Charity Event Ideas

Piggles12345

Hi all,

As part of a training course I have to run a charity event. This is quite a large event- some of last year's were fetes, fashion shows etc.

At the moment I don't know what my budget will be or how many people will be in my team.

However, I am doing some preliminary groundwork to find out what sort of charity events make the most money with the least amount of stress!

Any experiences of running or attending charity events will be great!

Thanks all.

Savvy_Sue

Sorry, but IME Charity Event Organiser = STRESS, and there's not much you can do about it!

Again, IME, what makes the most money is raffles and tombolas, so if you can include those then it helps, even as a sideline.

And perhaps most importantly, don't go for something you know nothing about. A Fashion Show is great if you care about fashion, a complete nightmare if you don't. We've done one of those where our team produced most of the clothes and that really was hard work for them!

We've run an auction a couple of times, that requires a lot of pre-prep work (and a good auctioneer is absolutely essential!) but is quite successful.

Someone has run a barn dance for us, which I personally enjoyed more than the auction but may not have been more financially successful.

Since you'll have to use your networks to get people to come, think about who's in your networks. Mine doesn't include many people who would shell out to go to a posh charity ball, for example ...

Piggles12345

Hi Savvy_Sue,

I know its going to be stressful, but I want to try and minimise that stress as much as possible by doing some prep work now!

A raffle is a really great idea- everyone loves old school raffles! I could try and blag some raffle prizes from some businesses in town- you know like a free meal at a nice restaurant or money off a beauty treatment etc.

I mentioned the fashion show just as an example of what people last year ran. And I completely agree with you; I'm not into fashion so wouldn't really know what to do with a fashion show!!

I like the idea of an auction. Did you run a particular auction (e.g. clothes or books etc.)?

In terms of networks, I'm running the event at a university which has a diverse mix of people. There are, of course, loads of pretty hard-up students, who will probably be the bulk of our 'customers'. There are also, however, lots of paid people who go from funded postgraduates, cleaners and admin to departmental directors! The majority of my network fits into the latter category as I don't have much contact with undergraduate students. However, advertising events around campus tends to draw in a lot of students. :undecided

Savvy_Sue

Our auction was of goods, services and promises.

So a couple of my colleagues offered a day's cleaning, others offered babysitting and ironing, but we also had tickets from local attractions, various accommodation offers, and some lovely 'items' provided by local companies - hampers, framed artwork, jewellry etc

louisa81

I've worked in events for 7 years and a month ago decided to arrange a charity do- I've never done anything like this and despite working in numerous roles at other peoples charity do's I was no where near prepared for how much work it would be!
It's literally taken over my whole life, 24/7.

Just hope we raise lots of money and make it worth it!

Dizzie77

There is absolutely no reason why it should be stressful. I have organised loads of Charity events - and have another 4 lined up for next year already!
It is all in the planning - and as long as you are organised, it is a breeze!!

1cat2fish

Hi, We held a charity event with a band and comedian at a local club. They provided their services at a much reduced rate. The cost was covered by ticketing the event. The rest of the money raised came from a huge raffle with local companies donating prizes. We had prizes that included a trial flight from the local aero-club and tickets for football matches. So I would say contact as many people as possible, don't be afraid to ask. It is worth the work that you put in, the satisfaction you get at the end of the night when you add up how much you have raised is fantastic.

kidcat

We have raised good sums from both auctions and quiz nights. If you run raffles etc within the night itself it increases the amount raised considerably.

louisa81

Dizzie77 wrote: »

There is absolutely no reason why it should be stressful. I have organised loads of Charity events - and have another 4 lined up for next year already!
It is all in the planning - and as long as you are organised, it is a breeze!!

Thank you, but I am extremely organised.

As I said- I have worked in events for 7 years but running an event based entirely on the goodwill of others whilst coordinating a bunch of stall holders who all (understandably) have only their own interests at heart is always going to be stressful.

Try stall holders who insist they have sent you a cheque even when you've (deliberately) not yet given them your address, then there's the ones who want you to do everything for them- from collecting their payment from them at home to setting up their goods to even trying to get you to sell their goods for them as they can't be bothered to be there on the night.
Or the "other" charity that tried to convince me that rather than split proceeds between two charities that are very important to me that I should donate all the money to them and none to the other charity, otherwise they would not be interested (in my event or my donation from what I gather...)
Or how about the venue that insisted they have all the correct licences needed to host such an event yet the council have no record of these licences- the venue was "disappointed" to hear that I contacted the council despite the fact that it's a serious legal issue.
Or the recent postal strikes.


It has nothing to do with being organised- dealing with over 30 different people- none of whom you are actually employing or paying, hence none of whom you have any real control over, is stressful.

Savvy_Sue

Know what you mean louisa ...

BTW, just to remind the OP that when you are using a charity's name to publicise an event, you do need to check with the charity that they are happy for you to do so. It's a good idea to do this at an early stage - obviously charities are usually only too happy to accept your offer, but the Trustees do need to ensure that the charity's name is being used appropriately. And hopefully they will give further publicity, send information and displays if appropriate, or someone to say briefly what the charity does (and subtly encourage people to dig deep!)

SuperMum2008

Please can I whisper a word in defence of stallholders at these types of events ?!

I am a very trustworthy stallholder, along with a number of others on the NI Craft Fair thread on MSE, and we all love a good craft fair that is a reasonable price, pay on the day (Avoids any "confusion"), warm, comfy, and well advertised event.

We have had some horrific experiences in the last year, just go on to the craft forum and read them - stolen goods, events in carparks in the rain, still open to the parking public, no tea and coffee provided in 8 hours, no heating, and the best one of all "whoops we forgot to advertise it" after we have driven 3 hours to get to the event....so there are two sides to every story.

I love to support events by holding a stall, I am not money grabbing nor only looking out for myself, I wouldnt dream of anyone else touching my goods to set them up (no-one could set them up exactly how I want them!!) and there is quite a large group of us now in NI that has a good laugh with each other and the organisers of the events. If any of you would like a group of us caring, friendly, and supportive stallholders to come along to an event, please don't hesitate to ask!!