Looking for Advice on Hosting a Fundraiser

I agree, you should definitely speak to the family when planning this. I am a fundraiser full time for a non-profit organization and there are quite a few things that go along with planning a benefit. First, the parents need to look into setting up a 503C status. Any funds they are given will need to be claimed on their taxes and that could effect them so they should talk to a bank or accountant in setting up a separate 503C which would create a "foundation" in their childs name so that they can avoid being taxed.

Also, if you can find a venue that will donate the food and space that will save you tons! Otherwise you'll probably have to pay per person and then add an additional fee to the ticket price in order to profit at all.

Silent auctions are a great way to make $!

I would strongly suggest forming a small committee so that you do not have to undertake all the responsibility and then each person can use their business contacts-connections to get items donated and possible find a venue or local dj willing to donate services.

You can always donate the proceeds to an existing foundation, such as the hospital the child is getting treatment at.

Sorry if this is overwhelming, just wanted to give you some info!

I am happy to help with any questions you may have!

Unfortunately, I know nothng about fundraising, but my husband is a mobile D.J.. He would be happy to dj the event for free. If you are interested, please send me a message. Good luck and I wish you the best. You are a very good friend.

We have participated in WalkNow (for autism) in the past and held fundraisers similar to what you have described. We had it at a bar/restaurant. The first year we charged a fee and had an open bar. However, a lot of the money went to pay the bar bill. The next year we included a ticket or two for drinks with the "entrance fee" and then a cash bar. We had food from the restaurant and we brought in food as well (appetizer type food). We had a slient auction and we had a 50/50 auction (you buy a ticket and half of the money goes to the fundraiser and half goes to the winner). My sister know the owner of the bar/restaurant we went to so they did not charge us, plus they donated the food and gave us reduced price drinks. Hopefully you can find somewhere willing to do something similar.
Good luck!
-J.

Hi M.,
I did a fundraiser for a large family that lost a young mother suddenly. We did a simple pancake breakfast. I created a letter and used it to initally contact local businesses to ask for donations of either food, gifts for a raffle or money to help cover the cost of the event. I followed up a week or two later with a phone call. I good place to start is with your local chamber of commerce. As member of my locaL Chamber of Commerce, I love to help the community that supports my business. In the end, it was a ton of work but the response was so great and very heartwarming!! We were able to help a family in need and it was wonderful. My neighborhood offered to advertise in our community newsletter as a thank you for the generosity that was provided. We created an account with Harris Bank where people could make donation too. feel free to send me a message if you have any questions. have a great day!
M.

This is so nice of you, you must be such a lovely friend. Here are some things to think about as you plan this:

Check with the family first to see if they are ready for this. Everyone processes crisis differently, particularly when their child is involved, and the parents might not be ready for a large gathering where their son is in the forefront. Having a sick child must be overwhelming and exhausting, bringing forth unexpected feelings. They might just need some time to gather their thoughts and their support systems first.

I would also check to see where they need help with funding. Their insurance may cover most/all of the medical expenses, but they may need help with lodging or travel to see specialists; or simply cash if one or both of the parents have to take an extended leave from work.

I would speak to someone at your local, community bank about setting up an account- but I believe one of the parents would need to be with you to do this, right? I don't know banking, sorry. Any banker out there?

For the actual event, I like the idea of you taking care of the food, then charge a fee to enter- like $20, and then a cash bar. No one expects the host to pay for drinks,because that would eat up the ticket price. Silent auctions and raffles are a great idea. Local businesses may donate.

Also, I went to one for a child where the hostess asked close friends to each make a themed basket for the auction. My sisters did: an Irish basket, a basket of favorite children's hardcover books; two vases from a local potter (a big hit) and some knitted items my mom made. Someone bid $200 on a pair of her homemade slippers!! (He was the doc of the child!) Also, I auctioned off cookies-for-6-months. I had the pleasure of shipping homemade cookies once a month to the same nice doctor- who was happy to receive fresh cookies in his office every month. I think he paid $250 for that one.

Good luck!!

