The most generous night of your year starts here.
Fundraising emcees & Fund-a-Need specialists — the only female mentalist duo we know of on Earth.
Your gala lives or dies in twelve minutes: the Fund-a-Need. We design the emotional journey that raises paddles — and records.
Download our one-sheet Get the free guide
A flat paddle raise. A program your loyal donors could recite from memory. A next generation of givers who never show up — and never come back.
We’ve stood in your twelve minutes.
Heather Rogers and Velia Rizzo are strategists, co-producers, and emcees who work as one. While one conducts the room’s emotion, the other conducts its momentum — and catches the hesitating donor a solo presenter never sees.
One emcee can’t be in two places at once. We always are.
Three steps to a room that says yes
The Conversation
Thirty minutes. Your mission, your room, your number.
The Blueprint
We design the evening’s emotional arc, beside your team.
The Night
The room is moved. The paddles rise like one. You enjoy your own gala.
From one segment to the whole story
The Rise
- Fund-a-Need strategy & giving levels
- The paddle raise, delivered as a duo
- The Invisible Thread moment
The Full Evening
- Duo emceeing, hello to goodnight
- Live auction & Fund-a-Need
- Run-of-show & script collaboration
- Optional mingling mentalism at cocktails
The Architects
- Everything in The Full Evening
- Speaker coaching & volunteer training
- AV, lighting & auction-order strategy
- Post-event debrief & donor follow-up plan
Every engagement is bespoke — scoped to your room, your goal, and your night.
The Invisible Thread
Just before your ask, we invite the room into sixty seconds of stillness — every guest silently holding the person who brought them to this cause.
Then one elegant, impossible moment of connection. Four hundred people, one feeling. And while it’s still in the air, the paddles rise.
Prefer the evening completely straight? The Thread holds without a single trick. Wonder is offered, never imposed.
Generosity, by the numbers
Dignity Health Gala · Velia Rizzo
Safari West Foundation · Heather Rogers
Weapons of Light Foundation
“She helped us raise enough funds to feed the children at the orphanage for all of 2025… your next emcee extraordinaire!”
“Her magic was the perfect touch — not over the top, just the right amount to make the event sparkle.”
The twelve questions we ask before every paddle raise
Useful whether or not we ever work together. Answer them honestly, and your ask gets stronger.
- How to choose the one number your room will rally around
- Who should give first — and how to arrange it before the night
- What to protect in the ten minutes before your ask
- How fast “thank you” needs to arrive
Fair questions, straight answers
Will magic feel gimmicky to our high-end crowd?
Only if it’s done for its own sake — which is exactly what we don’t do. Wonder appears only where it serves the mission, calibrated to your room. And for boards that want the evening completely straight, we deliver that too, beautifully. Wonder is offered, never imposed.
We already work with a benefit auctioneer.
Wonderful — we play well with others. Many clients pair us as emcees and Fund-a-Need architects alongside their auctioneer’s live auction. Others hand us the whole evening. The Conversation will tell us which serves your room best.
What does an engagement cost?
Every engagement is bespoke — scoped to your room, your goal, and how deeply we build together, from a single Fund-a-Need segment to full co-production. The Conversation is free, and you’ll leave it with ideas you can use either way.
Do you help first-time galas?
They’re some of our favorite people to work with. One night, one chance, no roadmap — we’ve guided first fundraisers from blank page to standing ovation. You bring the mission. We bring the map.
Our gala is small. Is this still for us?
Some of our proudest nights were rooms of eighty. Generosity isn’t a headcount — it’s a feeling, and small rooms often feel it strongest.
Duo or solo?
The duo is our signature — two voices, one ask. For more intimate rooms and budgets, Heather or Velia can carry the evening solo.
Do you travel?
We’re based in the San Francisco Bay Area and delighted to travel nationally for the right evening.
When should we book?
Gala season is spring and fall, and our calendar fills accordingly. The full Blueprint deserves 8–12 weeks. If your event is sooner, call anyway.
Your donors will forget the centerpieces. They’ll forget the chicken. They’ll remember the moment four hundred paddles rose like one.