help spread the word among the 20s and 30s crowd about ways to give back to the community,” Mattesich said.
“Typically, we go through our networks and what that entails is telling our own friends to pass down the word to their friends so it starts in our own interpersonal networks and expands from there.”
Reason to Party expanded to Sacramento in 2011. Mattesich said since they only started last year, they focused on starting small.
“We sold over 250 tickets for our launch event,” she said. “This event, we look to sell over 600 tickets.”
Mattesich said they are looking into bringing Reason to Party to Los Angeles and New York.
“We’re going to have strategic planning and a vision process to put down on paper our actual model, so it can be replicated in other cities,” she said. “So far, we’re really excited because it just happened very quickly and it’s been very successful.”
Taverrite said a lot of work goes into networking and planning events.
“We reach out to those in our networks who we tap out to be hosts, which eventually means they help us market and promote the event by giving their friends their promotional code and that really helps us get the word out there and get people to buy tickets,” Mattesich said.
Taverrite is also a fundraising coordinator for Camp Kesem, a college student-run summer camp for children with parents who have or have had cancer. Camp Kesem is currently looking into a partnership with Reason to Party.
“What caught our eye with Camp Kesem is what an awesome effort it’s made on the part of students and volunteers coming together and giving back to the community in such a meaningful way,” Mattesich said. “We are basically in the process of potentially considering Camp Kesem for our future event.”
Taverrite said he is trying to get more students involved in the organization.
“This is a great way to give back while also being able to dress up a little bit and have a great time,” Taverrite said. “The open bar is fun for everyone, entertainment is going to be great and it’s just going to be such a cool event.”
CLAIRE TAN can be reached at city@theaggie.org.
