Your Casino Fundraising Night
Get The Most Out Of Your Fundraising Dollar
Our specialty is in fundraising events. We want to make sure you get the most of your fundraising dollar. Below is a brief outline of why choosing us for your fundraiser is your best bet.
The Goal.
Generally when asked the question, “how much would you like to raise at this event?” Most hosts realize that they haven’t given it enough thought.
Having a realistic goal of how much money you would like to raise is the key starting point. It should determine the price of your entrance fee and the limit of your expenses.
Decide how much would you like to raise at this event. Draft a spreadsheet of your proposed Revenue and Expenses.
Obviously the key to your Bottom Line is to maximize your revenue and minimize your expenses. As fundamental as this concept is, the concept can be easily overlooked.
The Revenue
Revenue for a fundraiser will typically take the form of one, some, or all of the following:
Ticket Sales
Additional Script
Live Auction
Food
Table Sponsorship
Drink Sales
Silent Auction
The Details
Ticket Sales
Delegate the task of ticket sales to more than one person.
It is far easier for 20 people to each sell 10 tickets than it is for 1 person to sell 200 tickets.
Hold each of these 20 people responsible for the sale of their tickets.
Table Sponsorships
Find at least one table sponsor for each casino table being used and the sponsored amount should generally be at least $100.
Encourage your sponsors to provide “gag” gifts that promote their business to be distributed at “their” table.
For example – a blackjack table sponsored by a dentist could give away a free toothbrush (with the sponsor’s name imprinted) for each blackjack that is dealt. Or, the dealer could be dressed in the sponsor uniform.
Make your sponsors feel as though they are getting value for their donation and not only are they more likely to attend the event, getting a similar sponsorship the next year will be much easier
Drink Sales
for their money will generally determine whether guest’s drinks are included in the ticket price or if they need to pay for them.
Typically, the more expensive the entrance fees the less likely you are to charge additional for drinks.
On “drink inclusive” events a limited bar (beer, wine, soda) is suggested to curb costs.
On other events entrance fee usually includes two “drinks tickets” which are typically redeemed at a rate of one ticket for a soft drink and two tickets for wine or beer.
Food
This follows a similar format to your drinks. See the previous drink sales section for details.
Silent Auction
These are often incorporated into a casino evening and I offer the following advantage/disadvantage thoughts on the inclusion of a silent auction:
Advantages: Opportunity to raise more money
Disadvantages: Requires additional sponsors to donate auction items. Interrupts flow of casino evening and takes people away from tables. Much more organization and coordinating involved
Bottom Line: Silent auctions are often the backbone of revenues generated at fundraising parties.
Live Auction
Live auctions can generate a tremendous amount of revenue for the event, if done correctly. There are several key ingredients to a successful live auction.
Maintain a captive audience – shut down all other activity during this time.
Shorter is better – your live auction should run no more than 30-40 minutes.
Less is more – have only a few; generally less than 10 – high ticket items for auction.
Use a dynamic auctioneer – Make the live auction short and it can be very, very sweet.
Additional Script
As part of their entrance fee guests are usually given an initial “stake” of script or funny money. If they lose this initial stake they should have the option of acquiring more funny money for a token “donation.” This is an additional source of revenue though generally not to the extent that hosts expect it to be. Primarily because guest, for the most part, play conservatively.
You want to give your guests a sense of having received value for their entrance ticket so be sure to include enough script money in their package. I suggest a minimum amount of $1000 in script. Anything less and guest might feel a little “short changed.” Much more than this and you greatly reduce the chance of guests making a donation for more script.
Regarding the donation of additional script: Make the additional “donation” an amount that is a round number and covered by a single bill ($5, $10, $20, $50 etc.).
Expenses
Again, the fundamental rule regarding expenses is to keep them to a minimum without compromising your event. Typical expenses incurred hosting a casino event: Venue costs, Decorations, Casino equipment with dealers, Beverage costs, Food costs, Clean Up.