Sorry I have no advise for you as I have no experience with fundraisers, but just wanted to send a kudos to you.
I have a friend that has Leukemia and I have been by his side since. It was very hard to see him go through this.
I also know that the treatment is extremely costly.
If you have a facebook page you can set up a CAUSES page and people can donate there online.
As others said, make sure you know how to give the money to the family. If you just write a check to them, they will have to pay taxes on it.
Wish you lots of success with this and the best wishes also to the family.

Hi, I had two quick ideas for you on fundraisers 1) I was on a committee that used BaseballMania to raise funds (they also have FootballMania etc) you sell tickets and then based on team scores the folks that purchased the tickets can win cash prizes each week. Sort of like fantasy football. We really raised a lot of money with that and there was not much to do on our part. http://www.charitymania.com/
2) I've also heard of folks contacting Jewel grocery store and having a shopping day(s) where a certain amount of the proceeds from their groceries purchased that day goes to the family. Here is that info too - hope it helps!! https://www.jewelosco.com/eCommerceWeb/CommunityAction.do...

M.,

This year I will be holding my 3rd annual fundraiser for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. I will tell you this, the first year was hard and the next years it only got easier. The first year you spend a lot of time doing leg work - lot of legalities to deal with. It will all depend on what kind of fundraiser you want to have. We have always had a dinner/DJ at a hall (cash bar) with a silent auction and raffle. We do this at a hall that is part of the Crystal Lake Park District (Park Place) and we get a discount on the hall because it is for a fundraiser.

Every location is different from the next. Some you can bring food, others you have to have it catered by a company with insurance. We sold tickets for our fundraiser before hand. We could not sell tickets at the door because we had a cash bar. If we did, it would void the liquor license and therefore, nobody would be able to drink. Also, we could NOT do a fundraiser for an individual - we had to do it for the National MS Society. This was a rule that was in place by the CL Park District.

As far as items for the auction and raffle, we sent out letters to hundreds of companies asking for some sort of donation. The response that we received was amazing. We did this a couple of months prior to the event.

Hosting a fundraiser is alot of work but it is soooo worth it. When you are trying to figure out what to do, just remember to ASK EVERYONE for a donation. You'd be surprised who contributes. I even got donations from the refridgerator repair guy.

I could talk forever about fundraisers, so please feel free to contact me about more ideas. What your doing is amazing and the world would be a much better place with more people like you.

C.

I see you are getting a great amount of advice. I speak as a mother of a leukemia survivor. My daughter was diagnosed at the age of 28months and is now 14!

For some, it is hard to be the recipient of help. They may be too overwhelmed in caregiving and just plain mentally to be involved. For others, it woudl give them another focus.

When my daugheter was diagnosed the financial strain was incredible as you are obvioulsy aware. A friend of ours did a pancake breakfast. It turned out very well! She was able to get a lot donated. It is a simple thing (pancakes, sausage, butter syrup, oj, and paper goods) She was able to get the local Elks Club at the time to doante the hall. In terms of costs, she left it up to those who were coming. It was on a Sunday, so many came after their church services and looked at it as their Sunday brunch out. Very fun and we were able to visit with people. Our daughter was able to attend as she was feeling o.k. that day.

Hope this helps to encourage you in your efforts to bless this family. Another thought is that some churches will pass their basket for a need like this :)

Take Care,
M.

I actually went to a fundraiser some years back for a boy with leukemia at a banquet hall. We paid a flat fee and there was a lot of dancing and some food and we watched a video. I believe the drinks were purchased. The video had the little boy talking about his illness. Not a dry eye in the house. I suppose you could start seeing if some kind owner of a banquet hall would take a cut and you advertise on your own, talk to your bank about the check. Sometimes the bank set up an account on the behalf of this person.
and p.s.I survived uterine cancer this year! so bless you for helping this little boy

HI,

My name is B. and I was diagnosed with leukemia at 26. I am now 36. We had a benefit for me to cover the cost of a bone marrow transplant. I can certainly tell you everything we did, what worked and what didnt. You have some wonderful comments already.

You can email me at ____@____.com. Perhaps we can talk on the phone if you want additional details besides what you receive on mamsource.
Good luck!
B.

