Charity Derby
A digital horse race to raise money and emphasize the fun and spectacle of a gala.
DesignDevelopPresentSaddle up!
In 2023, my wife and I got the opportunity to support a local charity: Horse and Buddy. We crafted a digital derby experience to help raise money at their annual charity gala.
Throughout the evening, guests were given the opportunity to “bet” on the outcome of the evening’s derby. These “bets” were -in fact- used to calculate the most supported horse. The bets produced our derby “results” and let us programmatically generate a neck-and-neck race!
70% Increase!
The gala exceeded fundraising goals and provided a fun-filled evening for attendees.
31%
69%
Other Donations
Digital Derby
The donation portion of the gala grew by 70% from 2022. It was an astounding increase! The digital derby contributed 31% of that growth.
*”Donations” being funds contributed to Horse and Buddy without exchange of goods.
(AKA: the charity auction)
Personal Experience
Riders trust and supporters adore the H&B horses. When crafting our digital derby, we wanted to celebrate that connection. We wanted to show the audience the horses they know and love.
Starting with photos, we found a run-cycle animation and iterated on it for each of the ten H&B horses. When the race started, even the back of the ballroom could make out their favorite steed.
Almost Real-Time
The goal of the derby was to incentivize donations through “betting” on a specific horses. We also wanted to “reveal” the highest supported horse by making them win the “race.” So, while we created the horse animations, I created a REACT app to programmatically control the derby.
We made an input screen to enter the total “bet” amounts.
We made the racing screen to animate and dramatize the donations over from the evening.
We also created a “results” screen to showcase the results and celebrate the virtual efforts of the H&B horses.
Final thoughts
Some visuals are iconic, even if they aren’t particularly engaging. I told friends I was working on a way to display charity donations and they asked what style thermometer I was going to draw.
It’s fun to come up with alternate ways to display information, especially if it can be interactive.
