Most charitable organisations depend upon a steady flow of revenue to help those in need and to push their mission forward. One of the most effective ways to raise money and awareness for your cause is with an engaging and inspirational fundraising event that your supporters and network will love!
Here we share our Top Ten Tips for planning a unique and seamless charity fundraiser that will exceed expectations and really wow your guests.
1. Define Your Cause & Set A Clear Goal
If you are a private individual or corporate entity wanting to raise funds for a Charity, firstly do your research and ensure the Charity is registered. Once you have selected the organisation you wish to raise funds for, reach out to them, as they will likely be able to support you, share the event with their supporters and provide you with a film or speaker to educate your guests and help you to raise a greater amount.
Ensure you set a clear goal for the event, be this financial, or simply to raise a certain level of awareness for the cause.
2. Give Yourself Plenty Of Time To Plan
We allow at least nine months to plan a large charity fundraiser. This is imperative to ensure you are able to secure a marvelous venue and get save the dates out early - getting the date set in guests diaries in good time is hugely important.
3. Seek Sponsorship
We look after this for our clients and it can greatly impact upon the success of any fundraiser. Securing a headline sponsor and other supporters of various elements of an event can be a wonderful way to engage corporate support and mean you secure a healthy profit to donate to the Charity before the event has even taken place!
4. Set A Clear & Realistic Budget
We cannot stress how important this is. Always set up a budget document and always factor in a contingency for those things that come up unexpectedly at the last minute.
5. Engage An Experienced Event Planner
Events of this type can take over 200 hours to plan, which is a very big commitment over and above your day to day life. We always suggest engaging a highly experienced individual or agency who have planned events of this type before. Not only are you likely to raise more funds at a seamlessly run event that wows guests at every turn, but you can also thoroughly enjoy your day and not have to worry about the logistics and finer details.
6. Make Fundraising Easy
Any fundraising that takes place on the day should be just that.. FUN.. and simple for guests to understand. Know your audience and pitch your fundraising accordingly, be it a luxury raffle, a game of heads and tails, silent auction, golden ticket or live auction.
Also, always ensure you have a team on board with payment machines to hand (and ensure they are fully charged!)
7. The Details Matter
Don't ever think your guests wont notice the details, they will. So aways be one step ahead, checking that the glassware is clean, the linen is spotless, brochures are neatly and squarely set on place settings and centerpieces are show stopping.
8. Live Entertainment
Be it roof raising function bands, masterful auctioneers, or hypnotic fire eaters, try to experience live acts in person before going ahead and booking them for your event. This is another benefit to bringing a professional on board to help you in the planning of your event, they will have a large network of incredible, trusted professionals that they likely have worked with previously.
9. Carparking
We have seen this go wrong sooo many times (luckily not at our events). If you are lucky enough to have on site parking available, always ensure you have plenty of space and members of the team on hand to direct and welcome guests. When parking on grass, always keep an eye on the weather in the lead up to the event and have an alternative plan in place where possible.
10. Don't Forget The Dietaries
Over the past 15 years, we have seen the number of dietaries at events skyrocket. Always check for dietaries well in advance of the event so as not to put guests, or the catering provider in an awkward situation on the day.
Wilde & Glorious look after the management of a wide range of charity fundraisers across the UK, from gala dinners to extraordinary balls and aspirational clay pigeon shoots, so if you have a charity fundraiser in mind and require some help, please do call for a chat!
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