Planning A Fundraising Event That Will Be Wildly Successful

If you are responsible for planning a fundraising event, you need to have it be a big success. There's no point in hosting a fundraising event that requires planning up the wazoo if not enough people will participate and donate, so be sure to dot your i's and cross your t's, and your return will be a spectacular event.

Having A Good Idea

The first order of business is to determine what type of fundraising event you are planning. Will it be a $250 a plate chicken dinner to raise money for a political candidate? Or a “please donate” type of campaign to spur on a local politician? For your local school, will it be a $5 a family “Harvest Festival” at an elementary school to raise money for more library books? Or an ongoing campaign of selling scrip to some local stores where the school gets a percentage of sales? Maybe you will have an online fundraising campaign, using electronic payments? You make the call. You know your cause and organization – what is the best fundraising event to plan? 

Getting Donations From Your Community

Plan for your fundraising event to have as low of overhead as possible, so that the organization can keep more of the money. A good idea if it will be a local event is to garner support within your community. Perhaps your local supermarket will donate food items for a breastfeeding walk to support La Leche League in August.

If so, wonderfuol! Be sure to let attendees know who was kind enough to support your cause with a donation – the good will can go a long, long, ways. Maybe a hotel will give you a discount on that ballroom, since you're taking the larger room with AV instead of the smaller room – it can't hurt to ask! Be aware that most businesses will want to see a flyer or something like that to show information about the event.

Inviting The Right People – And Getting Them To Show Up

Who cares about your cause? Families in your community? Friends of the politician? Who ever it is, be sure to invite them. Invite the newspaper, too, if you want media attention for your cause. You can plan a fundraising event so that the media attention can be an ongoing benefit to your organization – perhaps the media will let the public know where to send their donations toward your cause.