In an exclusive interview, the heiress, who continues the philanthropic legacy of her father, property developer and Westfield empire co-founder John Saunders, and her chief lieutenants told the Wentworth Courier how they’re shaking up Gold.

Monica, why is this the right time for you to lead Gold?
My family have always been major donors of the Sydney Childrens’ Hospital Foundation. Last year I joined the Gold committee and then a few of the members threw my hat in the ring for me!

I’ve been in the philanthropic space for the last 20 years, I’ve had seen it from all angles. I feel like this is the time when I can actually with truth and legitimacy stand up and speak to my peers and encourage them to give to this charity.

So there’s a maturity for me and an understanding that I can make a difference with my time, my energy and with my voice as with my money.
You’re a close-knit trio. Tell us how you’ve combined forces on the committee.
Monica: It’s the new breed, the new beginning, basically the new committee. Mikey who is my cousin and one of my closest friends is leading the event, through his company Team Event. Richard’s been the driver of the corporate sponsors network.

We’ve grown up together, we’ve produced events and the three of us work really well together. I knew that I could only chair the committee with the people I know and love and trust the most.

The committee is based on the people I knew could deliver something unique and really bring back to life what Gold has always been — the premier charitable event on the Sydney calendar.
Richard We were strategising on how to reinvigorate the event.

We really took our time to build the right committee we felt would lead to the best outcome for the event — to raise as much money and awareness as possible to support what the foundation is trying to achieve. We really want this not to be a typical event where everyone goes because they feel they have to.

We want to make sure everyone there is joyfully participating.
Monica That’s right, it shouldn’t just be an obligation, we want to celebrate the fact that we have the power to be able to do something unique and large, and we want to do that in a joyful way.

You all went to Moriah College, a year apart. How has this helped shape you?
Monica: My love of Moriah and my best memories were actually in leadership roles and musicals. I in that creative space. Mikey lived and breathed production which led to his NIDA education. Mikey and I shared our entire childhood upbringing together.
Gold is always an eye-popping spectacle. Michael, tell us about your vision for the event.
In a word: Gold.

We’re taking it back to its roots. It’s the gold dinner. What better way to celebrate than with gold? We are looking at some of the formalities and the way things have been done in the past and embracing those traditions while at the same time working towards reshaping the event.

We want to make sure that people are comfortable, that we’re not alienating anybody, and make sure that it is still a really special experience for those who have been incredible supporters of Gold for years.

And we want to make it fun. These things have a tendency to be quite jam packed with formality.

There’s a reason why people are there and it’s obviously to fundraise for the organisation, but we’re trying to find new ways to dothat.

We’re incredibly honoured and excited to be a part of this journey.
The beautiful invitation included a set of gold playing cards. What do they symbolise?
Monica: We wanted to send out something special. A lot of invitations end up in the rubbish bin. The cards, as beautiful as they are, are also strategic reminders to understand that in many ways life’s a game and if you’ve been given the golden ability, then use it in the right way.
What does it take to produce an event like Gold?
Michael : The difference with this event is that you’ve got to do it for nothing, constantly reminding people what you’re doing it for.

We’ve hit up every single one of our suppliers who we do a huge amount of business with throughout the year.

Their generosity in rising to the occasion has been incredible.

We’ve got 75 waitstaff and 40 chefs, there’s probably going to be a couple of hundred crew building this job on site for four or five days.
Monica: From the floor planning to the table setting, the height of the flowers, to the way we approach people, this interview — every little thing is considered because the more energy and love you put into something everybody will feel.
Richard, This was the first year that we wanted to try to start getting corporate sponsorship involved and that was a big effort from November last year. Then there’s the outreach of who’s taking tables and working out how to get the right people committed to the room. It’s a very lengthy process with a lot of moving parts and a lot of meetings with extremely generous people. A lot of conversations which led to ‘no’ but they were also invigorating as it then led us the ‘yes’s’.
What does SCH mean to you and your family?
Monica: Like so many parents we’ve had to make the mad dash to the hospital. For me as a mother having a hospital in our area that is world class is obviously incredible. But growing up with a father who was very philanthropic, we’ve always understood the importance of giving back.

We have a brother who is mentally ill as well so we’ve understood the role that plays in a family from very early on.

The significance of children and sickness has been priority for us throughout our entire lives.
Richard: This year is the first that the hospital Foundation is responsible for Westmead as well as Randwick. That’s a big responsibility.
Gold has raised more than $25m over the past 21 years. What’s your target this year?
Monica: The entire committee is made up of seriously driven and play to win characters. We want to do something big in the room.

Any dollar that we get is incredible, because it’s going toward something special, but we definitely want to raise the bar.

We’re playing to win. We want to rain gold from the ceiling. And beyond money, there’s a loving energy that needs to be the room.