Need Help Planning a Benifit Dinner PLEASE

I'd be glad to donate for a silent auction.

Also if you need music and there is a piano nearby.. i'd be willing to donate a bit of time and play with a flute person.. (I'll have to ask her first, but she may be willing).

If you are going to have a dinner, can I suggest that you contact your local stores - Wal-Mart, Meijer Target, etc. But you would have to give them a month notice, requesting help for your cause, usually they will give you about $25 - $50 in gift cards to get what you need for supplies & auction. (plates, napkins, cups, etc) This is a great time to purchase auction items since most items are being marked down up to 75% off. Another consideration it to have a garage sale - a friend of mine did had a successful turn out on hers for her fundraiser, a lot of friends and family donated unwanted items to be sold at the garage sale. Another is a bazaar, craft show. Sell the space (10x10)for $20 and if they need a table for an extra $10. I have paid as much as $50 and that did not include tables or chairs. But contact the newspaper to advertise and see if they will donate the ad? Best wishes and prayers to your family and God Daughter!

I think the times are good. I work at a hotel, and I would recommend trying to get some "big ticket" items like overnight stays at hotels. We donate a few overnight rooms each month to causes like yours for a general community goodwill sort of thing. Go everywhere and ask for donations - it would help if you took a flyer with you. The bigger ticket items like hotel overnights will bring in more money in a shorter amount of time for you. Good luck with everything - God bless! =)

My husband does fundraising for our local Kiwanis Club. During their summer auction they have different people make gift baskets and people hit up different stores such as Younkers, Wal-Mart, Target, and different Restaraunts. It takes a ton of time to call around. And you don't always get a huge donation. We usually take certian groups of cards and bundle them together. We have a silent auction, and a dinner and raise quite a bit of money. Oh, don't forget to call hotels too, sometimes they'll donate free night stays. Good Luck and God Bless.

HI K., My husband and I run a foundation and run many different fundraisers. Because this is a benefit and you are not a non profit, there are a few things that you can do and a few things that you should not do. Usually things that go over well at benefit or spaghetti dinners are bake sales, silent auctions, small 50/50 raffles, etc. When you advertise for it, try not to advertise too loudly about cash raffles because I'm sure you do not have a gaming license. The state frowns on those types of things but is fine with spaghetti dinners and bake sales, etc. I would suggest having as much donated as possible. When we have our dinners, we put a list together of all the items we will need to put the dinner on and send it to our friends, etc. this gives them an opportunity to donate items even if they do not have a lot of cash. Also, have a bake sale set up at the event and have someone manning that all day. Have everything divided into small amounts (4-6 cookies in a ziplock bag for $1.00) and they will sell more and faster. YOu can also have another small white elephant area set up for yard sale items. Another suggestion is a raffle. See if people or businesses will donate prizes (gift baskets, cd's, games, etc.) and put them all on a table and put a can in front of each prize item. Sell a certain amount of tickets, have each person write their name and phone number on the tickets and have them place their tickets in the can of the prizes they would like to win. You can also do small 50/50 raffles every hour or every few hours, etc.
Make sure you have a lot of volunteers so you can get a lot of people through from 10-6. I would suggest either having two liters of pop for drinks or kool aid or fruit punch. Also bottled water and coffee are cheap and go well at these events. You'll need plates, napkins, plasticware, cups, table clothes, some type of centerpieces or table decorations to make the place look nice, maybe some music so it's not too quiet (boombox and cd's are fine). Lots of food and something to keep it warm and or cold so there is no spoilage. Plastic disposable gloves for anyone serving food(can get these at GFS), serving spoons, etc.
Also, last but not least, you might think about opening an account at your God-Daughter's family bank in her name, call it the Suzie foundation or something with her name, etc. that way if anyone wants to make out checks, they can make it to that account. For some reason, this tends to make people give more sometimes if they know it is going into an account for the family. Sorry to list so much and to ramble on but feel free to email me personally if you need more info or don't understand some of this! Good Luck and God Bless you for doing this! S. ____@____.com

