Case Study: YWCA of Central Alabama achieves a seamless $636K virtual Purse & Passion fundraiser with Swell Fundraising

YWCA of Central Alabama - Customer Case Study

The YWCA of Central Alabama faced the challenge of converting its 21-year-old signature Purse and Passion luncheon — normally a 1,200-person, table-captain fundraiser that raises $600K–$675K annually — into a 100% virtual event. To make that pivot, the YWCA used Swell Fundraising, deploying Swell’s event website, table registration and virtual fundraising module to manage pre-registration, table hosts and online giving.

Swell Fundraising powered the YWCA’s event site and table-registration workflow, integrated text-to-donate and peer-to-peer tools, and switched the site into a virtual mode that embedded the livestream, donation window and guest chat. The virtual event drew 1,548 online attendees (1,335 pre-registered), 120 virtual table hosts across 159 cities, generated roughly $150K in pre-event donations and resulted in $636K total raised from 1,011 individual gifts — exceeding the event budget and enabling a seamless transition to virtual.

YWCA of Central Alabama