Fundraising Banquet Manual

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Fundraising

Dinners & BanquetsGuide


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Why Hold a Banquet?A dinner or banquet can become the foundation of your FHFH ministrys annual fund-

raising plan. This type of event can help you: raise money for your FHFH ministry build a list of contacts and supporters for your FHFH ministry, and share your FHFH ministry with a group of people who will hopefully talk about it with

their families, friends, co-workers, churches, businesses and other organizations.

A banquet can be successful regardless of how many people attend. You never knowwho might be in the audience and how they might be able to help long-term once theylearn more about the FHFH ministry. This guide will teach you about the basic ele-ments of planning and conducting a fundraising banquet for FHFH in your area. Weveincluded descriptions of what is involved from planning through follow-up. These ideas

can be adapted to make the event fit your needs. Depending on your level of fundrais-ing experience, you may choose to follow this simple format or you might decide to addother elements to tailor the event to the needs in your area.

Getting StartedFirst you will need to DECIDE THAT YOU ARE GOING TO HAVE A FUNDRAISINGBANQUET. This sounds simple, but many people put it off thinking that they wont be

successful. We thought about holding a banquet here in Maryland for years before wefinally held our first one last September. When the event was over we wondered whywe had waited so long! Two obstacles stood in the way. First, we didnt know what todo (now that you are reading this that excuse wont work for you any more!). Second,we had some fear that the event would be a flop. Well heres the secret...the only wayfor a banquet to completely fail is if you dont have one at all!

Next you MUST FORM A BANQUET TEAM TO HELPYOU. YOU CANT DO IT ALL YOURSELF! A team canbe as small as two people or as large as twenty. All thatmatters is that you find some people who share your

interest in feeding the hungry and are willing to give yousome time and effort.

Finally, you and your new team NEED TO SET A DATEFOR YOUR BANQUET. Its easy to put something offnumerous times until you finally sit down together with

a calendar and find the date that will work for you. Be sure to take into account otherlocal events and schedulesyou dont want to schedule your banquet the same nightas the annual harvest parade or your sons homecoming football game!


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Location & FoodThe location and the food for your banquet dont have

to break the bank. By doing a little homework you canlikely find both at a reasonable cost (or free). Manylocal churches and other organizations have multipur-pose facilities now with tables, chairs and a podiumready for use. Some are available to outside minis-tries like FHFH at no cost while others can be had fora reasonable fee. Restaurant chains and local eater-ies will sometimes provide donated or discountedfood for charitable events. Outback Steakhouse isone chain that encourages their restaurants to workwith charities. Local Outback Steakhouses in Mary-

land and Ohio have already provided meals for FHFHevents at no charge. Other restaurants that have pro-vided donated or discounted food include Chick-fil-A,Red Lobster, Ryans and Fire Mountain Grill. If youend up using a local club or fire hall, check to see ifthey offer a combo price for the hall and a meal.

Who Will You Invite?FHFH is a hunting organization, a Christian ministry, and a hunger relief charity all inone. This gives us the unique opportunity to invite people from several different groupsincluding sportsmen, churches, and anyone with a heart for the needy. Thats a prettywide audience to draw from! Personal invitations will bring more people to yourbanquet than advertising. Its good to put up posters and make use of public serviceannouncements on the radio and in the newspaper, but most of the people who at-tend will be people that were invited by someone else. Having more people onyour banquet team really helps with this part. Each person will have their own contactsthat they can pursue. The best way to fill seats quickly is to recruit people, busi-nesses, churches and organizations to be table sponsors. This means that they

purchase the tickets for a whole table and they work on filling the table with the peoplethey want to invite.

Ticket pricing should be set to cover any expenses for the hall and the food and stillprovide a few dollars for your program. Additional money will be made through the si-lent auction and by inviting people to make gifts and pledges after the FHFH presenta-tion. The lower your hall rental and food expenses are the more you will be able tomake from each ticket sold.


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Whats Your Agenda?Once you have planned the location, the food, and have started inviting people you will

need an agenda for the banquet program. A basic agenda consists of the followingthings...

Welcome and Blessing the MealAfter welcoming the guests, explaining the banquet layout (dont forget to share thebathroom locations!), and sharing any other important details, offer a prayer to givingthanks to God for the meal and for the evening. The prayer can be given by the FHFHcoordinator or someone else. At this point the meal may begin.

The Silent Auction

The silent auction consists of a variety of itemsthat you have gathered for the event from localdonors and businesses and/or through the FHFHnational office. People bid for the items they likeby writing their name and bid amount on a sheetplaced with the item. People may continue to bidand re-bid for items throughout the evening. In-clude a wide variety of donated items such asartwork, jewelry, sports event tickets, furniture,baskets, hunting gear, etc. to make the auctionappealing to the whole group. The items shouldbe arranged on a row of tables with a bid sheet and pen for each. For any items thatwere purchased, a starting bid may be added to the sheet to ensure that the winningbidder doesnt give you less than you paid for the item! The auction will close near theend of the program at which point the winning bidders are announced.

