Going Gaga for Spark

by Karen Datangel, Spark Champion 2018-19

As a first-year member of Spark, I wanted to get involved in all the things. I’ve taken advantage of many opportunities that were relevant to my personal interests and professional development: marching with Spark at the Women’s March, lobbying with fellow Spark members in Sacramento, being a grantee advocate at an Investment Committee meeting, and being a host and ambassador for Cocktails for a Cause and the Black and Pink Ball, respectively. But one program that has been especially impactful for me is the Spark Champions program.

The annual Spark Champions program teaches Spark members how to fundraise – then how to put those newfound skills to use in order to raise $1000 for Spark. Over the course of a few of months in the fall, we heard from former Spark champions and community members about different types of fundraising: event fundraising, peer-to-peer fundraising, major gifts, and corporate donations. It was a time of not only a lot of learning and insight, but collaboration and support between other Spark members in the program as well as the Co-Chairs and staff.

As someone who wanted to explore event planning, being part of the Spark Champions program finally gave me the reason I needed to actually do it! I spoke with a business coach in my network and tossed some ideas at her, and we both agreed that a fitness class would be the perfect first event to plan and execute. With a little more guidance from another coach in my network, I decided to organize a celebrity music video-inspired dance class.

Someone suggested that I post in the Dancers’ Group to find an instructor, and within a day, I received a response from Chelsea Hill. Her response particularly excited me because she had already heard about Spark and wanted to be further involved. We spoke about which routine she should teach and from a short list, we decided on Lady Gaga’s “Bad Romance.” As we continued to stay in touch as I worked to secure a venue and find donors for prizes and refreshments. Finding the venue was the most difficult part of the process and affected calendaring as well as the planned event itinerary. Luckily, Athleta on Fillmore Street in San Francisco was able to host us on Monday, January 14th.

Our class was small but mighty. We had about 11 attendees and together we were all able to pull off about three minutes of sexy and monstrous Gaga choreography within the hour. As often happens, we had a slight hiccup at the eleventh hour when Chelsea had an issue with one of her knees, necessitating it be put in a brace. Amazingly, and thankfully, she was still able to lead the class with a little help from another instructor who came along for the ride, also named Chelsea [Nicole].

With the event and raffle ticket sales, I was able to raise $329 for Spark. Adding this to my ticket sales as an Ambassador for Spark’s 2019 Black & Pink Ball, I made $800+ of my Champions goal! This success would not have been possible without Chelsea Hill and Chelsea Nicole, Athleta, GT’s Kombucha for keeping us hydrated during the class, our sponsors (Danspace, VRV3 Studios, The Hivery, Good Vibrations, and Woodford Reserve), our fabulous attendees, and those who supported me all throughout this process, including everyone at Spark and the Spark Champions program.

The Spark Champions program empowered me to put on an event of the sort I previously only dreamed of, where I could gather people together for a fun activity, gift some swag, and support a cause that truly mattered to me. The program and the resources gave me a boost of confidence to help transform my vision into a reality. Plus, I now know better how to plan similar events in the future, as well as other ways I can fundraise for the orgs and causes I care about.

Thank you all for making this aspiring event planner’s dreams come true!