High Dollar Ideas for Fund-Raising Events

So you are in charge of raising money for a non-profit organization. You have seen all the waste of time, minimal money making and overdone fund-raisers that people in your area are very much tired of. It has gotten to the point that the people in the community are refusing to answer the door now when you go looking for buyers to your catalogs of worthless items. Fear not; I have the best list of high dollar money-making and community-building ideas that will have not only a lot of money raised for your group, but also rebuild the community's faith in local fund-raisers!

Hosting a Car Show- this event is a lot of fun and easy to put together. You will need to spend a few days looking for and writing to car clubs in the greater area around you to invite them to participate in your event. You will need to charge them a nominal fee as an "entry fee" to be paid before the event. You need to let them know that this is for a charity fund-raiser and that there will be an award ceremony for the cars at the end of the show. You will also need to find live music (or a radio station that can broadcast their music from a truck or mobile stage), and vendors to have on site. You may have to pay for the music (pull the non-profit card for a break here) and charge the vendors a flat rate of say $100 per space plus a percentage of their gross sales at the event. This one day and night show is a lot of fun and a real crowd pleaser!

Bring in a local Fair- Bringing in a fair is a little more complicated than the car show, but it will make a lot more money with less hands-on work for you and your group. Secure a land area from a local parks or fire department to have the event on. Contact some of the smaller family owned midways and tell them that it is all for charity (they can write off the lower costs). Get the best upfront price possible from them and let them do their thing while you already have the money for your group up front.

Bringing in Big Talent- This project is the easiest to put together as far as personal putting together of the event goes, but it is the biggest layout cost of the other two options. This event requires the help and support of area businesses and investors to get off the ground. Take for example, to bring Larry the Cable Guy to our local college's stadium, it would cost us $300,000 flat up front to get him to come out and perform just one show! To get this kind of money together, you will need to either get donations or loans (with little or no interest) from area businesses to pay for the entertainer and the arena up front. Once you have booked the talent, sell tickets anywhere you can (try to get a date at least 3 to 6 months away so you are sure to sell all the tickets outs before the event. Look at it this way, if the talent and stadium cost a total of $400,000 and there is 50,000 seats in the arena, then you only have a seat cost of $8.00 per chair. If you sell tickets for an overall average of $25 per ticket (you will sell out), you will make about $850,000 on that one night show! Talk about a fund-raising dream come true!!!

Best of luck in your fund-raising endeavors!!!