One thing that many people struggle with when planning and organizing a fundraising event is creating a party type atmosphere but keeping the serious business of fundraising in mind.  You and your committee need to decide right from the very beginning of planning an event, are you having a party or a fundraiser?  Tough choice sometimes, but you can have both!  Ambiance can bring a new level of excitment to an event.  Create a theme for your event and try to insert it into every aspect of it that you can.  From the decorations to the food items, revenue enhancers even down to some of the auction items you can successfully keep the theme of your event going throughout, while keeping your guests entertained and engaged. 

In today's market you need to find more creative ways to get your guests in the doors.  There has been a decline of people attending fundraising events over the last 2 years, so giving your guests and supporters more of a reason to want to attend any event is becoming more paramount than ever before.  Your organization is competiting for the attention and support of a smaller pool of people for various reasons.  Give yourself an edge by coming up with a great theme.

Your first priority of any fundraising event is

Read more: Disguising a Fundraising Event as a Party

This year marked the 25th Night of Trees Gala to support the programs of the Washington DC Special Olympics, and my 22nd year as the selling auctioneer for the event.

Always a popular well attended event featuring the band Express, an attractive Silent Auction with many items from the NFL Players, Inc, [a major sponsor of the event] and an active live auction of trips and experiences, highest dollar item was a Superbowl trip for two with hotel accommodations,  access to the NFL Players Superbowl party, two game tickets, and airfare which brought $10,250.00.

 Enjoy the video while we were selling a trip to Tuscany valued at $4,000.00 and especially enjoy the work of the Floor Auctioneers, Ron Leftwich,  Tom Shubert, T J Shubert, and Ray Raines

The 14th Annual Native Vision Gala "An Evening With The Stars" was another very successful event sponsored by the NFL Players Association.  The event is held to raise monies to send Native American youth to sports and life camps. Many current and retired NFL players as well as other professional atheletes conduct sports clinics, chat sessions, and media workshops for the campers.   

Nick Lowery, former NFL placekicker for the Kansas City Chiefs, is the co-founder of Native Vision along with NFLPA assistant executive director Clark Gaines.  The NFL Players Association is also partnered with the John Hopkins Center for American Indian Health in this effort.  The goal of the fundraising gala is to send at least 800 Native American youths to camp in 2010.

Guests of the event were treated to many wonderful opportunities to bid and buy many NFL signed memorabilia items that are donated by the players.  Also, there were several Native American rugs, pottery and jewelry that were also offered.  The event is attended by current and retired NFL players, many of which have become regular fixtures at this event.

The live auction featured 7 outstanding items, highlighted by a deluxe Super Bowl XLIV package that sold for $10,000, 4 tickets in the NFL Players suite at Fed Ex field to see the Redskins vs. the Cowboy that realized $2000, and a wine lovers dream package to San Francisco and Napa Valley that went out at $5000, all selling well above value.

This was the first time an appeal has been conducted at the Native Vision event.  Led by auctioneer Ron Leftwich, the appeal went well past expectations and realized well over $20,000 to send kids to camp.  The appeal alone will send close to 125 Native American youths to camp!!

The gala event was hosted by the Italian Embassy in Washington, DC.

Red Derby Consultants & Fundraisers introduced many new ideas at this years record setting event, and more ideas and suggestions that we shared with them will be implemented in next year's gala.  The NFLPA hired Red Derby Consultants & Fundraisers to conduct a training workshop where the ideas were shared and brainstormed.

Let the team at Red Derby Consultants & Fundraisers help your organization achieve its dollar and community goals.  We are a profit source for your event.  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it  today and let us show you how the magic works!

The guest's at this year's gala for Highland School were treated to quite an event.  The theme was tied in with James Bond and was entitled "A Night To Bond".  The ambiance, layout, and A/V were outstanding.  This fall's event is on the heels of it's annual event that was held in April of 2009, but the organizers desperately wanted to move the event back to the fall, so they held another gala only 6 months later.  Since the events were in such close proximity of each other this event was scaled back somewhat with a smaller silent auction and fewer than normal live auction items. 

The gym was transformed into a sheak, hip, upscale club that would do any James Bond movie proud.  Guests purchased chips to play multiple casino games and accumulate tickets for raffle drawings.  There was an outstanding array of mystery box offerings, approx. 75 of them that did all sell out.  Also a new feature this year was the "Roll the Dice for a New Car" game that drew lots of interest.  Although no one won the car, the game earned several thousand dollars for the event.

The live auction featured 17 very nice items and packages and a Raise the Paddle appeal for technology.  Many of the live auction items sold for well over value.  We had 3 of the donors in the room that night that gave second packages to the auction as a result of the first ones selling so strongly.  In total, there were 6 items that doubles were offered and sold.  Highlights of the auction were the Black Lab puppy that sold for $11,000, Super Bowl XXIV tickets realized $6500 and Head of School for the Day brought in $3800.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             

Raise the Paddle was held during the early part of the live auction to raise funds for improving technology throughout the entire school.  There were many generous people that night that helped push the total for the appeal well over $50,000!  This was the second time a Raise the Paddle appeal has been conducted at Highland, both being very successful.