54: How to raise $25,000+ with a charity gala, step-by-step

Alex Altman and Zeke Copic are longtime supporters of Students Helping Honduras. They have been organizing a charity gala each year in NYC called Brick By Brick to benefit SHH. In this episode, we discuss what it takes—step-by-step—to organize a gala that can raise $25,000+ for your favorite nonprofit organization.

Show Notes

• The first thing to do is to understand the audience
• One of the biggest costs is the event venue
• They wanted to make sure the cost was as low as possible
• A friend of Zeke organized a charity casino night but ended up spending way too much for the overhead cost
• Brick By Brick has gotten the event venue spaces donated
• Sesame Corporation donated the space in 2016 and 2017
• Venues need to be reserved months in ahead
• They had a leadership council made up of 6 volunteers who had been down to Honduras and were dedicated
• Alex Altman and Zeke Copic did the first Bricky By Brick without much help
• It's hard to hit a broad social network if all the organizers come from the same place
• The marketing happened mostly via email
• The invitation email was sent out 30 days before the event. They have done it 60 days in advance in the past
• They created a Facebook and LinkedIn event
• Zeke emailed all of his friends directly with a personal note
• Zeke was obsessed with checking Classy
• About 90 people showed up to the event
• Most people waited until the very last week to buy tickets. It was "harrowing"
• They charged $75 per ticket for presales and $100 at the door
• Only 3 people bought at the door
• The event space had a cap of 100 people
• Almost all of the guests were colleagues from work
• Many relatives donated auction items
• Many people have come to the event three years in a row
• There is a short presentation about the cause during the event
• It's important to keep the email lists from each year
• The first Brick By Brick sold tickets at $50 but people had to pay for drinks
• They had food and an open bar at the event. The food was donated
• "Do your silent auctions yourselves."
• It's not a good idea to have a company run the silent auction because they take the vast majority of the profits and will likely have items that won't sell
• There was a diverse price range for the silent auction items ($20-$300)
• They bought 40 cardboard bricks from the internet and sold them. 20 of them had a prize hidden inside. They had come up with the idea just a few days before the event. The bricks sold for $20 each
• Someone from the leadership committee walked around selling bricks
• Alex was focused on the logistics during the event, like making sure there was a coat check and making sure the food was changed, video was prepared, etc.
• Zeke went around spending time with as many people as possible even though it is hard for an introvert like him
• $7,000 came from ticket sales, $14,000 came from a few large donations, and the rest came from item sales
• Corporate matching grants were important
• People don't realize that the companies they work for may give match grants
• They used www.Doublethedonation.com to find out if their companies gave match grants
• Getting corporate sponsorships can take a lot longer than you think
• Sending thank you cards after the event is important
• Donors love seeing update photos from Honduras, which sets them up to donate for the next year
• The organizers can expect to absorb some of the costs to run a gala