Fundraising Event Ideas!! Raising Money Can Be Fun!!!

Has fundraising become a chore this past year? If people get something out of an event they are more willing to spend the money. Well here are some fun events that will get people out and willing to spend some money for a good cause


Casino Night

Events like these often include live entertainment, a catered dinner, live and silent auctions, sponsorships, ticket & drink sales. This is a great excuse for adults to get all dressed up and have a fun time, so turnouts are impressive. There are lots of charitable groups who need to raise large amounts of operating funds and these events really deliver if done well.

Silent or Live Auctions- Have everyone call or better yet, visit their contacts to ask for their help with donated products or services. Seek out things with a true "Wow" factor to generate a strong buzz of excitement around your auctions. Live auctions can generate a tremendous amount of revenue for the event, if done correctly. There are several key ingredients to a successful live auction. Maintain a captive audience – shut down all other activity during this time Shorter is better – your live auction should run no more than 30-40 minutes
Less is more – have only a few; generally less than 10 – high ticket items for auction. Use a dynamic auctioneer.

Sponsorship- Find at least one table sponsor for each casino table being used and the sponsored amount should generally be at least $100. Encourage your sponsors to provide “gag” gifts that promote their business to be distributed at “their” table. For example – a blackjack table sponsored by a dentist could give away a free toothbrush (with the sponsor’s name imprinted) for each blackjack that is dealt. Or, the dealer could be dressed in the sponsor uniform. Make your sponsors feel as though they are getting value for their donation and not only are they more likely to attend the event, getting a similar sponsorship the next year
will be much easier. Keep in mind table sponsorship should cover at least the entire rental cost of the casino equipment and staff. Solicit prizes for guests who win at a game. If the event is for charity, many local businesses may be willing to provide prizes or gift certificates in return for being listed as a sponsor. If the event is just for fun, choose inexpensive "theme" gifts from local gift stores. Purchase one or more grand prizes for the big winners of the night.

Games-Make sure you have all permits well ahead of time. Some jurisdictions have special restrictions on gambling-related activities even when they are for charity and don't involve cash winnings, so research this carefully. For your games, contact party supply and equipment rental firms. In major metropolitan areas, there are also companies that specialize in supplying this equipment and many even supply staff to run the games, deal the cards, etc. Solicit prizes for guests who win at a game. For charity, many local businesses may be willing to provide prizes or gift certificates in return for being listed as a sponsor.

Ticket Sales- You can price tickets differently for those who might not want a dinner or gambling chips included. Some people won't and you do want as many people as possible attending and bidding on your auction items.To boost ticket sales make it a black-tie affair. Press coverage and celebrity attendees will also help sell out your fundraiser.

Media- Put together a press release summarizing the highlights of the evening and emphasize why you are raising funds. Include details on the entertainment, the sponsors, prominent attendees, your best auction items, etc. Include full contact information as well as the obvious information such as place, date, and time. Send it to all the major media outlets in your marketplace well ahead of your fundraiser. Include a group photo such as the organizing committee or your group's board of directors.


Golf Tournament

A great warm-weather fundraising event is a golf fundraiser. This is a great way to get sponsorship from large corporations as well as participants. Golf is a huge hobby and it is a great way to get out of the office for the day.

Location-A good golf course and the service their tournament staff provides your event is a huge factor in your tournament’s success. Talk to local golf courses and see if they would offer discounted green fees for a certain amount of people. The ticket prices should include the green fee plus little extra.

When- Charity golf tournaments are traditionally on Mondays because most tournaments used to be held on private country club courses only available on Mondays. Mondays are still the first days that are booked, but you’ll get lower prices on a Tuesday or Wednesday. Some advice about Fridays: Fridays are the best day to get golfers to take a day off from work, but they are the worst days to get them to stick around for an awards dinner banquet. Here’s the trick. Have a Friday morning tournament with a luncheon (rather than dinner). Your golfers get to play hooky from work and still be home with his family by dinnertime. Some golf courses begin their higher weekend rates on Friday, but again, you’ll get a price break if you don’t lock up their whole day. I do not recommend weekend tournaments if you’re price sensitive -- you have much less leverage in negotiating with the golf course on their busiest days. In regards to what time of day, the best suggestion is to do a shot gun start. This way everyone is starting at once and end at the same time. This allows to hold a awards event at the end for a little more revenue.

Hole sponsors-Contact local businesses and ask them to sponsor a hole. To attract eighteen sponsors, make it affordable, say $100 or so. Show them a mockup of the signs that will be placed for each sponsor and your event program where you'll list all your sponsors.

