A RECORD-BREAKING 2024 GALA FOR WILD TOMORROW

Wild Tomorrow’s Annual Gala on Friday, November 15 at New York City’s Plaza Hotel was a wildly successful night, raising over $1.1 million for wildlife and wild places! We were thrilled to be joined by 370 guests for NYC’s biggest night out for African wildlife. Read more about our record-breaking event and browse the event gallery in our latest blog below.

The Plaza Hotel’s Grand Ballroom was filled with wildlife conservation supporters on Friday night in NYC. Photo credit: Charles Chessler.

Wild Tomorrow’s 2024 Annual Gala at The Plaza Hotel’s Grand Ballroom on Friday evening, November 15th, was nothing short of magical. It was by far Wild Tomorrow’s biggest and most successful event to date, raising over $1.1 million for wildlife and people in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.

As John Steward and Wendy Hapgood, co-founders of Wild Tomorrow, mentioned in their opening message, biodiversity around the world is in crisis. The latest WWF Living Planet Report revealed a staggering 73% decline in populations of wild species since 1970. More than two out of every three wild animals on our planet have disappeared — in just fifty years.  

“Rather than despair,” Hapgood said, “we must act now to create hope and funding for the wild world. That’s why we launched Wild Tomorrow in 2015, to empower others to come together to push back against the forces of extinction. Together we can protect, restore and rewild habitat for threatened African species.” That’s exactly what the crowd did at the Gala, coming together with a shared purpose to protect and restore habitat for wildlife. Our South Africa-based project manager & volunteer coordinator, Tori Gray said, “The energy in the room was indescribable, and the love for wildlife was palpable.”

The vibrant event in The Plaza’s stunning Grand Ballroom began with a rousing performance of Far Away, Wild Tomorrow’s theme song, written and produced by musician and Broadway’s The Lion King cast member, Bongi Duma. Bongi composed three songs for Wild Tomorrow, which were used as the soundtrack to our 2024 video story. To the room’s surprise Bongi and his band appeared live on stage towards the end of the video to complete the final number, invigorating the audience who sang.along to Thulululu.

A very special moment of the evening was the presentation of the 2024 Umvikeli Wildlife Protector Award to Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife’s K9 anti-poaching unit at Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Park in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. The K9 Unit’s wildlife rangers and dogs risk their lives on the frontline of the rhino poaching crisis. Of all the world’s nature reserves, Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Park faces the greatest pressure from armed and dangerous rhino poachers, who killed 307 animals for their horns in the park last year alone. This is why this brave team of K9s and their handlers, are vitally important. The team’s rangers and four highly trained dogs risk their lives daily to save rhinos at the park.

Dennis Kelly receives the 2024 Umvikeli Wildlife Protector Award, presented to him by Wild Tomorrow’s Tori Gray.

Dennis Kelly, a section ranger and coordinator of the K9 unit, traveled to New York to collect the Wildlife Protector Award on behalf of his team. “On a planet where nature is being eroded faster than we can blink, we are proud to help conserve rhinos,” Dennis said. “Our work, by protecting rhinos, helps all species. It helps protect our wild spaces, which are very important to everybody on this planet.” As part of the award, Wild Tomorrow will donate $10,000 towards equipment and supplies for the K9 Unit’s operations. 

In US Board Chairman, Seth Hendon’s remarks, he announced an upcoming expansion of the Greater Ukuwela Nature Reserve, with news of the purchase of two new pieces of land, both former pineapple farms, which will add 900 additional acres of habitat for threatened species. “We are excited to begin a long-term restoration project, converting pineapple fields back to forest,” said Hendon. This reserve expansion is in addition to the acquisition earlier in the year of 731-acre “Sisonke Farm”, which restored habitat connectivity within the reserve, allowing the removal of internal fences that previously blocked the movement of wildlife, benefiting 50 threatened species from leopards to giraffe.

A very exciting end to the evening was the live auction, led by our Board Member, Louis Buckworth. First to be auctioned was a large framed fine art photo from South Africa wildlife conservation photographer, Martin Meyer, who was delighted to hear his work sold for $23,000. Next up was South African artist, Leigh Bisset’s original oil painting Glimpse into Nature depicting a dreamy mirage of our reserve’s Mzinene River and fever tree forest. The painting, which was created exclusively for the event, sold for $10,000. Next to be auctioned were incredible wine travel experiences donated by Berry Brothers & Rudd in London and Chateau Léoville Barton in Bordeaux - collectively raising $72,000. The grand finale was the auction of ten week-long conservation experiences at Wild Tomorrow’s new lodge, Kusasa, which will be completed in early 2025. Winning bidders will be the first guests to experience this exquisite lodge at the center of our Ukuwela Reserve. Together the Kusasa experiences raised $600,000!

The energy in the room was full of excitement as the fundraising scoreboard surpassed $1 million raised, with some supporters in the room moved to tears of happiness. Many guests continued their celebration of nature well into the morning hours.

“The evening was a moving celebration of life on our planet” says Executive Director and Founder, John Steward, “from the magnificent elephant whose strength and intelligence seem to carry the wisdom of the earth, to the lowly termite - the silent architects of our planet --turning decay into fertile soil. Every species matters. The record-breaking support raised on the evening is proof that people care deeply and are ready to act to protect and restore nature.”

The Wild Tomorrow team extends our deepest gratitude to everyone who attended our annual gala, bid in on items in our auction, and donated in support of the event, including our generous sponsors! Together, you created hope for nature and made the gala our most successful yet, enabling us to continue our work to protect wildlife and wild spaces. 

If you were unable to attend the event, please consider making a year-end donation.

THANK YOU TO OUR 2024 SPONSORS