Some of you know that I worked very hard this summer planning a carnival and silent auction. I wrote up a recommendation of what we needed to do to reach our very high goals for this fundraiser. I'm posting it for anyone curious to see what we had been planning in case it might help someone.
Spring Carnival and Silent Auction
Auction-
Per item, baskets and donations solicited by mail brought in equal earnings and had nearly equivalent expenses. From the 200 letters sent out last year, we received items that earned $529. There were other items that were not sold in the auction but were used for supplies for the auction, raffle and spaghetti dinner. For each $1000 goal, we need to send approximately 400 letters.
Plan for 2005 event:
Do 29-30 class baskets again.
Solicit parent and teacher donations again.
Send requests to businesses who donated last year.
Mail at least 1000 letters to request donations. This should increase the earnings from the auction by $2000.
Raffle-(Optional)
To hold a legal raffle we must get a license and have approved raffle tickets printed. The minimum cost of holding a raffle is $100.
We can optimize profit from the raffle by selling tickets for $2 each or 3 for $5 and pre-selling them beginning the week before the event.
Items to be raffled:
1 Eat out for a week - 6-7 restaurant gift certificates
2 Shopping spree – gift certificates from local stores
3 Game nut pack – collection of games
Carnival-
Go through Fun Services. They will let us use their booths and games for the cost of prizes. We will also receive a bounce castle at half price and receive discounts for concession supplies. A redemption booth will hand out prizes. We will add the cake walk, a hay ride, face painting and sand art to supplement their games.
Entertainment and guests-
1 McGruff will give a safety presentation (Fingerprinting optional)
2 Eight children’s performing groups (This will provide free entertainment and bring in approximately 40 new families. This will help positive PR for our school. We will also improve attendance at our event, bringing in more revenue as a consequence.)
3 Bomb squad – tour the van, learn about their equipment and see a demonstration of Odie the surveillance robot.
Optional items and their benefits -
1 Test drive for kids - $500-1000
2 Sell hats - $100-500
3 Sell kids’ fun bags (small grab bags with items different than the carnival prizes)- $100-300
4 Spin art booth - $75-300
5 Petting Zoo - $200-1000
6 Rent other inflatables or rides - $200-800 each, declining with each additional ride
7 Other guests – i.e. Fire truck, swat team, motorcycle cops
8 Fun house - $1000-2000
9 Obstacle course made from gym equipment - $500-2000 (I don't recommend doint both the fun house and the obstacle course.)
Concessions-
1 Pizza – Dominos (profit from each pizza is $10 each. Dominoes will deliver as needed to keep up with demand and to keep pizzas fresh.)
2 Drinks
3 concession items from Fun Services such as cotton candy
Optional –
1 Hot dogs
2 Donuts (Krispy Kreme always goes over well at our school.)
3 Other simple foods
Volunteers-
We will recruit volunteers from the school as well as from local churches and volunteer groups such as the Foresters and Denver JayCees. The major volunteer need will be the day of the event. With planning and recruitment, the average volunteer should only need to work for 1 hour and 15 minutes.
Optional-
We can offer volunteers a drink and small snack while they are working. (Recommended)
Publicity-
Pre-sell tickets and have coupons in flyers for 5 tickets for $1, regularly 4 for $1.
1 Send home flyers to pre-purchase tickets and raffle tickets
2 Flyers or ads in neighborhood newsletters
3 Give flyers to performing groups, local daycares and preschools to distribute.
4 Advertise in every local newsletter and Church bulletin that will allow.
Optional-
1 Pre-sell tickets and raffle tickets Saturday before event at local supermarkets if allowed.
2 Pre-sell tickets and raffle tickets each day after school from 2:30-3:00
We will try to defer as many costs as possible from donations and asking for grants from local businesses, but nothing can be guaranteed.
Additional planning information to come if the above is approved:
Volunteer roles list
Funds required – firm estimate
Publicity sample flyers
Detailed calendar with deadlines
Proposed schedule for day of event-
10 am - set up
11am - Carnival begins
2pm - Auction closes, game booths and possibly the bounce castle are packed up.
Auction winners are tallied and announced. Cashiers will open as soon as possible. redemption booth and attractions that do not give out tokens for prizes will continue.
3pm - Carnival ends. Clean up continues.
