Organize a Benefit

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Organize a Benefit

Organizing a fundraising benefit requires a lot of planning time and deliberation. If implemented successfully, you can secure donors for the event and future events. For help on how to organize a benefit, review the following steps.

Challenge Steps

Choose a chair person to manage your event. This person will organize your benefit and be the main contact. A chair person is needed to guide the planning of this event and see it to fruition. Design a plan for your benefit. By laying out all the areas of the benefit planning stage you can ensure that you don't miss anything. Your plan should cover all areas of the benefit, from the subcommittee assignments to venue requirements. Your plan should also include a timeline that takes you from the beginning of the planning stage to the end in chronological order.

Create a committee that will lead the efforts for your fundraising benefit. Then determine the necessary subcommittees that will be responsible for certain areas of the whole plan--for example ticket sales, entertainment, gift solicitation and promotions. Decide how many people should be involved in each subcommittee. Give yourself enough time to organize a fundraiser. Decide when you want the benefit to take place and determine how long it will take to put the event together. You may have to work backward from the event date.

Establish a budget for planning the event. Remember that the idea of the event is to make money to support a cause, so you don't want to incur too many expenses. Look for ways to keep your costs down by getting volunteers and donated products and services in return for sponsored recognition. Decide on a theme or main event for your fundraising benefit. For example you can opt for a golf tournament, a walk-a-thon, concert or fancy ball as the primary focus for your benefit. When choosing an event, make sure that it s a popular attraction that will bring in the types of people you are hoping to attract.

ind donors who are willing to donate gifts to give away to your donors. These gifts will be complimentary tokens of thanks to each guest that attends. Establish low cost ways to publicize the event. You can screen print T-shirts, send out a press release and take advantage of social media networks as ways of marketing your event. Consider advertising on the radio also. These options are pricey but ask for free air time in exchange for recognition.

Understand that this fundraising event needs to be successful for future fundraising. Success solidifies future funding of your cause. The pressure should be on to organize an event for now and for many years to come. Set up committee meetings throughout the planning stage. Meeting periodically will allow the chair to confirm that everything is going to plan. Additionally, it will offer committee members an opportunity to get together and be updated on their peer committee progress.

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