The night before celebrities flooded the steps of the 2025 Met Gala, a crowd gathered on a red carpet across town in Gowanus. That carpet, made of sustainable fabrics, was filled with individuals dressed in theme for the Debt Gala. This “red carpet for the people” was imagined as counterprogramming to the Met Gala with an alternative objective: to combat medical debt in the United States.
The 2025 Debt Gala was the third iteration of the event run by co-founders Tom Costello and Molly Gaebe. After running the program independently for two years, The Debt Gala joined FJC’s Fiscal Sponsorship Program to provide some administrative support for the fundraiser’s third iteration.
Partnering with FJC as our fiscal sponsor was a HUGE step forward—helping us channel all this creative energy into a sustainable, strategic force for good.
Tom Costello, co-founder, The Debt Gala
In its first two years, the Debt Gala successfully helped erase more than $2.5 million dollars of medical debt by providing grants to Undue Medical Debt, whose mission is to erase medical debt for vulnerable families and work toward a healthcare system where everyone can access care without financial ruin. To do this, they purchase and forgive large portfolios of medical debt through donor fundraising.
This year, they hope to support the debt-purchasing structure of Undue Medical Debt to top those numbers, and they will also expand their financial support to nonprofits like For the Gworls.
The event began with a red carpet before a night of comedy, drag, dance and musical performances. Spirits were high, and outfits crafted from reusable materials stayed pinned together throughout the night.
“This year’s Debt Gala was our biggest and boldest year yet,” says Molly Gaebe, co-founder of the Gala. “We proved once again that mutual aid doesn’t have to be quiet or polite—it can be loud, glamorous, and hilarious. The Gala may be absurd in all the best ways, but its mission is dead serious: to celebrate the power of collective care, and to lift up those most impacted by economic injustice and medical debt.”
Adds co-founder Costello, “Partnering with FJC as our fiscal sponsor was a HUGE step forward—helping us channel all this creative energy into a sustainable, strategic force for good.”
To receive information about future Debt Gala events, visit their web site.
To make a donation in support of the Debt Gala, please follow this link.
Interested in supporting this organization with your FJC DAF account ? It’s easy for us to make an account-to-account transfer from your FJC DAF account. Simply reach out to FSP Program Administrator Sophia Trombold (Trombold@fjc.org) to authorize the transfer.
Special thanks to Fiscal Sponsorship Program Administrator Sophia Trombold for writing this story.
