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Fundraising Guide: Planning Your Event

Choose a date, time, and place

You want to get the most people to come out to the event. Pick a date, time, and place to maximize the number of participants. Think about your target audience, when they are most likely to be free, and what is a convenient and prominent spot for the event.

For example, the American Anti-Slavery Group (AASG) organized a vigil for Boston area college students. We chose to hold the event in Boston Common on a Friday at 4:30 PM. The event was at a central location with easy access via public transportation and at a time when there weren't any classes. Good places to hold a vigil include city hall, a cultural center, a historic landmark, and major transportation hubs. In addition, choosing a high traffic spot in your town is great for attracting people passing by.

Get permission

The next step is to get permission to hold an event. If you are holding an event at your school, on campus, at your church, synagogue or temple, then remember to talk to the administrators. Even though an event may seem fine to you, you should seek permission from someone regardless. You will need permission not only to hold the event, but to use a designated location, such as the auditorium.

If you are hosting a public event, this normally requires a permit. Be sure to check with your local police department about laws regarding public gatherings and get all relevant permits. If you find you do need a permit, you will need to apply for one from your city or town. These forms can often be found online; to expedite the approval process, fax the appropriate forms rather than send them by mail. Be sure to do this as soon as you can; you may have to wait a week or two before your permit is approved. In addition, make sure to have approval for a sound-system, if you plan on using one. Some cities require additional permits for broadcasting audio in public.

For example, to organize the Boston Common vigil, we had to work through the Boston Parks Department. We found their website, called their office, faxed in a permit, and kept calling over two weeks until we finally received approval. We also made sure to bring the permit with us to the event.

Planning

Speaking Event

If you plan to organize and host a speaking event, there are several options. First is may be useful to decide whether your event will have a specific focus, such as the genocide in Sudan , or sex-trafficking. Once you decide whether or not you will have a specific focus within the general theme of slavery, you can begin to recruit speakers. Contact local organizations or individuals who are involved with in the issue with which you are concerned and invite them to speak at your event. The greater diversity in terms of who the speakers are and what they will be talking about the better. Professors and student leaders are also a great resource to turn to. Once you have a finalized list of speakers, be sure to call the speakers during the week before your event to confirm their participation and remind them where the event is and when to be there.

Another option is to host a speaker from the American Anti-Slavery Group's Speakers' Bureau. The available speakers include former slaves and anti-slavery activists. To view a list of available speakers and book a speaker through the American Anti-Slavery Group, click here.

Determine who you want to invite to the event. This may be fellow students, professors, community members, even congressmen. Be sure to invite them and inform them of the event at least a week in advance.

Co-sponsors and Volunteers

Co-sponsors can help defray the costs of the event and be a source of volunteers. Costs will likely include, audio equipment rental, perhaps a speaker’s honorarium and poster printing. You will also need volunteers to help put up posters, set up on the day of the event, and pass out materials to people who drop by the vigil. So look for groups and individuals who would be willing to help out. Political, cultural, and religious organizations are a good place to start. Go to one of their meetings, call them or send an email to get them excited and motivated to co-sponsor.

Communication is key when working with individuals and groups with whom you are not in regular contact. If you are working with many groups, it's useful to put together a spreadsheet of all of your contacts. Once you have contacts, try to establish a written, clear description of what their commitment will be. Be sure to follow up and keep in frequent contact with these groups or individuals. For example, if a group has agreed to make copies of posters and put them up on a particular day, be sure to call them the next day to check up on their progress. Also, make sure to get volunteers and contacts to send out mass e-mails to friends or groups they are a part of, spreading word of the event.

Planning a candlelight vigil

Set a clear focus and demand for the vigil. Possibilities include: demanding local congressional leaders pressure the US government; launching a local divestment campaign, signing a petition, raising funds, or simply standing in solidarity with victims of genocide and slave raids.

Be creative in your planning and involve different activities. For example, invite local gospel choirs to enhance the event, bring a petition for people to sign, or perhaps get a local restaurant or coffee shop to donate hot cocoa or coffee.

Co-sponsors and Volunteers

Co-sponsors can help defray the costs of the vigil and be a source of volunteers. Costs will likely include candles, audio equipment rental, and poster printing. You will also need volunteers to help put up posters, set up on the day of the event, and pass out materials to people who drop by the vigil. So look for groups and individuals who would be willing to help out. Political, cultural, and religious organizations are a good place to start. Go to one of their meetings, call them up or send them an email to get them excited and motivated to co-sponsor.

For the AASG's Boston vigil, co-sponsors included a campus fraternity, the Harvard Black Students Association, and the Boston University Health and Human Rights Caucus. They provided small funding, put up posters, sent volunteers, and even spoke at the rally.

