So, I'm planning my first fundraiser and it's not going as well or easily as I had hoped. ...did you know that it costs money to throw a fundraiser? When did things get so complicated and expensive? Basically, I just thought I'd decide to do a fundraiser, set it up, and make loads of money on it. Instead, I need to find a place to hold it, and find a way to afford the place, and make sure that people will come and spend their money, and just, you know, actually organize and hold a fundraiser. So, instead of thinking about how overwhelming it is, I'm trying to do things one step at a time.
Step 1: Decide what type of fundraiser you'd like to hold.
I had a couple of ideas in mind. I know that I'm going to do a winetasting (that's been a given for awhile). I also would like to do a cabaret. I was thinking about doing a selection of Sondheim songs. Or maybe a bunch of songs where women sing men's parts or men sing women's parts. Or maybe both - Sondheim songs where women sing the men's parts and men sing the women's parts...something fun. Another fundraiser I was thinking of doing was a cocktail party, or maybe a staged reading and then I thought I'd do both together. I don't want to do a full staged reading because I don't want to give away the whole show until the production is finished (you may have noticed my avoidance of spoilers), so maybe a cocktail party, after the show is cast, where we show vignettes from the show to give a taste...oh and, since it's a cocktail party, also everyone can get drunk. But, pick one, Jess, and go from there. So first comes the wine tasting.
Step 2: Decide on location.
So a friend of mine, who has been doing the fundraising thing a LOT longer than me, held a fundraising winetasting at this great place, a wine bar in the city. So, when I was at her fundraiser, she introduced me to the man in charge and we talked about me doing my own thing perhaps around July 12th. We exchanged cards with the plan of emailing and speaking the following week.
Step3: Negotiate the deal.
So after some back and forth with the wine guy, I'm hoping for an August 23rd date. It took some wrangling and it still hasn't been settled yet, but I'm optimistic that it will work out. The first date I wanted didn't work because it was too soon and the place wasn't available. Then the second date I wanted I lost to a wedding party. So know I'm putting my money on date #3. Keep your fingers crossed.
Step4: Pay the money.
I believe the next step will be to put a deposit on the space. This will hold the date and allow me to have the actual fundraiser. Keep your fingers crossed for me that the date will be available and that it will all go off without a hitch.
Step5: Decide on the wines.
I'm hoping that once the date is settled, the wine guy and I will sit down and decide what types of wines we'd like to have and sort out the raison d'etre for the fundraising being, you know, a winetasting.
Step6: Send out the invitations.
I'm still trying to decide if I want to do it by evite or if I want to send out real invitations. I think the "real" invitations thing is better but I'm not sure about spending the money on stamps. I am trying to keep costs to a minimum. I think I'm going to go the evite route and have the option for people to prepay before the event for less money than if they just showed up at the tasting on the day. There will probably be a 25-30 person limit and because space is limited so I want to make sure that anyone who wants to do it can come.
Step7: Show up on the day and make lots of money.
Hopefully it will be as simple as showing up on the appointed day and the money just rolling in. Keep your fingers crossed for me.
I do feel that I need to just sort of pull the trigger and get at least one fundraiser under my belt. For as much as I've broken it down into easily manageable steps, I still feel like it's overwhelming and the possibility that people will give me money for something (despite the $4000 in donations I've already received) for nothing in return (or in this case for some wine in return) still seems unlikely. I think it's a feeling, (it all comes back to asking for money from friends and strangers thing), that anyone who is trying to raise money, just has to get over...
...I'm working on it.
Never fear, I'll keep you all posted on the struggle.
