The Procedure For Holding a Charity Event

Charity events, like all events, require careful planning. You can become a great event host by following these 12 steps.

Before you start, know what your goal is. Many events are held to raise money. But they can also be designed to raise friends. Friendraising events may be held to show appreciation for volunteers and/or donors or may expand your circle of friends. Friendraising events are as important as fundraising events and should be held more often than fundraisers. Be sure you have both on your calendar!

Once you have established what you want to get from the event, the procedure for making it great is the same for all events. Here goes:

1. Keep your mission in mind. Always. Don't consider any event that doesn't advance your mission. You exist to fill a need not to throw parties. Every single event should be designed to move you closer to your vision.


2. Pick a theme - this is fun and important. A theme drives everything else you do. Be creative. Make sure your theme helps you build your case. It might be around what you are raising money for or what is new or planned for your organization. I am working with a new organizations that has set goals for the year including how many families served and how many volunteers will be trained. That's their theme. Your theme will run through everything you say and do at your event!


3. Name it - give your event a name that reflects your theme. This should be catchy, friendly and appealing. In my example, the ED mentioned her goals and they were both 20 - 20 families served this year and 20 volunteers trained. The theme is: 20in12.


4. Brand it - once you have your name you are ready to design a "logo." Hopefully you have a professional designer to do this, if not look at lots of good logos before you start. In the case of 20in12, we used an appealing type font and colors that were part of the organizations palette. We added the tagline: Count me in! This brand will be used on all your promotions, your website, tickets etc.


5. Create a Task list - now to the nitty gritty. (Note: this detailed schedule could come first but it is nice to start with the creative part to energize you and your team) Use an Excel spreadsheet or equivalent and list, in categories, EVERY task you can think of for the event. Events go wrong when details aren't attended to. List the category (Invitations), list each related task, who is responsible and it's due date. You can't be too detailed. Assign a project manager to keep this list up to date, make that his/her contribution to the event, this is a different task than be the chair of the event.


6. Meet regularly. At each meeting review your list and mark completed items.


7. Involve many people. As you move from one category to another, involve more people. The more people that have a stake in the event, the better your results will be. When you get to program, bring in a videographer, a musician etc. Include your designer where appropriate. Enlist workers to prepare mailings.


8. Do tasks early. If there is something that can be done now, do it. Too many tasks must be done at the last minute. All shopping, selections, agreements, decorations etc. should be done well in advance. As long as you are guided by your theme your choices should be relatively easy.


9. Pay attention to the details. I can't emphasize this enough. If you are detailed oriented, move over, find a partner, do whatever it takes to make sure every iota is attended to. There will be surprises but when everything else is in order you can handle the surprises. You can be a bit of freak on this (I am), care about the colors, the name tags, the seating.


10. Deliver a message. There is time at every event to share your mission. Practice what you will say and deliver it eloquently. Don't say too much, just what needs to be said. Use emotion when you speak, in testimonials and in video. Emotion is important, you want to capture people's hearts.


11. Have fun. Be so ready, personally and professionally that you can really enjoy yourself.


12. Follow up. Very quickly reach out to everyone you met for the first, to your team to thank them and to your guests in general. The more personal the better. Listen! They'll have something to say and you need to hear it.

Good luck. Events are wonderful, important, inspiring and rewarding. Make the most of yours.