Seven Steps To Creating A Successful Benefit – Part 1
Producing A Benefit
I need to raise money for my favorite cause. Where do I start?
Here’s an engaging way of producing your next benefit!
Need to raise funding for your special church project or favorite charity organization? One of the first things a good event producer looks for is an Inspirational Entertainment that draws potential donors to your benefit evening. Clearly the draw of the event needs to be compelling, elegant and inspiring. Yes, it’s all about the giving, but if there’s one thing I’ve always understood, it’s this:
Working in the theater for some four decades now, I’ve had the necessity to raise money for my various projects through backer’s auditions again and again. What I’ve learned is that potential investors who attend really don’t invest in the play or musical, but instead, they invest in the backer’s audition. They come to your evening knowing relatively little about the concept or script, but if you do the audition right – polished, professional, with great talent and great songs – they gain a kind of confidence in the talent behind the audition and decide to invest in that.
I’ve also had the opportunity to produce and direct many world-class benefits at both Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall in NYC and have seen the power of presentation result in hundreds of thousands of dollars of donations.
And, unfortunately, I’ve also had to attend all too many benefit evenings that simply do it wrong – are overly long, disorganized and simply boring. Ya’ wonder how they ever raised a cent.
I’ve also seen benefits that were so costly to produce that the benefit cost more to produce than the money raised!
So the trick is to do it with low cost up front, put a well organized and inspiring entertainment on the stage, keep the speeches short and give the potential donors an evening that thrills and inspires and builds confidence in you, the producing organization..
“Is Anybody Listening?” Webcast is a professional, polished and inspiring concert with a theme that touches hearts and minds and can be shaped to meet your constituency.
Seven Steps to Creating a Successful Benefit
Part 2: Your Audience
Part 3: The Professional Producer/Presenter
Part 4: Promoting Your Benefit
Part 5: The Cost And The Profit
Part 6: The Benefit – More or Less
Part 7: The “It’s Time To Get Our Checkbook” Speech