If you have your hall picked out and your committee members chosen, now its time to get to work! Let us help you make a plan of how to run your event as there is lots to do. You and your Fundraiser Committee have a lot to consider for Fundraiser Planning! Scroll down to read our suggestions and start making a list of things to do. Don’t forget to delegate and make it a team effort as we have a lot of ground to cover here! Here is what you will find on this page:
A common question is when should I have my Fundraiser, because there are literally 365 days to choose from, and it can be very overwhelming! But this is one of the first decisions you need to make when planning for a Fundraiser, and it is kind of an important one.
First check with your main circle of people to ensure that the day you are considering works for them. That is obvious right? You would think so, but we thought we would mention it. Perhaps give them 5 dates and ask which ones DON’T work, and cross those off your list.
Which Day of Week
Most people choose a Saturday night to hold a Fundraiser, however Friday nights can get you a better deal on some DJ’s and Halls. Midweek Fundraisers are okay, but people have commitments with kids and work so you may not get as good of a response. We recommend sticking with a Friday or Saturday night for sure!
If its a Stag & Doe
If this is a Wedding related Fundraiser, the wedding couple usually has their Stag and Doe between one and three months before the wedding. This allows a good lead-time to generate needed funds and does not interfere with bridal showers or preparations for the ceremony and reception. With that said, we have had plenty of people hold a Stag & Doe one weekend, and get married the next weekend! WOW! We believe the thinking behind this is that they have so many out of town guests coming so this way they can attend them both. But that is a lot to ask from people. In fact, we have even seen a trend of people having a surprise Wedding at their Stag & Doe! Can you believe it! We strongly advise against this – too much pressure and trouble to do everything all in one day and you want people to bring you gifts don’t you?!
Holiday Consideration
Anyhow, back to the question at hand – when should I have my Fundraiser. Stay away from long weekends or too close to national holidays – you want to make sure you get the most amount of people to show up so be smart! Summers can be tricky because of vacations too – isn’t this a difficult task? Then you have to work around other Fundraisers or Weddings or big family events because you don’t want them to be back to back. Basically our recommendation is to check with your closest circle of people and just pick a day, and whoever is meant to come, will be there!
So how many people are needed to plan a Fundraiser? This is not something you want to do alone! You definitely need to start by getting a Fundraiser Committee of people together (perhaps the wedding party, family members, or close friends) to help organize the Fundraiser as it is way too much work for one or even two people. Choose people who have maybe done this before for another friend or family member and know what to do. Choose people that YOU have helped before at their event. Choose people that are responsible and helpful and that you know will have your back and are happy to help. There might be some people that you will ask to be a part of your Committee, but that you know won’t do squat! That is just the way it is as some people are quite selfish. Sometimes however, they just underestimate how much you really need their help, and they won’t really understand the importance of a team effort until its their turn to hold one for themselves.
Some people are lucky and have people lining up to help, but others have a harder time. If you are the first person to get married out of your friends’ group, the others will not yet understand what is entailed and won’t really get how much work and help is needed to make it successful. They may not grasp that the bridal party is supposed to do the majority of ticket sales and other running around and planning. Sorry about this! It is very frustrating to be stuck with all the work, and many of our clients complain about this. So it is up to you to tell people what their jobs are (in a kind way of course).
Pick an appropriate method of updating your Fundraiser Committee Members – whether it be over email, meeting in person once per week, creating a Facebook page, etc. We like the Facebook page because you can see when people have read things, you can see what others write, you can easily attach pictures, you can create events for meetings, etc.
For your first meeting, make a list of EVERYTHING that you will need to do (by following our handy guide of course), and start delegating. Please take people up on their offers to help, you will need it! A lot of people want to help but don’t know what to do to be helpful – so tell them! Sometimes you will have to be upfront when asking for help, but in the long run, their help will be very useful.
The age old question we are always asked is how much people make at Fundraisers? We got the inside scoop because year after year, our clients tell us! We have had people break even from their Fundraiser (OUCH!) and we have had several people make just under $30,000. The people who broke even (honestly maybe we have met 5 over the past 12 years) obviously did not plan this out too well, and obviously did not follow Jack of all Spades’ suggestions. ? CLICK HERE to see those suggestions by the way.
The ones that made over $20k, did well with pre selling tickets, perhaps offered a dinner so charged more for the tickets, and had some pretty big booze drinkers. The games obviously contributed to their success but it was probably more of a booze fest from what we have heard from clients when your profits are that high.
We estimate the average to be somewhere between $2500 – $6000 in profit. How much have the games contributed to that number? Nobody has ever been able to tell us! It is such a chaotic night with so many people helping at once that you cannot possibly break it down that finely unless you are a total control freak lol. We do know what are the generally profitable and popular ones, and those you can find in our Packages.
If you only end up making $100 off the games, just remember that you have provided your guests with entertainment, which kept them happier and there longer spending money on other things like booze and raffle tickets. However we highly recommend referring to that list of suggestions, which will definitely maximize your profits.
Shopping cart0
There are no products in the cart!
Continue shopping
0
We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it.OkPrivacy policy
