December 13, 2012
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We did it. $3,000,000+ raised at charity: ball

15 comments

Monday night was unforgettable. We hosted our 7th annual charity: ball gala at the 69th Regiment Armory in NYC, and more than 1,800 of you joined us. Seth Meyers of Saturday Night Live hosted the evening and we raised over $3 million in one night. We want to say thank you to everyone who made it out to NYC and celebrated with us.

The Waterwalk.

The Waterwalk is a constant at every charity: ball — but this year we built it around a circle stage in the middle of the room. We asked guests to walk a fraction of the distance that people in developing countries walk to bring water home to their families. For every person who walked, W Hotels and TOMS each donated $250 to water projects in India. We raised $500,000 through the Waterwalk alone.

The Live Auction.

We’re not fans of long, stuffy sit-down galas, but instead, we treat the night like a huge celebration… a big party. We’re all about trying new things at charity: water so this year, we tried out a completely new concept during the live auction. Years ago, we abandoned the traditional model of selling vacation packages, expensive watches and handbags, and turned our Live Auction into a pure giving event. But there was one thing that still bugged us — the price tags remained high. The auction worked, and we always raised money, but it alienated a lot of our guests. So this year, we decided to turn the concept upside down, and start low. We started the auction by asking guests to join at a minimum of just $200. Then they had the opportunity to move up to levels of $500, $1000, $5000 and finally, $50,000. It worked. In 25 minutes, we had $800,000 in pledges from more than 200 people.

Here are some photos from the evening:


Photos by Adam Mason, Audrey Rudolf, Josh Wong/Guest of a Guest, Matthew Borowick, Nancy Borowick

See All Photos

A huge thank you.

We’d like to thank our incredible corporate partners and key supporters for making this night possible.

Special Thanks to the following people for making charity: ball possible.
4AM / AAA Flag and Banner / A-List / Alex Hurst / Aggreko / Andrew Bell / Ani Quinn / AVS / Barnard / Blue Media / BNW Rigging / Bridget Sheils / Cash Cash / Christian Haberkern / Chelsea Leyland / Cort / Cube Passes / Dana Tanamachi / Daniel Lara / David Terban / Dazian / Drape Kings / Dream Center / Duggal / Erica Eng / Eric Rodriguez / The Jane Doze / Justin Demetrician / Justin Lawes / Katie Barnard / Larry Lucente / LeapStarr / Mancel Lindsey / Matt Stevenson / May Kwok / MB Productions / Metro Catering / Milk Studios / Nat Wittstruck / No. 8 / The Park / PartyRental / Polite in Public / Post Imaging / ProVision / Rainbow Broadband / Robert Hodgin / Rob Schlissel / Shawn Moon / Spoke Visuals / Starbright Florals / Starlite / SteelDeck / Strategic Group / SuperTouch / TekServe / Tracee Hollman / Uber / Yelena Teplitskaya

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  • wasi malik

    excellent…

  • http://twitter.com/THNKR THNKR Channel

    Congratulations!

  • http://www.whereverimaywander.com LissaJoy

    Amazing!

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=24801183 Tammy Tibbetts

    Congrats!

  • http://twitter.com/davestuartjr Dave Stuart Jr.

    The students of Cedar Springs, MI are increasingly inspired and taken with the Charity: Water vision and values. Keep it up! Can’t wait to come to Charity: Ball some day — great job.

  • Beth Ann Locke

    You all are so great at engaging donors and those who just are thinking about making a difference… always inspiring!

  • Linda J

    what a wonderful way to provide water to many others!

  • http://www.facebook.com/IndianaJimCAR Jim Hocking

    Great time and great idea to get more people involved in the water crisis. It is not going to be finished very soon…it will take lots of people using their gifts…thanks Charity;water for what you are doing.

  • http://www.facebook.com/jesus.nebot Jesus Nebot

    Awesome! Who knew that giving could be so much fun! :)

  • http://www.SiliconPrairieNews.com/ Jeff Slobotski

    Another absolutely amazing & impactful event! Well done and excited to see what 2013 has in store…

  • http://www.facebook.com/hwhylvsme Jean Bean

    You people are heroes! Thank you for your work in helping these people get the clean water they need!

  • Dr.Bathula sanjeevarayudu

    WATER EDUCATION

    PSS: Educational Development Society (NGO) has water
    education, excelled in reviving water resources in Rural areas of ANDHRA
    PRADESH STATE WIDE:

    A. Report Title:- Water Education, rural water Resources now
    only Eradication of Rural poverty in India.

    B. To improve the
    quality of the eco-system and meet the livelihood needs of Rural people, which
    will contribute to improve the socio- economic nutrition – health status of
    people and ecological condition of the environment.

    In a country like India where
    population is growing at the rate of nearly 2% per annum and about 70% of its
    population is engaged in subsistence farming water shed management assumes an
    exceedingly important sole not only for the production of more food but also
    for prevention of degradation of land and mainly water in the process.
    Experiments with water shed management have so far yielded rich dividend and
    provided valuable in right to the aspects of management of our natural
    resources basic, particularly land and water. Water shed management is not a
    passing fad, it is intricately related with an extremely beneficial to the
    lives of millions of farmers throughout the world.

    C. Spreading
    Technological Awareness:-

    Water
    resources using methods, water can reservation, It is necessarily to educate,
    spreading message through conducted public meetings, Kalajathas, Rallies,
    workshops, exhibitions printed pamphlets, wall posters, showing films, etc., to
    the people about the new opportunities available water resources and create
    responsibility for the protection, preservation and responsible management of
    all the available water resources in A.P. State wide.

    D. Technological
    Innovation:-

    PSS
    Educational Development society (NGO) have identified the need for developing
    training innovative modules for Rural people engaged in their livelihood on
    natural resources, water resources and enable them to improve their livelihood
    through Agriculture and aquaculture etc., this programmes does not envisage
    trainings as an end itself, but aims to strength water shad management, Rain
    water conservation, water utility, eradication of water wastage and upgrading
    the technical skills of people on Agriculture, Aquaculture and provided them
    with equipments and financial support to set their our self employment and
    Income Generation etc.,

    E. Impact on
    society:-

    It
    is also our team of NGO’s visited within beneficiaries our activities all are
    grand successfully implemented and get good result, they become agents of peace
    and communal harmony in a place that is in constant disturbance, we feel that
    the long term objective of this venture is peace and human dignity through self
    sufficiency.

    F. Environmental
    benefits:-

    Our NGO adopted 10
    village in A.P. state wide, Now were completed from Erragudur village Eco –
    Model Village in A.P. state through fully utilization of water resources, tree
    plantation, Animal Development programmes, clear and green programmes.
    Sanitation programmes internal roads laying, etc.,

    G. Target set
    & Achieved:-

    Our NGO selected target
    of Rural areas, hilly areas, remote areas, Agency areas near by forests
    villages etc., implemented and conducted over 91924 breath water sound
    workshops benefited 4.1 million people in nationwide. Conducted 34310
    cleanliness and water utilization campaigns. Since 15 years organized national
    environmental awareness campaigns in A.P. state wide.

  • aquapuresolutions.com

    Looked like a great party congratulations. It is so good to see so many people behind you guys.

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  • http://eokuldostu.com/ Eko Dost

    Congratulations. That’s a great amount of money.