Also, make sure to get volunteers and contacts to send out mass e-mails to friends or groups they are a part of, spreading word of the event.

Speakers

Contact local organizations or individuals who are involved with in the issue with which you are concerned and invite them to speak at your event. The greater diversity in terms of who the speakers are and what they will be talking about the better. Professors and student leaders are also a great resource to turn to. Once you have a finalized list of speakers, be sure to call the speakers during the week before your event to confirm their participation and remind them when they need to be there. It is best if speakers in total don't run longer than 40 minutes. Finally, you will want to designate one person as the master of ceremonies to guide the vigil.

Invitations

Determine who you want to invite to the vigil. This may be fellow students, professors, community members, even congressmen. Be sure to invite them and inform them of the event at least a week in advance.

Singing Groups

If you want anyone to sing at the event, then contact gospel choirs and a cappella groups, church choirs or school music groups to perform at the event.

Planning an athletic event

Once you have decided upon the type of athletic event and the date, location, and time of the event, begin to imagine it and set goals. If you are doing a bike-ride, run, or walk you need to map-out a course for the activity so that you can present it with your permit request, and think through the timing and scheduling for the event day.

If you are doing a bowl-a-thon, or baseball tournament, think about how many people the facility can accommodate, how many teams you will create, how many fields this will require — and then how many innings you will play.

If you are doing a walk-a-thon or swim-a-thon, think about how long you want the event to last. Determine how far or how long each person will strive to swim. For how long will the walk-a-thon continue?

In all cases, begin to think about how you will disseminate information about modern day slavery to make this an educational event and whether there will be side activities such as a bake-sale or American Anti-Slavery T-Shirts for sale before, during, or after the event. All of these topics will carry over into the logistics of the event, but it is useful to map them out ahead of time and write as much as possible down on paper.

Finally, determine who you would like to participate in the event. Consider whether the event will be open to the public, focus solely on your community or particular campus or school groups, or open to all groups and individuals who are interested.

Co-sponsors and Volunteers

Co-sponsors can help defray the costs of the event and be a source of volunteers. Costs will likely include, audio equipment rental, perhaps a speaker's honorarium and poster printing. You will also need volunteers to help put up posters, set up on the day of the event, and pass out materials to people who drop by the vigil. So look for groups and individuals who would be willing to help out. Political, cultural, and religious organizations are a good place to start. Go to one of their meetings, call them or send an email to get them excited and motivated to co-sponsor.

Planning a sale, auction, or raffle

If you decide that you want to hold a sale, auction, or raffle, the next step is to decide what exactly you will sell, auction or raffle off. Regardless of what you choose, begin to envision the event and how you want it to work. Think about where you will be and what materials you will need. Think about the duration of the event, who will be involved and who your target audience will be. Set reasonable goals — they do not have to be monetary. Your goal could be to attract media coverage, to sell at least 25 items, to reach a new audience, or even to get five new people really interested and concerned about modern-day slavery.

Planning a concert, dance, talent show, or other art event

A concert, dance, talent show, or other art event can be a very rewarding experience, but before committing yourself to this type of event, you should remember that it can be a lot of work. This does not mean it is not doable. In fact, it may be just right and a lot of fun.

As you begin to plan, think through the event and take note of how you envision the event, who will be involved, where things will be located, and who will do what when. If there will be a theme, a background, props, tables with information before and after the event, refreshments, programs — think about this too. As you think, take notes and once you do this begin to delegate. Holding a concert or art event is not work for just one person, it is work for several. Use committees and break the work into pieces.

As you brainstorm, be realistic and use your talents as well as the resources and facilities you have at your disposal. Holding a concert or event may be out of your comfort zone because it is something you have never done before. That is okay. What you should utilize are your strengths. Start with these and expand from there.

An example of this comes from a Cape Cod gallery owner who knew he wanted to spread the word about the mission, workings and achievements of the American Anti-Slavery group as well as raise awareness of modern-day slavery in the world. He had heard Francis Bok speak at a different AASG event and found the speaker particularly moving. He wanted to share this with other people, but realized it might be hard to entice people to come out for a speech. His solution: combine a speaking event and a concert.

Planning a canvassing campaign, spare change drive, or collection

A collection, spare change drive, or canvassing campaign can be as simple or complicated as you want it to be. Ideally, collection of monetary donations will emphasize the cause, make clear the American Anti-Slavery Group's mission, and the state of slavery in the world today. It is important to have a good understanding of the surrounding events and circumstances so the collection can be taken-up appropriately.

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