Ideas For Putting On a Benefit Show

[gjbassist]

I have a coworker who has come down with a serious illness. He spent 30 days in the hospital and was just moved to a long term care facility. His illness has left him paralyzed from the waist up due to part of his nervous system shutting down. I am trying to organize a benefit fundraiser to help with his medical expenses. The other members of my band are up for doing a free gig and I am trying to firm up a date with a local bar/restaurant that has a nice space for us to play. My thought is to charge a cover and have all that money go to him. I also thought the venue could kick in a percentage of the food sales from the night. I was also thinking of getting some merchants to throw some prizes in for a raffle. Does anyone have any other ideas to make this as successful as possible?

 

[voodoobassist]

Have friends and coworkers donate items for a silent auction. Another good tip is to have people donate to a 50/50 pot. They each receive a ticket for their donation, 10 bucks, 20 bucks, set the donation amount at whatever you want. The winning ticket number gets half the collected money. Most people, if they win, will donate the money back to the benefit fund. Live auctions between sets are good as well, quite often you can get a beer or liquor rep to donate swag in exchange for publicity in the event, auction it off.

Be creative, have one of the gals from work auction off a lap dance, kissing booth, etc. Get a supervisor to volunteer for a pie in the face to the high bidder. People give more when you make it fun for them, hope this helps.

 

[FarkusSWR]

Talk to someone from your local radio station and see if they will run some ads for you as a public service announcement (PSA). We are doing a benefit this weekend for a a family who lost everything in a house fire, and one of the local stations is airing some ads for us. Of course, it helps that my wife works there part-time, but it is still something to consider.

 

[gjbassist]

Some good ideas so far. Anyone else?

 

[Phalex]

Charge $10.00 or $20.00 to get in. Have several people donate food: Potato salad, chips, pretzels, BBQ Meatballs, maybe some BBQ pork and fixins for sammies.... see if you can get a keg or three donated. (We did a benefit for our guitar players wife a couple of years ago, and three bars we play regularly all donated a keg) You can't sell beers, but you can give them away for a donation at the door. (Free food beer makes the cover charge worthwhile to most people)

Get stuff to raffle off. When we did the benefit I mentioned, I bought a Squire affinity P-bass on Craigslist for $100.00. Did a set up on it, new strings.... It wasn't half bad. I played it the first set, and raffled it off on break. I think my $100.00 donation turned into $250.00 when it was all said and done. (You could probably include 5 free lessons if you're so inclined as well.)

 

[BB75]

My band played a huge benefit a few months ago for a bartender in my town that was shot and spent 6 months in the hospital. One of the most successful events I've ever been part of. 10 bands throughout the day, donated catered food, $20 per person to get in, silent auctions, pool tourney, bean bag tourney, bar donated a percentage of liquor sales, 50-50 raffles all day, etc. After all was said and done I believe the total figure raised for the family was close to $20,000.