Magazine for the professional nail industry.
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having FUNand RAISING FUNDS Hosting a party can be stressful, but ultimately rewarding. The same goes for hosting a fundraiser, except the rewards can be even greater. Consider these steps for putting together a fundraiser, whether for breast cancer awareness or another cause dear to your heart, that is as fun as it is helpful. BY BETH LIVESAY 1. Plan Accordingly Like any good get-together, the bigger the head start, the better. Settle on a date and time. Brady Hahn, founder of Non Profit Effect and contributor to Eventbrite.com, recommends asking yourself, "What financial commitment are you willing/able to invest to see things develop?" and "What does your ideal team or outside partner(s) look like?" Once you have a date, time, budget, and team picked out, you can think about the big picture. Outline a mission statement for the event so you have a clear purpose to present to guests, sponsors, and press. 2. Teamwork With your team in place, Hahn recommends identifying and ranking your most pressing problems in order. Once you have acknowledged your obstacles you can work together to come up with solutions. Hahn also recommends "defining your relationships" by thinking about the organizations and individuals you want to work with on this endeavor. These are the potential sponsors, attendees, and press. Between you and your team, come up with a plan of action for finding out who the point people are, their contact information, and how to get them involved in your fundraiser. 3. Organization Once the big picture is figured out and everyone is one the same page, begin organizing to get things done. Yvette Masterson, president of Y Public Relations, is no stranger to organizing fundraisers. She recommends having weekly calls to review updates, especially if you are handling both the outreach and the actual planning. "Send out a formal save-the-date three weeks prior to the event and follow up with an invite two weeks before. I also feel that inviting local media to the event helps deliver your message via future exposure in their society pages," says Masterson. 4. Creating Buzz Getting the word out on an event isn't only for the day of. "The objective is to get the conversation started way in advance before the actual event date," advises Masterson. The best way is through social media. Urge your team to band together and use their Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest accounts to start the conversation. >>> 154 | NAILS MAGAZINE | OCTOBER 2013