Naples nonprofits rethink galas to strengthen donor ties

When it comes to gala season, one of the social staples of life in Naples, some major area nonprofits are looking beyond raising paddles to build deeper connections with patrons that extend longer than one glitzy evening.

Part of the change can be attributed to a new generation of nonprofit leaders and philanthropists emerging across Southwest Florida and taking a hard look at the best use of fundraising resources, including event scale, staff time and money.

Also driving the strategy is a certain amount of “gala fatigue,” as some Naples donors report a wee bit of ennui after dressing up and showing up for one black-tie event after another from November through April each year.

The attitude is by no means unique to Southwest Florida. The Chronicle of Philanthropy reported in May that what donors want nationally is “an event that feels specific, intimate and distinctly tied to the mission.”

None of this means the conventional gala is going away anytime soon. Of the 37 Naples nonprofit organizations that responded to a Gulfshore Business survey on 2025-26 “paddle season” results, 21 set fundraising records. In all, more than $92.4 million was raised at Naples galas last season, proving that the spirit of giving while dressed up and dining with a few hundred other patrons is alive and well.

NCH trades scale for connection

While traditional galas remain strong for many area nonprofits, several major organizations have made big changes to their event strategies in an effort to connect more intimately with their biggest donors — and bring in new ones.

For the 2025-26 season, nonprofit healthcare system Naples Comprehensive Health, which celebrated its 70th anniversary, put away the auction paddles altogether in favor of a series of seven high-impact dinners designed to thank and cultivate established donors while introducing the healthcare system’s mission to a broader audience.

The dinners, with a combined total of about 120 guests, replaced the traditional fundraising format of the annual NCH Ball, which had taken place for 66 years; it was held in 2026 as a much smaller anniversary celebration rather than a standard fundraiser. The 2024-25 NCH Ball, with about 300 guests, raised $3.1 million.

Paul Hiltz has served as president and CEO of NCH since 2019, and he said that the system — which has grown from an operating budget of about $600 million to $1.2 billion in the last six years — needed a reset to more directly tell donors how it is bringing world-class healthcare to Collier County and Southwest Florida.

Hiltz noted that the exponential growth has been “fueled and inspired by philanthropy,” with multimillion-dollar gifts funding expansion that includes the $295 million R.M. Schulze Family Heart & Stroke Critical Care Center, encompassing the Rooney Heart Institute and the Wingard Stroke Institute and scheduled to open in late 2027; the $140 million Hospital for Special Surgery at NCH, the orthopedic surgical facility that opened in 2025; and the planned $350 million Van Domelen Institute for Women & Children.

He said the system’s strategic “evolution in philanthropy” is designed to strengthen connections with donors by giving them access at the dinners — hosted in private homes — to system leadership, physicians and other clinical staff.

The dinner series exceeded expectations, Hiltz said, and was well received by donors. “They really enjoy the kind of deeper relationships that we’re building with them,” he says.

Matt Heinle, chief strategy officer and general counsel for NCH, declined to provide an exact amount raised by the seven dinners but said the total exceeded funds raised by the ball format.

“We approximately doubled the amount that we raised out of those dinners from previous balls,” Heinle says.

He also said the dinners made the NCH tent “bigger and wider” because the hosts brought new people to the table, literally, allowing them to learn about the system’s advances in key areas.

NCH will continue the series with eight dinners during the 2026-27 season, which Heinle said will be increasingly personalized around host interests in service lines, such as heart and stroke, orthopedics, oncology or women’s and children’s health.

While the dinners were decidedly successful, Heinle said, donors still expressed interest in a “big event,” leading to the creation of “Live Under the Palms,” scheduled for Jan. 17 at Naples Botanical Garden.

About 600 guests are expected at the invitation-only outdoor event, which Heinle said will create an “immersive experience” that allows guests to engage with clinical staff and medical technology. He said the invitation list consists of big donors, as well as individuals or households who have donated at any giving level over the last four years, along with NCH community partners.

“This will evolve what was the patron event into something more expansive from the standpoint of having a lot of our service lines represented,” Heinle says. “We will have pop-up booths so that people can actually see the new technology that we have brought to the community. We’re making it much more interactive.”

St. Matthew’s House: ‘Mission matters most’

Another major Naples nonprofit, St. Matthew’s House, with an annual operating budget of about $40 million, is also shifting its fundraising strategy as President and CEO Ben Bridges finishes his first year in the role.

Like NCH, the organization that provides support for those experiencing hunger, homelessness or addiction across Southwest Florida pivoted to a series of small dinners for 15 to 20 guests each during the 2025-26 season and plans to do the same for 2026-27.

Bridges, named to his role in October 2025, said the changing strategy reflects the organization’s laser focus on its mission and a goal of stewarding resources responsibly.

“We’ve been using the phrase ‘mission matters most’ across the organization,” Bridges says, “and our strategy related to events is a perfect example of that. We made a very strategic decision over this last year related to events and fundraising to look for ways we could be more intentional and more efficient in the stewarding of our resources.”

The organization pivoted away from a large gala to a series of about a dozen gatherings hosted at private homes and clubs around Naples, that provided the opportunity for greater individual interaction and a stronger focus on the mission.

