Things to Consider
I love planning events. I love coming up with new ways to reach a goal — and that’s the easy part. The hard part is figuring out if that idea is going to actually be beneficial, and if it is, what is the best time to make a go of it. Here are some observations that I’ve made over the years. Some are obvious some may not hit you until afterwards. But as they say, ‘Hindsight is 20/20”.
Find out your competition. Is there someone else you will be competing against for the funds? Recently, I came up with, what *I* thought was a fabulous idea to make a little extra money for swim team.
I even ran the idea past a few students. I got their input on likes and dislikes. What I came up with was a Valentine’s Day Raffle that included a $30 gift card to AMC Theatres and a $30 gift card to Buffalo Wild Wings. Perfect date night package worth $60. We began advertising the week before with how and when they could purchase the tickets. The price was $1 a ticket or 6 tickets or $5. Pretty great deal, huh? Nope. Big negatory there Ghost Rider. We did recoup the cost, thankfully – and mostly due to teachers, who probably felt awful for us. But we made a whopping $19. Looking back, there were a few factors going against us. I really don’t think we sold long enough, but I think our biggest factor was Student Council was selling ‘smooches’. They are candy lollipops. They were being sold 1 for $0.75 or 2 for $1.00. They came with a note that you were able to write out to your recipient. I believe these have been sold for several years so it was hard going up against this. I wasn’t trying to take away from the ‘smooches’ by any means. I honestly thought the students would buy into both. Nope. Smooches won hands down. We definitely won’t be doing another Valentine’s Day raffle but I believe we may try this, next year, around St. Patrick’s Day for Luck of the Irish Raffle. Watch this space for that outcome:)
Another consideration is do you have time to plan it effectively? It’s a baaaaad idea to not plan thoroughly. Your lack of planning is going to end up looking bad on you and your results are going to be less than stellar. Make sure you make lists. Make lists of lists if you have too, but don’t forget anything. What are you going to need? What are your expectations? What results are you looking to achieve? Have a meeting. Have more meetings. Never underestimate the power of planning. Just because you are ‘pretty sure’ it’ll work out, why throw caution to the wind? If this is something that is important and you need/want to succeed, put your heart and time into it. It’ll all be worth it in the end.
Don’t be afraid to be adventurous and creative, but not something so far out that people are not going to warm to it. For example, I would love to plan a gumbo cook-off. However, being that we are up here in the cold, barren north and yes, it would be an AHHH-MAZZZING event, a gumbo cook-off would fall flatter than a pancake. Now, a chili cook-off in the middle of winter… Awesome. Throw in a pay to enter toss across tournament and 50/50 raffle – WINNER WINNER CHICKEN DINNER!
Last but not least, your numero uno considerations is your school or organization’s approval. When you come up with your idea, run it past your administration. Never come up with an idea and just go about it without approval. That’s the worst thing you can do. Can you imagine planning and getting right up to the day and being told no, sorry. You didn’t follow the correct channels. Not only would you have lost a lot of money, but you would probably be banned from doing anything else ever again. Don’t take chances. Even if you are not sure if you need permission or not, always ask first.
I guess this is foremost on my mind at the moment because I’m about to start setting up fundraisers for next year for the swim team. I want to be able to get ahead. I’ve made a great printout that I’m using for myself and I want to share with yall. This way you’ll be on your way to having things in order, in advance.
Speak soon!
take care,
~kat
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