A complete gala speech of about 400 words plus a short pledge moment for the host. The children’s hospice and all names are fictional, but you can use the shape directly: show the need through one family, prove the work, ask for a specific amount, thank people clearly. The structure behind it is explained on fundraising gala speech.
Example 1: The hospice director’s speech
Situation: Fundraising gala for the fictional Star House children’s hospice in Bristol, 140 guests, speech between the main course and auction, eight minutes, evening target: two new family rooms.
Good evening. My name is Rachel Holt, and I have led Star House for nine years. I want to tell you about Lily.
Lily came to us in February. She was nine, she had a brain tumour, and her parents had been told to think in months rather than years. In their first week, her mother said something I have carried with me ever since: “We haven’t slept through the night for a year. Lily doesn’t need us every minute. We’re just afraid we’ll miss one.”
At Star House, someone else checked on Lily through the night for the first time in a year. Trained nurses, every night, every hour. Her parents slept. Her little brother Noah built a pirate ship with our family support worker and got to be simply seven years old for a week. And in May, Lily celebrated her tenth birthday on our lawn, with candy floss and a borrowed pony.
Star House has twelve beds, six nurses on night shifts and a cook who asks every child each morning what they fancy. For Lily, it was pancakes on 34 of her 40 days with us.
That is our work. Since 2014, we have supported 214 families on the hardest road any parent can walk. One family week at Star House costs €250, and our overnight nursing costs €2,500 a month. Public funding covers about half of our costs. The rest is what people like you give: last year, €410,000 from 1,900 donors, most of them from this city and the surrounding area.
That is why I am here tonight. We have two family rooms, and last year 31 families were on our waiting list. Two more rooms are the goal of this evening. Together, we are trying to raise €80,000.
There are donation cards at your places. €50 gives a sibling like Noah an afternoon of support. €250 gives a family a week with us. €2,500 gives one month of sleep to parents who have been watching for years. My team will come to your tables in the next few minutes. If you would rather listen tonight and decide tomorrow, the details are on the card. Both count towards the €80,000.
Lily died in June, at home, as her parents wanted. Afterwards her mother wrote to us: “You gave us our last months back.”
Give another family those months tonight. Thank you.
Why this speech works: The speech begins and ends with Lily; every number is tied to her story. It uses three proof points rather than a flood of statistics: 214 families, €250 for a family week, about half of costs publicly funded. The ask has all the necessary parts: the €80,000 target, the translation of gift amounts into impact, and the route through the donation cards. The ending names Lily’s death with dignity, then turns the final sentence into an action.
Example 2: The pledge moment after the auction
Situation: The same gala, 45 minutes later. The host announces the interim total and invites the final round of giving.
Ladies and gentlemen, I have the latest figure for you. Auction and donation cards together: we are at €63,400.
That leaves €16,600 to reach the two new family rooms. It sounds like a lot. Yet there are 140 people in this room, and €16,600 equals 66 family weeks. If each table takes on one more family week tonight, we will be there by 11 o’clock.
The cards are still on your tables, and my colleague Mr Okafor is at the giving desk beside the stage. Let’s reach €80,000. For the 31 families on the waiting list.
Why this speech works: The interim total turns the target into a shared final stretch. The gap is immediately translated back into impact, then into one manageable unit per table. The place and contact person are named, and the last sentence reminds the room of the people behind the number in eight words.
The pattern behind both texts
One story, three numbers, one target, one route to give. The main speech builds willingness to donate; the pledge moment captures it. Both repeat the same target and the same impact ladder. If you are writing your own gala speech, start with the one family whose story you are allowed to tell. You will find the full structure on fundraising gala speech.