“The most impactful moment of the evening would be when one of our Justin’s Place Recovery Program graduates or somebody that had been impacted by our mission would share their story and just talk about the impact that St. Matthew’s House has had on their lives,” Bridges says. “We would walk away knowing that we clearly communicated the mission, knowing that we were able to intimately connect with every single person that attended those events.”

Bridges said the events were positively received and that the focus was on relationships rather than one-night fundraising goals. He said he heard from some donors that they would be pleased to not go to another gala and were excited about the dinner events.

“We’re an organization that wants to be built on relationships, not just on one-time large gift infusions — although those are wonderful,” Bridges notes. “We want to invite our donors into the journey, into the story of St. Matthew’s House.”

Naples Art Institute takes fundraising to the runway

Naples Art Institute moved away from the conventional sit-down dinner gala model in 2017 when it launched Scene to be Seen, a runway fashion event featuring models in wearable art.

Frank Verpoorten, executive director and chief curator of the visual arts organization since 2021, said the event, which raised a record $443,000-plus in 2026, directly reflects Naples Art Institute’s two pillars of fine art exhibitions and art education. The organization’s fiscal year 2025-26 operating budget was about $2.3 million.

“What we do well are initiatives, projects and programs that reside at the intersection between seeing and making art, and the Scene to be Seen runway showcase does just that,” Verpoorten says. “What we hear now is that people really want to come back to the event, not just because of its fun and unusual format, but also because they are just enamored with the incredible designs that are on the stage.”

Verpoorten said he believes the conventional three-hour gala dinner with multiple speakers and hundreds of guests at 10-top tables is outdated.

“There is a lot of conversation about that model,” he explains. “I think organizations are hoping to step away from that more because it’s just an outdated model. And in a community like Naples what you hear is that there is a certain fatigue among donors.”

With that in mind, Verpoorten said, Naples Art Institute decided to make its major fundraiser “a lot more dynamic, and just completely consider the experience from the viewpoint of the guests at our event.

“Yes, there needs to be food, but we don’t need to force them to sit at a table for hours,” he says. “We don’t want to go through a ton of speeches. They want to see incredible artwork, high-quality work in a dynamic runway presentation. They want a few remarks from me, and a meaningful testimonial video about the work we do with youth art education. And, of course, great auction items.”

At the 2026 Scene to be Seen, the top auction items were a sketch by abstract painter Mark Rothko, donated by the artist’s daughter, and a dinner for 10 with her.

STARability goes earlier, less formal

STARability Foundation’s annual STAR Gala has long been one of each season’s most successful events, consistently setting fundraising records and bringing guests to tears as the program’s “Stars” bring its mission to life through songs, performances and video presentations.

The organization, with an annual operating budget of about $6.7 million, provides services for people with autism and other developmental disabilities.

The 2025-26 gala raised a record $3.8 million, with more than 50 corporate sponsors and individual supporters covering event production costs, meaning all proceeds go to support STARability programming.

CEO Karen Govern said the gala model remains strong for STARability because the format has evolved based on donors’ preferences, noting that she and her team have listened to feedback about how to keep the event fresh with its patrons and sponsors.

Based on that input, for the last couple of seasons STARability has started earlier and finished earlier, while also relaxing the dress code from black-tie optional to what the organization calls “Neapolitan Chic.”

Govern said the earlier start time has been popular with event guests and sponsors.

“We have so many corporate sponsors and they like the networking aspect of our event, particularly the cocktail hour,” she says. “We extended it so that people have more time to arrive and then more time to network and connect.”

Naples Cancer Advisors takes a shot

Now in its fourth year, Naples Cancer Advisors has an operating budget of about $2.3 million and provides no-cost consultative oncology services, including second opinions, care coordination, referrals and clinical trial navigation for cancer patients across Southwest Florida.

For the last three years, NCA has hosted a popular Wine, Women & Shoes fundraiser, which raised $568,000 in the 2025-26 season, as part of its fundraising strategy.

This season, the nonprofit is taking a big gamble by hosting the inaugural Million Dollar Shot, a golf-themed event that will give six randomly selected guests a shot at winning $1 million with a hole-in-one. The event takes place Nov. 14 on the championship course at The Club Renaissance in Fort Myers, with 300 guests expected.

While the odds of making that shot are staggering, the organization is hoping that the event — developed in conjunction with Studio 400, the same company that produces Wine, Women & Shoes — will generate excitement and mission awareness.

Nikki Audia, director of philanthropy and community engagement for Naples Cancer Advisors, said the Million Dollar Shot offers a way for the organization to add something different to the traditional gala format.

“We’re trying to bring to our donors and supporters something unique,” she says. “People, I think, are over going to the same places and eating the same chicken and doing the same thing at a lot of these events. So, this is definitely a different event nobody has done before.”

If someone does hit the shot, the lucky golfer will also win a two-year lease on a Porsche provided by Porsche Fort Myers.

Audia said the black-tie optional event will include dinner under the stars, entertainment, a live auction and a fund-a-need paddle raise, with a goal of netting $325,000.

And from a financial perspective, in the unlikely event that someone makes the shot and walks away with a cool million, Naples Cancer Advisors is not at risk: The hole is insured.