Holding A Fundraiser. Step 1: Plan Ahead

Once you’ve decided what type of event you’re going to have the next step is to think about planning. Step one is to find a location. The most popular locations are often booked months in advance. This is especially true of golf courses, restaurants and hotels. The good news is that most places are familiar with holding charity fundraising events and can be a resource to you in your planning.

If you will be doing an auction or raffle for your event, you’ll probably be asking business to donate items. Most businesses need at least a 6 week lead time. Many companies, sports teams, and foundations use automated donation request systems. Those organizations will often deny your request for items unless you submit a request at least 6-8 weeks in advance. So its key to make sure that you are giving yourself enough time to request and receive your items.

Next is marketing. It’s key that your volunteers, board of directors, and supporters are willing to plug your event to their network as often as possible. People respond that connection. Sure you can send out tons of e-blasts, but most of the time, your attendees come from your existing network of friends and aquaintances. You’ll want to send out an email to your network at least once every two weeks, with your final email coming about 3 days or the Friday before the event. If you plan on soliciting local businesses, I would recommend sending an email once a month to request donations. If someone responds, make sure you take them off of the solicitation list. It looks bad to keep begging for things from people who’ve responded.

When doing any kind of Marketing or solicitation, it’s key to come up with some kind of boilerplate language that gets your message across a quickly as possible. Marketing emails and donation requests should start out asking for what you want. So if you are looking for items for a raffle, it should be stated in the first paragraph. If you want people to purchase tickets, you need to state it right up front. After you do you ask, then you lead in to information about your organization. Make sure you keep it short and to the point. You don’t want to write a novel, people won’t read it. You want to give a brief overview of your organization (1-2 sentences), a statement of the positive impact you make in the community (1 sentence), A brief statement about the services you provide (1-2 sentences) and that’s it.

Hosting a fundraising event can be both fun and stressful. But by planning ahead you can ensure success. Stay tuned for the next installment: 2. Set a Goal