Fundraising event ideas

[Chick]

As you maybe aware from my avatar and posts in the Sports and Politics thread, I'm a member of Stafford Cricket and Hockey club.
Now that we've finally been given planning permission to build a new pitch (does happy dance ), we need to turn our attention to fundraising

There are several grants and funding options available as well as corporate sponsorship opportunities, but we'll still need to raise some funds on top of that

We're at the brainstorming stage at the moment and I'm looking for fundraising ideas from the good people of this forum. One option being considered is one large or a few medium sized events open to the public.

So my question, what type of events would you want to attend?

We already run a beer festival in the spring and there are fun days organised by the cricket section but are there anything other types of events you'd be willing to attend?

My initial ideas were along the lines of a summer ball, golf day, sports day etc...?

 

[proactive]

• Cricket and Hockey courses for kids during the Easter and Summer holidays? Parents are prepared to pay good money to keep the kids busy for a five day course say between 10 and 3.
• Continuing with those kids 'Bounce' events that you have at times?
• Drop in sessions during the holidays for parents to bring their kids along to to do an hour or so's organised sport activity whilst parents have a coffee, bit to eat and chat in the clubhouse with their mates?

 

[hop]

Do you know anyone who is good at marketing and generating awareness ? Someone who could get interest from local radio stations and news stations ? If so how about

A sponsored jail-break ?

• Individuals are sponsored to see how far they can escape from Stafford with zero cash in their pocket in a given time frame.
• Will you have the charms to hitch a lift with a lorry driver to Warsaw ?
• Do you have the persuasive ability to blag a free flight to Rome / New York etc.. ?
• Do you even make it further than the local public house ?

A sponsored banger rally ?

• Taking parts in teams to race to a given desitnation - e.g. Stafford to Monaco
• Buy a car for under £250 - compete to see who can make it first to the end point (taking turns to drive)

 

[proactive]

A sponsored banger rally ?

• Taking parts in teams to race to a given desitnation - e.g. Stafford to Monaco
• Buy a car for under £250 - compete to see who can make it first to the end point (taking turns to drive)

I'd be well up for that!

 

[Bob]

You need to get the place packed to make any money, family fun days in the summer are great but a little more tricky in the colder and generally wetter months.

There's the obvious quiz nights and horse racing evenings, if you can work quickly a Christmas market type of thing where you sell a table for someone to distribute their wares could raise a few pennies.

Then you've got themed evenings, a ladies only pamper evening, there are loads of self employed people selling Avon, Forever Living, Tropics type stuff plus hair dressers and make up artists, possibly throw in an Ann Summers rep and just take a cut from the sales. Same applies to food and drink, get a cheese specialist, organise wine tasting, add a few fancy cakes and job done - again just take a cut from the sales.

I'd be wary of charging on the door and bear in mind people are often penny pinching post Christmas so the timing of these events is key, if possible get something in this side of the festivities then go again after January pay day.

Approach independent shops and pubs and see if you can leave a collection tin with a some information on.

Produce a newsletter (via email will be virtually free) and sell advertising, parish magazines charge around £20 - £30 per year with a quarterly magazine produced as a basis of what to possibly aim for, gather your email addresses at all events.

One of your first jobs should be to set up a crowd funding page and broadcast it on Facebook, you never know your luck and there could be someone who spots it with more than a few quid in their pocket (stranger things have happened)

A raffle is always a winner, if you can get a really really good prize you could generate a serious income, don't be nervous about approaching BIG companies and pushing for something amazing to raffle off. Foe example does the club have a good relationship with larger and more widely followed sporting companies, do you know somebody who knows somebody famous who may be willing to get involved to some degree. To get the money in you need to work every angle, blag what you can and don't be afraid to beg.

In the summer a music festival would be fab!

Good luck

 

[ATJ]

How about a wine tasting event? I attended a charity fundraising event earlier this year and although it's a low-volume event, if you can get a wine expert to donate their time for free, and the tasting wine at cost, then you can sell tickets at a higher cost than most other events and flog a raffle at the same time.

I also like the quiz idea.

 

[Chick]

Thanks for all the suggestions, very useful!

We do quizzes and race nights within the club most years so we could extend those to the public but they don't tend to raise that much money

I like the sound of the camps for kids in the school holidays but the availability of coaches might impact that as most of them will be working. A quick google suggests a charge of £25 per day per child is being offered for similar sessions so we'd need a lot of kids to attend to generate much profit

Pamper evenings and wine tasting nights could work but similar to quizzes etc we'd need to look into how profitable they'd be

Considering the amount of money we need to raise, and the fact that in June we're not going to have anywhere to play in Stafford with Beaconside closing, we need to raise the money quickly so the build can start. That was why I was thinking one or two large events raising £1000s rather than several small events raising £100s might be better

 

[Bob]

Don't discount the £100's especially the ones with minimal overheads, a few of them and you'll start to notice the money coming in.

The best way to bring in the £1000's in one hit is corporate sponsorship, does the hockey team currently have a sponsor? Would they be willing to extend their goodwill or are you able to hunt for a sponsor with deeper pockets, could you possibly dedicate the field to one particular company, the bigger local companies include The Lewis Partnership, Stan Robinsons, The Sandy Family (The Grove/Soup Kitchen/Millar Sandy/Wimpey), Francesco Group and Bostik who have main UK office on the Common road.

One idea could be a casino night, to make the money though you'd need sto do it properly, invite all the local businesses, MP, Mayor, senior ranking council members, try and get a celeb, treat it as a fun networking evening with good entertainment, depending on the venue you could charge for tickets or at the very least, a generous suggested door donation.

Then it's all down to the blag - if you're aiming for professional then it needs to start professional, you need an online presence - our very own lovely @wmrcomputers does a great job with websites for a VERY reasonable price! At the very least aim for an official twitter and Facebook page. You'll need proper marketing so you ask all the printers very nicely if they will cut you a deal or if possible a freebie where they advertise you and you then advertise them. If you're looking for the big money you'll need a professional casino company, but then you get to sell the chips and when it comes to these sorts of things, the house generally wins, saying please and asking for a discount couldn't hurt but don't expect too much here as they'll probably get a lot of charity bookings and still need to run a business. Venue - again cut a deal, you could do it at the cricket club but then there is the danger it wont bring in many more than the club regulars, aim higher and it might pay off, if it's a licenced venue I wouldn't expect to pay for room hire, you will be bringing paying customers to them, ok there is a bit more work involved but at the end of the day they're already 'quid's in' without taking a couple of hundred pounds off you that could be put to better use. If unlicensed then you need to think about drinks, either get a bar (and ask nicely for a cut of the profits to go to a very good cause) or hire some servers and keep the drinks profit, though you'd need to look in to relevant licences and insurance. If you're charging people to get in they'll want value for money, possibly an arrival drink and see if you can negotiate a hefty discount with a caterer for several hundred canapés. A nice touch might be to have the hockey team serving them, plus it's free labour!

 

[ATJ]

All good stuff from Bob. In combination with the network night you could have a blind or silent auction, having convinced local businesses and sponsors to donate unique prizes.

 

[Bob]

I might have a couple of contacts for prizes, send me a pm @Chick if you want and I'll see what I can arrange.