Door PrizesDoor prizes are a fun way to involve more people. You can use the numbered ticket

stubs (from the tickets provided by FHFH) to draw for theprizes throughout the evening. Door prizes are generally do-nated items such as hats, t-shirts, music CDs, discountcards, etc. that are provided by local businesses and/or

FHFH. Table centerpieces are also nice door prizes. An-nounce that the person at each table with the birthday clos-est to the banquet date (or something else that you come upwith) gets to keep the centerpiece.

Partnering and Supporting OrganizationsA few minutes should be included in the program agenda to introduce representativesfrom any partnering or supporting organizations that are present. These can includesportsmens organizations, food banks, feeding ministries, churches, and other minis-


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tries and organizations. These groups could also be invited to set up displays in thebanquet hall. This is a valuable opportunity to help these other groups learn moreabout the FHFH ministry and to show the attendees that FHFH works with a wide vari-ety of other organizations to feed the needy of the community.

The FHFH Presentation

The FHFH presentation is given by the local FHFH coordinator or by another FHFHrepresentative. If you have access to a notebook computer that you can use for theevent, FHFH can provide a PowerPoint presentation about the ministry along with amultimedia projector. This presentation explains the basic history of FHFH, how theministry works, what has been accomplished so far, and the goals for the upcomingyear. The FHFH presentation concludes with an invitation for people to consider howthey will help support the ministry. Response cards are provided forpeople to give you their contact information, make a gift or monthlypledge commitment, and indicate other ways that theyd like to help.These cards are distributed by volunteers at the end of the presen-tation and then collected after the audience has had 5-10 minutes

to complete them.

Guest SpeakerYou may choose to have a guest speaker in addition to the FHFHpresentation. The guest speaker could be a local or regional celeb-rity, the director of a food bank or feeding ministry that uses meatfrom FHFH, or a local pastor. Their message should focus on theimportance of helping our needy brothers and sisters through pro-grams like FHFH. Maybe the director of the local rescue mission orother ministry that uses FHFH meat would be willing to attend alongwith some of the people who benefit from that ministry. They could have their own ta-

ble and provide their testimony about how valuable the meat from FHFH is to them!Youll have to decide if you want to include a guest speaker based on whether or notyou have contact with someone who can deliver this sort of message to your audience.If not you can skip this part. Your banquet will be a little shorter in length but trustme...few people will complain!

Banquet Follow UpAfter the banquet youll need someone to help you count and organize the checks,credit slips, and cash from the ticket sales, silent auction and response cards. Thesewill be forwarded to the FHFH main office to be deposited into your program fund. Besure to separate and label donations, ticket sales, and auction item payments. Follow-up letters will be sent to collect the gifts and pledges made on the response cards.Thank you letters need to be sent to any guest speakers, supporting organizations, si-lent auction item and door prize donors, table sponsors, etc. You might consider doingsomething special for the members of your banquet team. The FHFH main office canhelp with these thank-yous and can also supply certificates of appreciation.


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Banquet Checklist

1. Welcome Table

Cash box

Table assignments (if seating is pre-arranged)

Table layout posters

Reminder to keep their ticket stub for silent auction & door prizes

2. Silent Auction

Finalize item list

Finalize auction procedure

Participant instructions

Sign-in cards (auction sign-in table)

Auction item display cards

3. Door Prizes

Finalize item list

Tentative drawing times in program

Ticket stub container for drawings

4. Food & Drinks

Coffee/sweetener/creamer

Cold drink jugs

Ice coolers and ice (Continued)

SAMPLEa checklist can help you make sure all the details are covered.

Attachments...Some attachments and sample items are included with this guide to show you what the

FHFH main office can supply. These include sample posters, tickets, programs, re-sponse cards, silent auction bid sheets & item cards. There is also a sample banquetpreparation checklist and a photo summary sheet from a banquet that was held inMaryland.


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Cups for hot and cold drinks

Plates, napkins, flatware

Condiments, salt, pepper

5. Tables & Decoration Balloons (road entrance sign)

Centerpiecesif used as door prizes decide how to select winner

at each table (closest birthday to banquet date, etc.)

6. FHFH Display Table (optional)

Literaturebrochures, newsletters, magazines, CFC flyers

Merchandisehats, t-shirts, patches, etc.

7. Printed Materials

Programs

FHFH Brochures

Table sponsor table name cards

Extra tickets (for walk-ins)

Response cards (for contact information and pledges)

Response card envelopescards and pens inside on each table

8. Program

Finalize agendatype an emcee script/outline

Background music (FHFH office can supply Gospel CD by Matt

McPherson of Mathews)

PowerPoint background slides to run during meal

FHFH PowerPoint presentation

9. Follow-Up

Payment to caterer, sound and tech support persons

Pledge collection letters to those who made gift pledges

Thank you letters to merchandise and food donors

Thank you letters to speakers

Thank you letters to supporting organizations that sponsored ta-

bles, presented, etc.


