"GiveSmart is one of those things that has helped make everything run smoothly for our events. How would I ever try to do this without it? I don't know. I don't want to find out."
506%
increase in luncheon revenue since 2020
$2.92
million raised through GiveSmart
$767
average sales price for 2026 auction
Mychal’s Learning Place has served youth and young adults with developmental disabilities in Hawthorne, California, since 2002. Ed Lynch founded the organization in memory of his daughter Mychal, after she passed away in 1996 at five and a half years old. Ed witnessed both what was possible for her and what remained out of reach for families like his. Since then, he has spent decades building what was missing.Â
What started as an after-school program in a church building has grown into a full community of services. Mychal’s now runs an adult day program, a café and bakery, and a print and embroidery shop. Ed Lynch, according to Page Sacks, who leads fundraising at Mychal’s, has never been one to pass on an opportunity. “See, if there’s a will, there’s a way” is how she describes his philosophy. It’s also a pretty good description of how Mychal’s operates.Â
Fundraising had always been part of how Mychal’s kept its programs going. But for a long time, several staff shared fundraising responsibilities alongside everything else they were responsible for.Â
Challenge & Solution
When Page joined in 2020, she felt there was a good foundation. “I kind of knew there would be dedicated donors that we could steward,” she said. Staff contributed to fundraising, but their time was divided. What changed was having someone dedicated to it full-time — and then building a team around that focus.Â
Alongside that, she needed tools she could trust on event day. Mychal’s runs an annual luncheon that sells out every year. Managing ticketing, seating, and a silent auction without a solid platform wasn’t something Page wanted to revisit. “I’ve seen it without it,” she said. “It was harder. Life was harder.”Â
GiveSmart makes the logistics easy, so her team can stay focused on donors.
Results
Building a fundraising function
Having a dedicated fundraising staff member, and eventually a team, gave Mychal’s the capacity to do things that had been on the list but out of reach. Relationships with individual donors, major donors, and corporate partners got real attention. Ed Lynch had always been strong at the foundation side, Page shared, “He’s kept some incredible relationships with foundations that have continued to support us year after year.” Her job was to build out the other buckets alongside that: individual giving, major gifts, corporate sponsorships.Â
It’s worked. “Everything over the last few years has really built nicely upon itself and continued to grow,” she said.Â
Events and ticketing
Seating management and ticketing are where Page first felt the difference. Getting everyone seated the way they need to be seated is a detail that can quietly make or break a luncheon. With GiveSmart, her team can move people around, track what’s sold, and arrive on event day without the back-end scramble that used to come with it.Â
The luncheon has sold out consistently, enough so that for Mychal’s 25th anniversary, they’re moving to a larger evening gala, aiming to increase attendance by about 50%. It’s a significant step, and GiveSmart will support the ticketing and seating for that event, including tiered ticket levels the organization hasn’t offered before.Â
Silent auction
Two years ago, Page made a change she wasn’t sure about: instead of closing the silent auction before the live auction and paddle raise, she kept it open through the end of the event. “I was so nervous. I have to say I didn’t want to do it,” she said. It outperformed her expectations. Â
Once she saw it in action, the reasoning made sense. The live auction draws a small group of serious bidders. The silent auction draws everyone else. Giving supporters a little more time and the ability to re-bid from their phones when they get an outbid notification kept momentum going well into the evening. “That interaction [from GiveSmart] with the supporters of letting them know they’ve been outbid and continuing through that, just from the convenience of your phone right then and there — that’s always been the key piece of making sure our auction has been a success,” she said.Â
Mychal’s has also added sweepstakes at two giving levels, a merchandise line called Made with Love, featuring apparel printed through its own print and embroidery program. They also added a fashion show to the event, where students model the pieces. The fashion show turned into a merchandise sales opportunity on at the event. “There’s something for everybody,” Page said. “You can buy a hat for $20, or you can make a $20,000 donation in the paddle raise.” Â
Looking aheadÂ
The 25th anniversary gala is the most immediate next step, but there’s a longer list. The organization is already talking about even bigger programs and projects down the road. “I have no doubt it’ll magically happen one way or another,” Page said.Â
When that time comes, Page’s team will be better positioned to support it than they would have been a few years ago. The infrastructure they’ve built — events, donor relationships, tools — has made that possible. Â