GALA ND/SMC, the LGBT alumni group for the University of Notre Dame and Saint Mary’s College, recently announced the LGBT Student Scholarship Capital Campaign to raise $250,000 over the next five years.
The LGBT Student Scholarship Fund, which was created in the spring of 2015, is to assist qualified LGBT undergraduate students of St Mary’s and Notre Dame. To-date, two $2,500 scholarships have been awarded in 2015 and 2016. The scholarship recipients are all high character, high achievers who strive to improve the LGBT environment on the two campuses.
On Sunday October 2nd, GALA will be holding our second annual benefit in NYC to raise money for the scholarship fund. We are inviting local alumni and friends and expect to have ~80 attendees. Individuals will be asked for a registration donation in addition to a special appeal at the cocktail reception. More information can be found at NYC 2016 Scholarship Benefit. Last year’s benefit sold out in less than two weeks.
A special VIP Pre-Event Reception will be held where guests can meet Notre Dame grad Phil Donahue ’57. This will be an exclusive opportunity for a limited number of guests.
The event will be held at Phil Donahue ’57 and his wife Marlo Thomas’ penthouse overlooking Central Park. Phil, in addition to being a world famous talk show host, is a member of GALA’s board. The special guest speaker will be Greg Bourke ’82 (MA Sociology) who has lived as a personal champion for LGBT rights throughout his life, including with his husband as one of the plaintiffs in the historic 2015 Supreme Court decision on marriage equality.
GALA is seeking either corporate or personal sponsorships to help defray costs and for contributions to the scholarship fund. All sponsorships will be included in event promotional materials before and after the event (size dependent on sponsor level). Anonymous donations respected as well.
GALA is a 501 (c)3 tax-exempt charitable organization and sponsorship donations are generally considered tax deductable (less the face value of the tickets included).
Sponsor Level Options
- Title Event Sponsor – $10,000
- Exclusive (only one available)
- Ability to speak at the event
- Logo/Banner displayed at the event
- Logo and recognition featured on event website
- 5 tickets to main event included
- 2 tickets to VIP Pre-Event Reception
- VIP Pre-Event Reception Sponsor (3:00pm-4:00pm) – $7,500
- Exclusive (only one available)
- Logo/Banner displayed during VIP reception
- Logo and recognition featured on event website
- Ability to participate in VIP Reception (2 tickets included)
- Platinum Event Sponsor – $5,000
- 5 Available
- Logo displayed on event website and at event
- 2 tickets to main event included
- Gold Event Sponsor – $2,500
- 6 Available
- Logo displayed on event website and at event
- 1 ticket to main event included
- Blue Event Sponsor – $1,000
- 7 Available
- Logo displayed on event website and at event
- 1 ticket to main event included
To sign up for a sponsorship, or for more information, contact GALA Chair Jack Bergen ND ’77 at jack.bergen@yahoo.com.