Energize your community for a good cause with a benefit concert.
Your passion for saving the world is matched only by your passion for music. The thought of people getting together for a night of music, dancing and raising awareness and funds sends shivers of excitement down your spine. You are not alone. Many people share your passion, and throwing a benefit concert is merely a matter of organizing them and inspiring local businesses, bands and concert venues with your enthusiasm. With a little planning and determination, there's nothing standing between you and your dreams of a better, more musical, more compassionate world.
Instructions
1. Organize a committee. The more people you have involved in planning your benefit, the more experience, ideas and contacts you bring to the project, and the less work you have to do yourself. Find people with experience in any area you think will be beneficial to planning the concert, including organizing, fund raising, looking for sponsorships, advertising and music.
2. Set a projected fund raising goal and budget. Meet with your committee and determine what your likely expenses will be -- including costs of venue, promotion, printing tickets, give-aways, bands, equipment and food -- what your expected attendance will be, how much money in sponsorship you look to get and how much you hope to raise, and use these figures to determine ticket prices. It is best to get a low estimate for these numbers so that you can set a bare minimum goal for profit. If projected costs are $1,100, and you expect to attract 600 people, charging $3 per ticket would give you a $1,900 profit for your cause.
3. Select a date. The date should be far enough in the future to give you and potential bands adequate time to plan, but near enough to keep interest up and make planning possible, two to three months should be a good balance. Make sure to check to see if there are likely to be any major conflicts in the time chosen, such as holidays or graduation season.
4. Find a venue. Which venue you should use is largely a function of projected attendance and target age group; if you want to attract 100 high schoolers, a church basement will work fine, if you want a bigger or older crowd, consider renting a social hall or VFW or requesting permission to use a college auditorium. Make sure your venue is easily accessible and in a good neighborhood where your efforts at helping a good cause are not likely to be marred by drugs, violence or excessive or underage drinking.
5. Acquire a sound professional. The bigger the venue and stage, the more, louder equipment you will need. If it is within budget, also consider finding someone who can set-up a light show. This will attract more bands and more people.
6. Attract bands. Every city has dozens of local bands willing to play for little to no money, especially to benefit a cause. MySpace Music and localband.net are excellent resources for tracking down bands. Also place classifieds on Craigslist and in local newspapers to get bands to come to you.
7. Find give-aways. Local businesses looking to attach their name to a good cause may be willing to donate food, coupons, T-shirts, trinkets or other items that can be used as give-aways, auction items or both. Having something besides local music to promote will draw in people who may not have otherwise come. The cause you are raising money for might also help you in this regard. Tell them what you are doing and ask that they send literature for distribution during the concert.
8. Promote. Print as many fliers as you possibly can and hang them on bulletin boards, in the windows of local businesses (with permission, of course) and anywhere else you legally can. Keep your audience in mind -- if you are looking to attract a high school crowd, rather than advertising in a regular daily newspaper, take out classifieds in alternative weeklies -- if your concert will be in New York City, advertise in "The Village Voice."
9. Be active the night of the concert. When the night of the concert finally arrives, don't expect to sit back and enjoy the music. You will need to be constantly on your feet making sure everyone in your committee is doing what they're supposed to and that the guests and bands are happy, fielding questions, and making it your personal responsibility that everything goes as it should. Before the concert ends, thank the guests and bands for coming, then thank all the volunteers who helped you make the night possible, then tell everyone how much you've raised to end the night on a positive note.
10. Stay after the concert. Thank the guests as they leave and go backstage to thank each band member individually. Aside from being good manners, this will give them positive feelings about your cause and make them want to be involved with it in the future. Also meet with the volunteers to thank them and maybe plan a time in the future to meet to plan next year's fund raiser. Help clean the venue after everyone leaves. Again, aside from being good manners, this courtesy reflects well on your cause and will make the venue's owners want to rent to you in the future.
Tags: good cause, your cause, attract high, being good, being good manners, benefit concert