I am so sorry to hear about your God daughter. You are doing a great thing. You could try going to local businesses where your God daughter lives and ask for donations (restaurants, movie theaters, malls). They may be willing to donate gift cards. I don't know how old she is, but if she is in school, maybe you could talk to someone at the school, a teacher, counselor, or social worker and ask them to spread the word about donations and ticket sales. You could sell tickets for the event. Make up flyers, invitations to local businesses, schools, friends and family (even her doctors). My mom's oncologist was the most generous and caring doctor I've ever met. He made it a point to get to know her and her family. I've kept in contact with him for 3 1/2 years now. Make it personal, tell your story and ask for help. Send out a request on mammasource for donations specifically. The hospital she was at might be able to help advertise for you. If you have the building all day, maybe you could have a "yard" sale in the morning (9am-3pm) and then have dinner and an auction later (5-8pm). Maybe you could get a band to donate their services. I saw one mom posted that she would donate 50% of her jewelry sales, that is another option during the yard sale. Search for craft people and ask them to donate a portion of their sales. I wish I had something to donate, all I have is ideas =( I will keep you and your family in my prayers.

First off; Congratulations on 20 years, that is absolutly unheard of any more and I have a deep respect for anyone who remains married that long. My husband and I pray we see those large numbers.
Second; I think I would ask for friends to help out a bit. Divide the work up between small groups of people. I would think that would take some edge off. As for an acution. If you are part of a church see if you can't get the congregation to step in. If there are people who could put together small baskets of their choice a silent auction might bring in some money.
I'm not sure of any more ideas I hope this works. And for what it's worth; my husbaand and I will be praying for you and your God daughter.

K. .. Fundraising is something I enjoy! Another thing I have done is catering .. so together it would be VERY enjoyable.
First of all, go get donations for plates, napkins, silverware, cups .. any supplies you will need. Hit up local Meijers, Walmart, GFS and other local stores.
Also, you will want to get as much food donated as possible, but don't double dip .. only ask one store for one need. Most of the *big box* stores are willing to dontated, but require more planning ahead. For instance, Meijer needs the request AT LEAST one month ahead, to get approval.

The easiest type of dinner to do for a large group is a Spaghetti dinner. It would be at dinner time, maybe 4-7 or 8 if you wanted to start it early. Just have Spaghetti and rolls or garlic bread. Rolls are easier and people pay by the plate. Each plate gets filled with Spaghetti and 2 rolls (just for an example).

You could do salad too, but it requires more dontations and work .. so depends on how many resources you have.

Most I have seen offer a child rate and some do family rate, to encourage large families to come. The more you get donated, the better your profit!

I would be happy to offer more details if you are looking for more .. I don't want to sound like I am planning it for you (lol) I wish you the BEST of luck! Is there a bank account for people to send donations?? You should make flyers and hang up around town for people that cant make the fundraiser to just dontate to the bank account.

I would contact local businesses and ask if they would be willing to donate toward an auction; Also, I would have homebased businesses set up and donate a "good" portion of the sales back to the cause; Please contact me if you need more info - ____@____.com
I also have donated Mary Kay gift baskets for such great causes and would be happy to; I'd also, be willing to set up and give 50% back.

Contact your local chamber of commerce and see if they can help with promoting this event. If you know anyone who is a chamber member, that would be an added benefit.

Ask people to donate popular items. Maybe you know people who have their own business and would like to promote it. Contact an auctioneer and see if the can help.

Ken Lindsey, American Eagle Auctioneers, helps with many charities and could provide his vast knowledge in helping you.

If you are appealing to families, the time would be great. If it is strictly for adults, I would change the time.

Good luck and many blessings in raising money for this family.

M.

