Ignite 2021

Click here to get your ticket today!

Join us on March 6 from 6-8PM PST for Young Women Empowered’s annual gala. Our theme this year is: cultivating future leaders. While things will feel different this year, we are excited to keep the magic of Ignite alive and come together as a community. Despite challenges, 2020 was an incredibly successful year at Y-WE and we are thrilled to enter 2021 as a stronger and more connected force, ready to build towards the future.

In the early years of Ignite, we hosted dinner parties where youth from our programs prepared a variety of family recipes from cultures all over the world. We are excited to bring that back this year! Each guest will receive a Y-WE cookbook and there will be a live cooking class during the event. You will also hear from fabulous keynote speakers and have the opportunity to connect with other community members in breakout conversations.

Schedule for the Evening:

6:00-6:45 Program (Keynote speeches from youth and staff, video features, and more)

6:45-7:05 “Table chats” (Breakout rooms)

7:05-7:25 Cooking show and Q&A with Candace Chin

7:25-7:45 Dance party and closing from Y-WE Board Chair, Sangeeta Gupte

We hope to see you there!

Be an Ambassador for Ignite

An Ignite Ambassador Is…

You are the hosts of the event! Like all hosts, your roles are manifold: as Y-WE’s primary cheerleaders, you build awareness, excitement and model your own commitment to Y-WE in an ever-expanding circle of supporters, of whom you are also the primary recruiter. There are no better people to speak the story and mission of Y-WE than you. By filling your Zoom room with guests who will feel fired up and inspired to take action, you ensure not only the success of the night but help with fundraising for the rest of the month.

The Basics:

As an Ambassador, you’ll be helping raise a venturous goal amount of $200,000 to help Y-WE’s programming, operating fund and ensure we can continue to be responsive to the needs of our community.

Leading up to the event:

Help us spread the word! Share about Ignite on social media, and send personal invites to family and friends. We will provide you with the tools to do this.

After the event:

You can start your own Peer 2 Peer fundraising page for Y-WE, and help us reach our goal!

OK, so if every guest should help achieve Y-WE’s goal, who should I invite?

Ways to discern who might both be interested in our work and impactful as a guest are to ask yourself the following questions about a potential invitee. Sensing a positive response to three or more of the questions below is a strong indication of a strategic guest ask.

Is my potential guest interested in Y-WE or young women’s empowerment?
Is this person comfortable being asked to a fundraising event, where the clearly communicated goal of the evening (whether they choose to participate or not) are funds raised for the organization?
This is Y-WE’s largest fundraising event. Do they have the capacity to support financially?
Do they help expand Y-WE’s network and/or access to resources? (This could be within a business community or affinity group, to stakeholders in government, education systems, technology, foundations, etc.
Are they or could they be interested in joining our community of champions and advocating for Y-WE in the larger community, or serving Y-WE directly as a volunteer?

How it works:

Purchase an ambassador ticket. This allows you to bring up to 9 guests, who don’t have to buy their own tickets.
If you have more than 9 guests who you’d like to “sit at your virtual table,” they will have to purchase their own tickets, but let us know and we will make sure to add them to your breakout room!
Our Development Director, Silvia, will be in touch with you about the process. If you have any questions, you can reach out to her at silvia@y-we.org.
Leading up to the event, we will provide you with graphics and sample language to share on social media and help us spread the word.
We will coordinate with you to make sure that you and your guests all receive our gift in the mail!
After the event, you can start your own fundraising page for Y-WE, and share it with all your friends and family!