Sections In Fundraising Small Event Fundraising for the Animals Asia Foundation As a starting point here is a list of the possible events you could organise: Art Exhibition Arts & Crafts Festival Antiques fair Auction Barbecue Book Sale Bingo night Car Boot Sale Charity Ball Christmas Raffle Coffee Morning Collection of loose change Collection box in your office Disco Fancy Dress Party Flower Show Garden Party Gala Evening Halloween Party Jumble Sale Karaoke Night Lottery Music Competition Music Festival No Uniform Day in School Poetry Competition Painting Competition Pantomime Pub Quiz Night Raffle Sponsored Swimathon Sponsored Walk Street Collection Treasure Hunt Talent Competition Wine Tasting Evening Depending upon the type of event that you wish to organise you will need to consider a number of issues – here are some helpful hints How do I start? The first step is to decide the type of fundraising event you want to do, and what you are capable of organising. Remember the best events are the ones that you enjoy doing so choose something that you will have fun with. Get some help from family & friends It will be easier and more enjoyable to organise an event with other people, so speak to your friends and family about your ideas and seek their help and advice. You will need to find people who are reliable as well as creative, hardworking and enthusiastic. Make a plan In the first instance you will need to put a rough plan together as a starting point for the organisation of your event. You will need at least a list of things that need to be done and a timetable for doing them. This list will allow you to assess the number of people that you may need to help you to put the event together successfully. Hold a meeting Get everybody together to talk about the event, usually you will find that people will volunteer to carry out certain duties so helping you with the overall organisation of the event. And you may need to assign tasks to people in the group. At the end of the meeting be sure that everyone has a written record of what they need to do and by when. How to make money for the bears You can charge an admission fee or entrance fee, sell refreshments, have a raffle, hold an auction, or charge for taking part in each individual activity. Event venue If it's a small event with a few friends and family, then try to use your own home or a friend’s home. But if you want something bigger such as a dance or disco, you could hire a church hall, scout hut or community centre room. Speak with people in the local community and find out if somebody has links with the local community centre as they may be able to book the hall for a discount. Getting people to come You should approach as many people as possible including your family and friends and school or work colleagues and anyone you know in your daily life. Give them all a leaflet or something with the time, date and address on, and maybe get them to buy a ticket from you. You could approach a local printing company and ask them to print some leaflets about your event for free. If you want to advertise on a larger scale, you can put up posters or you can pay for adverts in the local press and you can send a press release to the local papers and radio, we can help you with this if needed. The local radio station will often help to publicise your event via an events diary which they read out to the listeners. How can Animals Asia Foundation help? We can help by providing you with posters and leaflets as well as merchandise for you to sell at your event if it is appropriate. We may also know people within your local area that may want to help you to organise your event, as we have supporters throughout the country. In addition to this we can help you with any questions or queries you have, and we can help to publicise your event by speaking with the local media and advertising your event. For more information contact us on 01579 347148 or email on info@animalsasia.org Large Event If you are considering organising a ‘Large Event’ then here are some more useful tips Decide upon the type of event Choose your event carefully; think about the time of year, especially if it is to be an outside event. Speak to your friends and family Try to get other people involved with the event – this will make it much easier to organise Organise a ‘committee’ of people from your friends and family This will allow you to divide up the work of organising an event. The committee can also draw up an approximate budget for an event Name your event Providing a name for the event will mean that people will quickly pass on the information once it is up and running Circulate sponsorship forms The earlier you do this the more sponsorship you are likely to receive. Circulate them to friends, family, and work colleagues. For events such as swimathons. Walkathons etc. Contact your local schools Schools are likely to want to be involved with local community events. It is also a good way to publicise your event and the school may want to help out Contact Local Businesses Businesses are often keen on providing financial support to local communities for events. This may be one way of covering the costs of organising an event. A local business may also be able to help with providing a venue for your event Publicising your event Posters and flyers are good but often expensive. Again maybe a local business will help you here, or contact a local school and go in and talk with the children about your event. The children may be keen on producing posters to help you with publicity. If you need help please contact us. Contact the local newspaper Details of newspaper editors and reporters can usually be found in the front of your local paper. Papers will be interested in covering your event if it is a little different from their usual news items. Raising money for Moon Bears is quite different. Contact us at Animals Asia if you need help with speaking to the local press. Contact your local MP Getting the support of your local MP will increase its profile in the local area, and try to get your local MP to attend the event as this will help to raise the profile with the local media Contact your town Mayor Mayors’ like to support locally organised events. Their presence also means that the papers will take more interest. Contact your local press again after the event Send the papers some information about how successful your event was and also some photos. Hopefully, they will have attended and so have their own photos to publish. Send thank you letters Remember to thank everybody involved this includes any sponsors and the local press. Doing this may help you get their support again for future events.