Summer is quickly approaching, and while that means more leisure time with family and friends, it also means you have more time to plan a smashing summer fundraiser for your community. Whether you're raising money for your child's sports team, band, or community arts program, the summertime is the best time to plan a fundraiser for your organization.
Summer fundraisers are a great way to keep families engaged, involved, and informed on what needs to progress and what is successful in campaigns.
Combining summertime fun with fundraising is a perfect way to bring the community together and develop relationships. Planning a fundraiser event can be tricky, but luckily, we have the perfect tips for hosting a successful summer fundraiser to help ease your mind.
Develop a Plan and Prioritize Your To-Do List
Thoughtful planning and organization are critical to a successful event. Start this process by identifying your goal and how you want to reach the goal. What is the primary purpose of this event? You want to set your goals high, but they should still be obtainable and realistic.
Next, you should decide on what type of fundraiser you're planning. Do you want to hold this fundraiser at a restaurant or the local park, or do you want to plan a traditional car wash? The choice is yours! Whichever route you choose, you want to ensure the venue ties into your story, theme, and purpose of the fundraiser.
Summer fundraiser ideas you can use include and are not limited to:
- Local music festival fundraiser
- BBQ cookout fundraiser
- Ice cream party at the party fundraiser
- Movies at the park fundraiser
- Community pool or beach party fundraiser
Create a Creative Marketing Campaign
After developing a plan for your fundraiser, you want to spread the word throughout your community and neighboring communities. Combining digital and traditional marketing is key when spreading the word cohesively across all platforms to ensure it reaches all ages and demographics.
It's essential to promote your event as much as possible to people outside of your existing supporters to help spread the word and awareness of the cause.
You can boost your fundraiser by adding the event to your organization's web page and social media, encouraging your friends and community members to spread the word, or teaming up with your local parks and rec officials.
Socialize and Partner With Local Businesses
Use your organization's marketing presence to connect with other local or neighboring community businesses to help spread awareness for your fundraising event while uplifting local small businesses-helping boost revenue for your community!
Partnering with various local businesses will allow different demographics to participate in your fundraising event and bring more significant groups of people together to bond over similarities and build professional or personal relationships. This is a great way to promote the togetherness within the community for other fundraising events.
Have a Large Variety of Food & Drinks
Piggybacking off socializing with local businesses, you should provide a variety of foods from local restaurants or family-owned businesses for a successful summer fundraiser. When outside in the hot sun, you're working up an appetite from socializing and advocating all day.
Have food trucks that can cater to your demographic and provide a variety of choices. Reach out to local restaurants and ask if they would want to come out to your fundraiser to provide food for the participants, and ask if they would donate a small amount of their proceeds to your fundraiser. This way, the local business will get exposure, and your fundraiser will have a more significant crowd because everyone loves good food.
However, if you don't have enough space for food trucks, you can have an old-fashioned cookout! Hosting a BBQ fundraiser is a traditional summer fundraiser event that is successful time and time again. You can host a chilly contest, a grill-off, or a hot dog eating contest! While people wait or watch the competition unfold, they eat the delicious foods provided.
We recommend providing a nice batch of Wagyu beef sausages to provide the best for your top donators. Your top contributors deserve the absolute best for donating to your cause, and what's a better way to thank them than letting them get a taste of this luxurious meat?
Our Wagyu beef sausages are made with a unique blend of our flat iron, filet mignon, brisket, striploin, ribeye, and ground beef to create an even richer taste. We guarantee they will fall in love at first bite.
Provide Activities for People of All Ages
No matter the size, all nonprofit organizations rely on donations to fund their service. Having creative and fun activities at your fundraisers for people of all ages to enjoy will help maximize participation, inspire potential donors, and motivate action.
You want your fundraiser event to feel like a community fun event while still enforcing your purpose. Setting up an arts and crafts section or having giant versions of connect four and Jenga are great ways to get your participants excited about being there.
You can even have a table set up for a bake sale, where people can donate for the chance to taste the sweet treats or host a photo contest to help engage attendees and build brand awareness.
Thank Your Donors
The donors are why your community's organization is up and running, so it's essential to thank them and make them feel appreciated. You can thank them on your website, through your social media, or send handwritten letters thanking them for their contribution and saying how grateful you are for their donation.
In this letter of gratitude, include your next steps for the organization to reassure them of your goals and future plans. This way, when your next event comes around, they are more likely to donate and participate.
Event planning can be painful and overwhelming, especially if you have a small team or alone. Your next fundraiser event will be a summer bash by using our tips, having patience, being diligent, and planning effectively!
Our team at Lone Mountain Wagyu can provide meats for your next fundraiser event to ensure you serve only high-quality meats from our family-owned ranch. We can reassure you that our Wagyu is top-notch and rich with a buttery flavor. Check out our online store for your next bite!
