Get Money for a Good Cause
Despite the fact that most people don’t like it and even less would want to admit it, money makes the world go round. Without it there would be no education, no progress and development, no comfort. But as we all know money doesn’t grow on trees and sometimes we need to help different institutions to be able to teach, discover, test and help. One way is to make a donation to a charity or foundation of choice, another is to put together a fundraiser that will benefit a chosen organization. You don’t need much experience, just some basic guidelines, and you can help change the world for the better.
Having a specific beneficiary in mind you should contact them to inform them of your plans to raise donations for them. They may want to participate in the fundraising efforts, but they also might have specific guidelines how they like to handle such events, what kinds of things are and are not acceptable to tem, so you should listen and take their rules into consideration when preparing the event.
Knowing what you can and cannot do, you can start planning your event. You’ll need a place and a specific date, an interesting theme and program, and it won’t hurt to have a special guest whose name will draw people in. It may seem simple and quick to make the different bookings, but in reality it’s much more time and effort consuming, not to mention that there are always last minute things popping up, so you may want to consider asking for help. It’s easier to take care of everything if you don’t have the feeling you need to be in two places at once, when you have somebody to bounce the ideas off and to come up with their own solutions you might not think of.
Decision where and what kind of event to hold is next. It is dependant on the number of people you want to invite, as well as on availability and prices. Since your goal is to collect money and not spend it, you need to look for as good a price as you can get, maybe ask for space donation from a conference centre or a local college in return for placing their name among the sponsors. It’s also wise to ask local businesses, from a small chiropractic office in San Francisco to a big web design Miami firm to help out with organizing the event by donating money or services.
Nobody will come to a fundraiser if you don’t have anything interesting to show them. Come up with the main attraction like a concert or a play, maybe an interesting lecture by a renowned specialist supporting the cause, but also remember about small attractions that will fill up the time before the main show. It may be caricatures drawn on a pen tablet and e-mailed to the subject immediately, presentation of bar tricks, street dancing exhibits, pretty much anything that will be interesting to watch and that will keep people in place until the main event.
The show is what should bring the guests in, but also what needs to get their checkbooks out. You may either collect a sizeable entry fee or ask for donations afterwards, but you have to remember that your goal is not to throw a fun party, but to collect money for a particular organization, so place posters, give out stickers, have people talk about the subject, do what you have to do to keep everybody’s minds not only on the pleasures, but also on the real reason behind the party.
