All-Star Dinner Party Fundraiser

[Sammy_T]

Hi guys,

I was wondering if any of you have ever planned or been a part of a dinner party fundraiser for your team(s)? I had a parent suggest this to me today, and I was just going to do some brainstorming and wanted some input...

- Do you normally do fundraising for your all star gym? If so, do you fundraise for a SPECIFIC item (i.e. equipment or travel fees to competitions, etc.)
- Is it mandatory for you to sell tickets, or do you just hope for the best?

If anyone has any suggestions/ideas that they have worked well for you in the past, I would love to hear about it! Our gym is just going into our third season, and this would be the first fundraiser we have ever done. Any input or advice would be much appreciated!

 

[Just-a-Mom]

We do fundraise, but I've never heard of a dinner party fundraiser. How does it work?

Our fundraising is usually individual--a certain percentage goes into your account at the gym, based on how much you sell. It goes towards comp fees, uniforms, tuition, etc. I know some of the Worlds teams I've seen fundraise separately to earn money for the whole team towards Worlds.

 

[Sammy_T]

We're not entirely sure how it works yet! We're looking to run it later in the summer. The parent who suggested the idea has experience with running large-scale fundraisers, but I'm not sure how well her plan will go over for our small-scale gym... If we do go through with it and it is successful, I will be sure to let you know. Basically, she wants to hold a dinner party at a restaurant, sell the tickets for X amount, plus have wine tasting/raffle/silent auction, etc. So we would make $$ off of both the ticket sales and the actual events on the night itself.

I own a gym with about 65 athletes, and we would like to raise some funds to bring one of our teams to one of the "big" competitions in the USA... We're from Canada and our gym is about two hours North of Toronto, Ontario, so we've got a fair distance to travel, which makes is a pretty costly endeavor! We've done some brainstorming and I looked at some past posts on here, so we have a few ideas... Hopefully it will all work out!

 

[PullandPray23]

what about doing like a raffle...each ticket is say 50.00 and winner gets free tuition next year...or you could do it at an earlier time in the year...

 

[aggie1983]

What about having a parent's night out at your gym where parents can drop off younger children and go out to dinner and/or a movie while the kids play at the gym? Or doing this on a Saturday during the holidays to give parents a chance to go Christmas shopping? The only concern would be making sure you have enough staff/older cheerleaders to keep an eye on the little darlings so no one gets hurt, so it is best to require advance reservations and then allow for a few last minute add-ons. And you would probably need some kind of release forms. Just a thought because this is a low outlay type of fundraiser. Good luck in your efforts.

 

[Sammy_T]

Thanks @PullandPray23 -- we thought of doing a raffle, but the tuition thing is definitely a good idea!

@aggie1983 -- good call to hold the service during Christmas time.

Thanks everyone!