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SAMPLE

theFHFH

officeprovidescustomizedposterstoh

elpyoupromoteyourba

nquet.

Farmers andHunters Feedingthe Hungry2004 BanquetFriday, Sept. 24th ~ 6:30 pm

Tri-State Fellowship13153 Cearfoss PikeHagerstown, MD

Silent Auction ~ Door PrizesMenu: Sirloin Steak, Grilled Chicken Breast,Caesar Salad, Baked Potato, Bread & Butter,Cheesecake with Raspberry Sauce

Donated by the Hagerstown:

Ticket Information:$25 indiv./$40 pair/$175 table (8)(Age 12 and Under: $10)Use ticket order form on back

or call 301 739 3000 .


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SAMPLEthe FHFH national office provides consecutively numbered

tickets that can be used for door prize drawings


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Wcomtoou

2Bq

TeSo

CatoctinFish&G

ameClub

ChristLutheranChurch

Citibank

Rick&J

oyceEllis

FaithChristianFellowship

FamilyRecreation,Inc.

J.L.KoontzHeating&A

C

JeffandJackieKelley

JohnLewis

Randy&G

wenMcLeod

NewLifeChristianMinistries

LarryPrice

ShowalterMasonry

DPeSeAoIemSyD

4-StarAthleticComplex

Adidas

TheBaltimoreOrioles

BlackandDecker

Cabelas

DicksSportingGoods

TheFrederickKeys

GreaseMonkey

HagerstownFurnitureOutlet

HagerstownTrust

HawgsLimited

KnightRifles

MattMcPherson

MiddletownCleaners

MurraysSportingGoods

NaturesEssence

OConnellJewelers

RapidLube

RedBarronFurniture&B

edding

ReliableHomeFurnishings

LindaShowalter

SpichersAppliances

Spathtothfoown

ThHowObkSekue

fogaouydnasevnoum

ThHowCck-A

fothrdooicdte

T-SaeFowhpfothueothrfaty


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CONTACT INFORMATIONName_____________________________

Address ___________________________

___________________________Phone #___________________________

FINANCIAL SUPPORT I/we would like to make a contribution

of: $_________. I/we would like to make a monthly

pledge of: $_________.

Please make checks payable to FHFH

OPTIONAL: Use your credit card!

Circle One: VISA MasterCard_____________________Exp. _______

Signature _________________________PERSONAL INVOLVEMENT

I/we would like more information about:

Hosting a table at the banquet next year

Sharing FHFH with my church, business, orclub Organizing a fundraiser at my church,

business, or club Other ________________________

Response Card

SAMPLEspecialresponsecardsprovidedbytheFHFH

officegivethoseattendingyo

urbanquet

theopportunitytoprovideyouwiththe

ircontactinformation,m

akeafinancialgiftorpledge,andof-

fertohelpyo

udevelopyourprogramasavolunteer.


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BaseballTickets

Donated by:The Frederick Keys

Table #5Sponsored by:J.L.Koontz Heating &

Air Conditioning

SAMPLEtable tents can help people find their seats (if seats are assigned)and also gives recognition to a person or business (if any) that sponsored the ta-

SAMPLEitems in your silent auction should be displayed as attractively aspossible along with the item name and donor.


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Ba

nquetResults

September24th,2

004

Hagerstown,M

D

ThefirsteverMarylandFHFHfund-

raisingbanquetwasatremendoussuc-

cess!M

orethan250peoplegathered

onFridayevening,September24that

Tri-StateFellowshipnearHagerstown,

MDto

enjoyamealprovidedbyOut-

back

Steakhouse,participateinasi-

lenta

uctionincludingawidevariety

ofitem

s,andlistentoanFHFHpresen-

tation

including

PowerPointslides,

testim

onialsfrom

severalareafood

banks

andministries,andanaddress

from

CongressmanRoscoeBartlett.

Justo

ver$14,0

00wasraisedthrough

ticket

sales,thesilentauctionandad-

dition

alcontributionsandpledges.

Attendance:250

Support:$14,0

00


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BanquetResults

April23rd,2005

HavredeGrace,M

D

ThefirsteverNortheastM

aryland

FHFHfundraisingbanquetwasatre-

mendoussuccess!Eightyoneguests

gatheredattheLevelVolunteerFire

HallinHavredeGraceto

enjoya

meal,participateinasilent

auction

includingawidevarietyofitems,and

listentopresentationsaboutF

HFHas

wellastheFranciscanCenterinBalti-

moreoneoftheministriesthatfeeds

FHFHvenisontothehungry.Over

$2,200wasraisedthroughticketsales,

thesilentauctionandadditio

nalcon-

tributionsandpledgestosup

portthe

FHFHmissionofproviding

donated

venisontotheneedyofMaryla

nd.

81GuestsProvide

Over$2,200!

Fundraising Banquet Manual

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