Corporate sponsors-For the biggest financial impact, approach large corporations and ask them to sponsor your event. Companies with headquarters or substantial operations in your area are your best bets. Put together Sponsor Packages and be specific as to what's in it for the corporation, i.e. prominent signage at the event, corporate logo golf balls for all golfers, newspaper coverage, golfing slots for top executives, etc.

Silent auction-Solicit items from local businesses and even offer to pay for some popular items that will attract serious bidding such as golf lessons from the club pro or a set of new irons. On the day of your golf fundraiser, setup a couple of tables full of donated goods and services. Tape bidding sheets and descriptions of each item to the tables so that golfers can place bids one-handed.

Hold a raffle-You can sell raffle tickets for quality prizes in conjunction with your event. They don't even have to be golf related, but it does help to have at least some prizes such as a new golf bag, free round, season pass to top course, etc. To increase sales, sell tickets to the general public and not just to your group of supporters. You can even set up a sales table at high-traffic locations like shopping centers. obviously, follow all local regulations concerning raffle ticket sales.

Cash bar cart-Load up the back of a golf cart with ice and cold drinks, then drive the course and sell your golfers what they want. Cold beer and sodas are the best sellers, but don't forget to include snack foods like pretzels and chips.

Catered lunch-Work with the club to offer a catered lunch to all your golfers or at least a boxed lunch of sandwich, chips, and a cookie. Depending on what you're offering, markup your costs by $2 to $4 per person and you'll do well. overcharging will actually cut into your total profits.

Award Dinner/Ceremony-At the end of the tournament it will be nice to thank everyone & award the winning team with a prize. Work with the golf club to arrange something that could be large to small. This will be the time of the day when you announce the auction and raffle winners. Depending the charity, it wouldn't be a bad idea to have a speaker or someone from the charitable organization there to say a few words.


Bachelor & Bachelorette Auction

Setting up a bachelor/bachelorette auction fundraiser is a way to not only raise awareness and money for your cause, it may turn out to be helpful to those who take part. At the very least, it can be fun for everyone who participates.

While the focus should remain on the fundraising aspect of the auction, the nature of it does require some special considerations. You’ll be sending two people out on a date, and while it may start out as something done for charity, who knows? By the end of the evening, your group may be responsible for bringing two people together who might not have otherwise met.

Location-The best place is one that has a stage. Bachelors and bachelorettes will need to be present on stage while the bidding is taking place so bidders can see who they’re bidding on. It’s also optimal for the location to have a PA system with a microphone so the auctioneer can keep things running smoothly and tell the bidders about the bachelors and bachelorettes taking part. Make sure that is place a a trendy spot that the auctionee's friends won't mind coming to support their friend. Every city or town has hotspots like popular restaurants, bars, clubs, etc. Talk to the establishments’ managers to see if they’re willing to donate gift certificates, or better yet, date packages to go along with the bachelor/bachelorette won in the auction. For a really nice touch, see if a local limo company is willing to donate a few hours with a limo and driver to take the couple out in style. Have the bachelors and bachelorettes choose the package they want so the person bidding on them has an idea of that person’s interests, and will know whether that’s how they want to spend an evening.Make sure that is place a a trendy spot that the auctionee's friends won't mind coming to support their friend.

Who will be Auctioned?-The first place to look is within your organization’s ranks. Are there any single members who would like to participate? Think about members of your community, your neighbors, members of your church. Do you know any singles who might want to help out a cause and have a fun evening out in return? One way to really ramp up community involvement is to include single local celebrities like news anchors or radio hosts. Ask them if they’re willing to participate to help out a good cause. The worst they can do is say no, and who hasn’t been turned down at least once when asking someone for a date? Make sure that you are specific with age and I suggest having people fill out applications so that you can keep it even with bachelors & bachelorettes.

Bidders- Inform your bidders before the auction begins. Hand out lists of the available bachelors and bachelorettes with short bios and descriptions of the date they’ll be taking the bidder on. Try to include fun facts about each person, or maybe a funny quote from them. Photos are also helpful to get people interested in bidding. As for the date, this is best left to the bachelor or bachelorette, and the person with the winning bid. After the auction, they can discuss a time and day that work for both of them so there’s no immediate obligation. If they like, this also gives them a little time to talk before the date actually takes place so it’s not as awkward as blind dates can often be.

Perfect Productions is actually hosting a Bachelor/Bachelorette Auction to raise money for the Petit Family Foundation. Contact Kate, Margie or Nicole for details: Kate@perfectprod.com, Margie@perfectprod.com, Nicole@perfectprod.com.