That day is today.

'Despite' and 'although' are both used to show contrasts, but 'despite' is used with nouns, and 'although' is used with subject/verb pairs.

Enter my bête noire: the fake gerund https://twitter.com/incrediblemelk/status/1316342799617257472

Gerunds are the noun form of verbs that end in -ing & signify that verb as a habit or practice.

I love editing (gerund) = I love to edit (verb)

But people often force a subject/verb into a fake gerund to make it work like a noun, when the verb needs to be free to verb!

The classic example of this is the 'with-clause', with journalists loving it but Mel hating it

And people misuse 'despite' in a similar way!

Despite it raining, we had a great time
Despite Foxtel launching early, it failed
Despite us not agreeing, Mel is right

We sense that 'despite' needs a noun, so we make a fake gerund to force our verb to act like a noun.

But there's still a subject lurking in here! A true, pure 'despite' construction only needs a noun!

Despite THE RAIN, WE had a great time

See how the true subject pops now?

You could also fix a 'despite-clause' by swapping 'despite' for 'although':

Although it rained, we had a great time
Although Foxtel launched early, it failed
Although we don't agree, Mel is right

This revives your verb! It becomes the verb in a subordinate clause

You can still use a gerund with 'despite' – just not a fake one!

Despite having a headache, I had a great time
Despite running, they missed the train
Despite being dead, he'd never felt so alive