There are different ways to go about it. We had a little boy in our neighborhood that was diagnosed with leukemia a few years ago. they just did a neighborhood fundraiser to start with. it was at someone's house. we all contributed to attend(food and beverages were included). also, a number of us contributed gift baskets to be raffled off. They sold tickets for the raffles. also, they did some as silent auction items. You could also set up an account at a local bank and advertise that donations are being accepted to the
"kid's name fund". that way, anyone who can't attend can still send a donation. the school also promoted the fund through the pto. hope this helps you get started. I know that a lot of things are done at a bar, but that is usually for an adult. If it is for a child, you might see if there is a chuckie cheese or something kid-oriented in your area that will help you out.

M.,
This is a wonderful thing you want to do. I have had many fundraisers over the years and many I have done on my own. My 5yr old nephew died from cancer and that fundraiser I did completely on my own (with the help of many friends). Too many ideas to list so why don't you call me and I can go through the basics and give you different ideas. ###-###-#### M. Collazo
God Bless you for this!

I have never run one, but I donate to them all the time. Please feel free to contact me when you have your plans in place for a free piece of lia sophia jewelry. Good luck!

www.liasophia.com/staceys

You can check with a local church they might be able to assist you. Check with a bank, they might be able to set up a fund where people can donate on line. Good luck.

Wine tastings seem to be very popular right now, so you could talk to a local shop that makes their own wine and maybe they would work with you. Or, since you already have someone offering DJ duties, you could find somewhere willing to cut a deal or even donate space for the evening and combine the wine-tasting with some sort of dessert buffet and some dancing after the presentation. I'm only just starting to learn and research fundraising for my kids' school, so I don't have a lot of background, but that sort of an evening would sound fun to attend. Our school does a yearly auction with a full dinner with music, dancing and raffle included but it is a LOT of work and money to put together. Best of luck to you and your friends, that boy is lucky to have all of you watching out for him!

I have done several bar fundraisers in the past for organizaqtions that I have been involved with. My feeling is that the best formula is this- offer a low-end all you can drink package (beer and wine or beer, wine and limited alcohol drinks), snack foods on the bar tables (popcorn, chex mix, etc.) and charge a single fee for everything. The thing that works best is to find out the set fee from the bar (if you are in the city, I am happy to give you some of the "best" bars that have low minimum packages) and then add a donation fee. So, for example, if the all you can drink package is $15 or $20, roll in your cost of the food which depending on what you do would be real low and then add a #10 donation to get your final price. Generally when you tell the bar you are at that it is a fundraiser, they collect all the money and give you the "overage" at the end of the night. Now, some other ideas would be to do a silent auction but I have done several of these- its a lot of work to get enough stuff to make it worthwhile. If you have a committee helping you (i.e. more than just you) it might be doable. Another good option is to do a split the pot raffle or raffle for prizes at the bar and sell tickets for $1 each of 6/$5 or more. Along with all this, you can have a donation box where people can drop in cash or checks (made out to the family). I would be as thorough as possible in what you will offer and how people can donate in your invitation (which will let them know to bring extra cash or a checkbook). Let me know if you have questions or need any advice, I am happy to help.

Check with your local Jaycees. They live for stuff like this.

HI
Usually an account is set up at a Local Bank. If you did that they could guide you as to what youhave to do and how to recieve donations.

Try tog et food donated so you do not have to pay for that. Ask everyone to donate something. Go to differant braches of the same grocery store. Maybe have his school do something. People seem very open to kids in need.

I sell Avon and we can do some very easy and effective fund raising. You can even do an on line party adn have the product delivered tot he epole All you do is send e mails. Maybe have direct sales people do fund raisers for you.
Will local stores put out collection cans? What about their Church.

Market thru your Facebook and other internet sites, free fast easy and effective.

Maybe local Reltors will advertise att heir open houses, or put blurbs about it in their ads.

There are so many good, free marketing ideas just step out of the box and be creative.

Blessing you will be in my prayers tonight

J.

I work with a company that does fundraisers - I would like to hear about what your plans are when it comes to planning.

M.