Charity: Water Fundraiser

In June of 2018, Trademark Events asked All of it Now, a creative agency based in San Francisco, to help them pitch on Charity: Water’s annual fundraising gala. The team created an installation concept that would inspire awe - an enclosed 88 ft. diameter LED ring, dubbed the Halo. Inspired by the Charity: Water mission, All of it Now (AOIN)  joined the cause and set out to make the Halo a reality.

All of it Now was tasked to plan, program, and display all content in 360° format for the Halo due to their experience with experiential video installation and operation. The Halo displayed 360° video provided by Bodega Studios and other Charity: Water partners, and also featured generative graphics developed in-house at AOIN. All of it Now designed, built, and operated a bespoke donation app, feeding live data into a generative graphics engine, visualising funds raised throughout the night in real-time.

The gala attendees were given a personalised tablet to select a donation amount, with the Halo displaying real-time pledge amounts via dynamic and visually striking Totalizer graphics. AOIN developed a site-specific donation app that managed and monitored 500+ tablets simultaneously, driving the generative Totalizer content on a display at 14,412 x 840 across a 88 foot diameter LED wall. The Totalizer graphics utilised a combination of Notch and WebGL to instantaneously display live data on the screen. This data included names, donation amounts, and the translation into impact metrics for the charity.

The Halo screen was driven by two disguise gx 2 media servers, which were selected specifically for their stability, previsualisation environment, and Notch support.

“The disguise pre-viz and VR Navigator workflow was a crucial collaborative component, which allowed us to visualise and experience the 360° screen content with pixel-perfect scale, and give notes to the content team weeks before load in”, says Danny Firpo CEO and Co-Founder of All of it Now.

“The Charity Water Gala event combines multiple 360 degree equirectangular films, generative content with donation metrics, and conventional presentation slides, and we knew that disguise was the only way to present and program all of this content on a collaborative platform.” Multi-user editing allowed programmers to work on the project file simultaneously, with each programmer working on different elements of the presentation.

“Notch was used to generate responsive content for the first giving moment. Guests watched as their donations virtually assembled a 3D model of the water drilling rig, providing a tangible manifestation of their contributions”, says Cody Samson, designer from All of it Now.

"We’re proud to see Notch was used for such a monumental evening hosted by Charity: Water. All Of It Now was able to design compelling visuals through our software and present the gala’s attendees with a truly immersive experience. By using Notch, the team allowed guests to visualise the impact of their donation. Honoured to have been part of such a stellar event, for such a great cause” says Matt Swoboda, Founder of Notch.

The overall result of the show was a great success. By the end of the evening, the immersive fundraising experience had exceeded expectations by raising over $7 million. This money will be used to purchase a new water drilling rig and fund drilling projects to deliver clean drinking water in over 500 communities in Ethiopia for years to come.

About Charity: Water

“663 million people live without clean water. That’s nearly 1 in 10 people worldwide, or, twice the population of the United States without access to life’s most basic human need. The majority live in isolated rural areas and spend hours every day walking to collect water for their family. Not only does walking for water keep kids out of school and take up time that parents could be used to earn money, but the water often carries diseases that make them sick. When a community gets access to clean water, it can change just about everything. It can improve health, increase access to food, grow local economies, and help kids spend more time in school. And with every water point funded by the charity water effort, their partners coordinate sanitation and hygiene training, and establish a local Water Committee to help keep water flowing for years to come.”