Silent auctions are great. I am a Massage Therapist and have donated 1 hour massages in the past that have raised $100 each. Check with a local Massage Therapist, most of them are more than happy to help. You could also ask him/her to come and do chair massage at your event. I charge a $1 per minute and then donate 1/2 of my earnings from the day to the cause. Hope this helps!

ANGIE

You are getting good advice. I have not been to many benefit dinners, but I have organized several silent auctions. Here are a few more thoughts for you for more auction ideas that I think are easy to get donated and really come from the heart... ask individuals or families to put together an auction item that shows off their talent, offers a one-time experience or to give an item that they already own. Examples of items that offer their talents: a good cook may donate "variety of desserts for your casual gathering", someone who gardens may do "6 hours of consultation and labor to plant your perennials", teachers at the school may offer "babysitting for up to 6 hours", high school kids (a club or team) may donate "X hours of babysitting, yard work or cleaning out a garage". Examples of one time experiences are: one-on-one coaching for X, sideline tickets to the opening home game at the high school, ride with the local police department, birthday party at the local fire station. Examples of items that people already own: "tickets to the MSU vs. X game" or tickets to the Civic Theater, "weekend at X Lake" (someone donates their cottage for a weekend). I really like having a tag line and theme for events. This benefit/auction could be called "Auction from the Heart" or "Heart to Heart" and you can buy your supplies after Valentine's Day when everything is marked way down. When making up the auction area of your benefit these types of auction items, since they are not a physical item, are explained in detail on a sheet of paper - print something up on the computer - and put in a frame, lucite stand or mounded on colored card stock. Use visuals or props, if you can (example - sit a football next to the chance to win a sideline pass to the football game).
Good luck with everything you are doing!
p.s. when you finish your auction and you are looking for another easy idea to raise money - try a pop can drive. You can collect from the neighborhood and, better yet, some of the local grocery stores will allow you to set up a table near the recycling area for an afternoon. The idea is that people coming in with their cans will hand them to you and have you feed them into the bins and then keep the money. The dimes add up fast!

Hi K.,

What a wonderful thing you are doing for your God-Daughter and her family!

I have done quite a few fundraisers with my jewelry business (Silpada Designs) and would be willing to come to the benefit and set up my display and donate 50% of my profits to the cause. Please email me and we can go over more details, etc.

Good luck!

C. S.
____@____.com

K. - You have been getting some awesome advice. There are two things that I have not seen mentioned that have been at two of these bebefit dinners that I have gone to in the past. The ones that I have been too have had Silent Auctions. Go to any local businesses and ask if they would donate items for the silent auction. Ideas : a gas card from a gas station, gift card from a grocery store, a free dinner at a local restaurant, a one month subscription for the local paper, a haircut at a local Salon. You should talk to your local paper and see if they will run a free ad for you. Also, what about music? Is there a DJ or local band in your area who might like the exposure? I would lean more toward DS J - not as loud and takes up less room.

I hope this helps! God bless you and your God daughter!

A spagetti dinner works well for this. Its cheap to fix so you can save more donations. Coffee and punch are inexpensive items also.
You can get day old bread from a bakery or bread store at a lower cost and serve it with butter.
Leave donations amounts open (if you ask a set amount it will put some people off but w no set limit on price your turn out and results should improve).
Simple table cloths are good. Maybe a single flower in a vase ( dollar store) for table tops.

Good luck

K., We did one for my mom in 2007 after she had her dissecting aortic aneurysm. We had it later in the day from like 3-8 or something like that. You might get more people later in the day that have been working. What day are you planning on having it? We had hers on a Saturday. Also, we had a silent auction of donated things. Mom's friends went to some businesses to get some donations. It wouldn't hurt to ask around. A friend of moms was a kid in a local band and they performed at the benefit. Also, it was advertised in the local papers, and on the local news station (abc 12, I think). They have a section on the news that does that. I think its called Community calendar, or something like that. Hope this helps! God bless your God-daughter and all of you.