<p>I am on the board of our public library. This upcoming year is the centennial of our city, a very well known tourist city. We have a sponsor who will underwrite the food and location, etc. of a fundraiser. Trying to come up with some ideas. Our area is overwhelming with the traditional dinner, silent and live auction format. Lots and lots of them.
If we go too literary, ie come as your favorite book character etc. we probably won’t get good attendance. Not enough of a literary crowd.
Any CCers out there been involved in these type of fundraisers ? (I’m sure the answer is yes.)
Any great ideas or success stories?
Thanks!</p>
<p>Do you have anybody famous living in town? Our library has celebrity teas, where they invite authors to have tea with people. We also have a couple of well known actors and musicians in town who often lend their names and talents to fundraisers.</p>
<p>One of the most enjoyable fundraisers I went to recently operated like this. First we had dinners in groups of 10 to 30 at different people’s houses. Each house had a theme, depending on the size of the house and the energy of the hosts the dinners might be sit down or more casual. There was a French meal, a Brazilian meal, an Italian dinner, a Mardis Gras inspired meal, Soul Food and some others I don’t remember. There was some musical entertainment at each house as well. Our entertainment was from some very talented high school students, the Mardis Gras house had New Orleans Jazz band music. After dinner and entertainment everyone went to a local country club for coffee and dessert and more caberet style music. It must have been a huge amount of work, but it turned out very well. Lots of energy, met new people because of the small dinner format. </p>
<p>Another fundraiser I like are house and garden tours - both our hospital and the local garden club have them. An adjacent town’s Historical Society runs theirs.</p>
<p>^for the literary tie-in, you could call it a “Moveable Feast”</p>
<p>Thanks for the ideas. We have the dinner thing too. I love it because you pay your $100. and you get dinner and wine at someone’s fabulous home. They donate the food and wine so the money all goes to the cause. The guests can come knowing that they won’t get hit up to buy raffle tickets or auction items once they arrive.</p>