Music, Casinos, Auctions, Food, and Libations... |
Oct 16, 2009 |
With end-of-year fundraising in mind, several ministries have recently asked about how to do a fundraising banquet. The quick reply? Anybody can use MIF's proven banquet model, thanks to an excellent FR dinner manual and an instructional DVD, both available at our online store.
The important sidenote: the MIF model assumes approximately six months lead time. Plus, November and December are rotten months to schedule fundraising dinners in light of packed holiday calendars, vacation, and travel plans.
On September 25, Pregnancy Resource Center of Marin held their 'Blessings of Hope' fundraising dinner for the second year in a row. As a 2008 MIF grantee, they had been coached to use the MIF model for the first time. This year, they planned the event on their own.
The result: 218 attendees, many new faces in the crowd, and nearly $90,000 raised that evening. But the outcome of this year’s event, according to Robin Strom, Executive Director, was so much more:
“We had 3 women share their testimonies. One speaker came last year to the dinner and became a volunteer. She goes into the schools as a health educator and shared a very poignant message. Two former patients also shared and it was very powerful for them and the audience.
Altogether we are pleased and OH SO THANKFUL TO THE LORD for answering our prayers on all fronts!
And of course we did it the MI way!
I was having some discussions before people were seated and several people asked me where were the auction items, etc. I gave them the reasons we do a transformational event instead of transactional and all were very excited to see how it unfolded. GOD IS SO AMAZING!”
Compare this to the experience my friend shared about a traditional/transactional fundraising event for her kids’ elementary school. Keep in mind the school has planned this type of event annually for years and years. For a $35 ticket, you could spend much of your Saturday (3-8:30pm) on the banks of the Russian River with live acoustic music, a casino, live and silent auctions, food, and ‘libations.’
My friend talked for three minutes about her – I quote - ‘nightmare experience volunteering' to plan this event. She’s exhausted and has decided she will probably not be involved again, ‘especially if the same gal is in charge next year.’ The good news? They raised 'around $40,000' for the school. The really good news for my friend? The event debrief meeting is next week when she gets to share with others about her nightmare experience and, as she said, ‘make her peace.’
Given Robin’s and my friend’s experiences, which type of event would you like to plan in 2010??
