Dinner Party

Charge an admission fee to a dinner party with the proceeds going to your club. The dinner could be cooked and donated by club members and friends in order to keep your cost down. Perhaps your school or local VFW Hall or other such club would donate their building for your event. You can also use a restaurant, but will need to charge a higher admission fee to cover your costs.

Dinner/Auction

Use the same format for hosting a dinner as listed above, but now add to it an auction and increase your one evening fund raising take. Many types of auctions will work well in conjunction with a dinner, but the key to success is to get all the items to be auctioned donated. For more information on auctions, read the Part I of the Series.

Below is an example of how the numbers work out (presuming all food, facilities and auctioned items are donated).

• 150 people pay a $15 admission fee ($2250.00)
• 200 items auctioned at an average of $15 each ($3000.00)
• TOTAL PROCEEDS $5,250.00

Note: If you ask each club member to be responsible for bringing 10 people to the auction and getting 5-10 items donated from local businesses for the auction you will have great attendance and lots of items to auction. Play with the numbers and set high goals.

Dances

Ask your school if you can use the gymnasium one night for a dance that you will charge an admission fee for. A charge of $3 to $5 is a typical admission fee. It might draw more interest if it is ties to a holiday such as Christmas or Halloween. Additional, setting up a concession stand can also make money.

Your expenses will include a fee for the band or the DJ and for your concession food costs. Some schools may also charge a fee for electricity and to have their custodians work overtime. This can bring you a couple of thousands dollars for just one night of fun.

Pancake Breakfast

A pancake breakfast consisting of serving pancakes, sausage, coffee, tea, milk, etc. is the basis of this fundraiser. Typically between $3 and $5 is charged per person for the breakfast and that includes unlimited pancakes. You should charge less for children, perhaps $2.

The best time to schedule a pancake breakfast is the morning of another big event such as a homecoming football game, although it also works as a stand-alone event. You should run your breakfast from 7:00 am to around 11:00 or 11:30 am.

You should try to get the food, beverages and paper or plastic items donated. You should begin your solcitation of those items several months in advance. About 10 days in advance of your event you should begin a strong promotional campaign. You will need a large indoor or outdoor facility that can hold between 100 and 300 persons simultaneously, buffet style.

Marathon Party

With this fundraiser you must secure a school gymnasium and permission to use it all night. The idea is to invite area youth (middle school through high school) to an all night party at the school, which you will charge a $5-$10 admission to attend.

You will want to have a wide variety of activities available such as card games, board games, dancing, basketball, volleyball and other sports. You should also set up several TV's, VCR's and have plenty of good videos or DVD's to watch.

You should encourage students to bring sleeping bags so they can take catnaps as needed. This party should be held from 6:00 pm on a Friday or Saturday night and go until about 11:00 am the next day.

You will need to have about one adult chaperone to every 10-15 students. You will need to maintain tight security to be sure nobody leaves the building or wanders around the building. Be sure to set up a good concession stand. You can even sell an event t-shirt commemorating the night.