Yes­ter­day, we reached the forty-days-out point from NPI’s 2020 Spring Fundrais­ing Gala, our largest annu­al event, which has always been a joy­ful and enor­mous­ly suc­cess­ful cel­e­bra­tion of NPI’s research and advocacy.

With the nov­el coro­n­avirus like­ly to remain a threat to our region’s pub­lic health and col­lec­tive well being for weeks to come, our board of direc­tors has decid­ed that this year’s gala will be an online-only event held vir­tu­al­ly with our spon­sors and sup­port­ers, instead of in-per­son in Ren­ton as pre­vi­ous­ly planned.

We feel strong­ly that this deci­sion is in every­one’s best inter­est. Pub­lic health author­i­ties have advised that peo­ple not con­gre­gate in large groups at this time, and the Ren­ton Com­mu­ni­ty Cen­ter, which has host­ed the gala for the past two years, has decid­ed to close down for the near future to hon­or this guidance.

In addi­tion to mak­ing the gala an online-only event, we’re also orga­niz­ing a new sea­son­al event in the autumn that will allow NPI sup­port­ers to come togeth­er and con­tin­ue our in-per­son gala tra­di­tions dur­ing the year’s oth­er shoul­der season.

This event, NPI’s FallFest, will take place on Sat­ur­day, Octo­ber 3rd at the Ren­ton Com­mu­ni­ty Cen­ter (recep­tion at 5:30 PM, pro­gram at 7 PM),  assum­ing that the cur­rent pub­lic health cri­sis does not con­tin­ue through the summer.

Like at our past galas, we will offer a deli­cious din­ner buf­fet at FallFest, a cash bar offer­ing Wash­ing­ton wines and brews, a book sale, our annu­al Dessert Dash, and of course, an infor­ma­tive and fun speak­ing program.

The Vir­tu­al Gala will have its own speak­ing pro­gram, anchored by State Sen­a­tor Man­ka Dhin­gra, this year’s gala Mas­ter of Cer­e­monies. Addi­tion­al­ly, every­one who par­tic­i­pates in the Vir­tu­al Gala will receive the first ever edi­tion of Deli­cious & Whole­some, a col­lec­tion of recipes from NPI’s staff and board that will give you great ideas for tasty home-cooked meals, includ­ing din­ners. Deli­cious & Whole­some will be dis­trib­uted as a DRM-free e‑book to all gala ticketbuyers.

If you have already pur­chased tick­ets to the gala (any lev­el), they are valid for both the Vir­tu­al Gala on Fri­day, April 17th and for FallFest on Sat­ur­day, Octo­ber 3rd. You do not need to take any action. You will be on the list for both events, and you will receive instruc­tions on how to par­tic­i­pate in the Vir­tu­al Gala.

If you have not yet pur­chased a tick­et to the gala, you can either buy a Vir­tu­al Gala Access Pass for $25/person, or you can buy com­bined tick­ets to the Vir­tu­al Gala and FallFest for $100 (Indi­vid­ual) or $150 (House­hold). The choice is yours.

Get tick­ets for NPI’s 2020 Spring Gala (and FallFest!)

You’ll save $25 on admis­sion to both events by pur­chas­ing an Indi­vid­ual Tick­et and save $50 or more on admis­sion by pur­chas­ing a House­hold ticket.

Please note that the Vir­tu­al Gala will not be pub­licly livestreamed. To par­tic­i­pate, you must either have a Vir­tu­al Gala Access Pass or a Gala/FallFest tick­et. All pro­ceeds from the Vir­tu­al Gala and FallFest will ben­e­fit the North­west Pro­gres­sive Insti­tute’s essen­tial research and advocacy.

If you have ques­tions, please use our con­tact form to get in touch.

Thanks for your sup­port of NPI’s work, it’s deeply appreciated.

We hope to see you — vir­tu­al­ly! — on April 17th!