Fundraisers Casino Party Style
Pulcini Entertainment has had the opportunity to assist many in the successful planning of their fundraiser events.
Tips For a Successful Fundraising Event
We want to make your fundraiser a big success.
The two biggest mistakes that we see with the planning of fundraiser events that lead directly to disappointing results are:
1) failure to plan at least 2 - 3 months in advance. This gives those in charge of organizing a fundraiser event plenty of time to plan and to make any adjustments before the actual event is held.
2) failure in spending the time to acquire casino table sponsors, either one or more per table.
With the above said, Pulcini Entertainment can recommend the following:
Start your Planning Early
This is the most important part of having a successful fundraiser. Fundraisers do not do well when they are planned and setup too close to the actual date. We recommend planning at least 2-3 months before to achieve successful results.
Sponsored Casino Tables
If you have the casino tables sponsored by people within your organization then the costs will be defrayed. For example, say a table and dealer would cost $180 total each, you would need someone to offer to sponsor this table and pay the $180 fee.
Or more than one person could also sponsor the same table as for the higher priced casino table rentals such as Craps and Roulette.
By sponsoring the table the guest would be admitted into the event without the additional entree fee, if one is charged, and would be acknowledged by a placard on the perspective casino table stating for instance:
"This Table Sponsored by Dr. Jones and Staff", thus giving the sponsor recognition for his or their generous efforts.
This sponsorship is a win/win for everyone, the guest/sponsor feels good and does his part, the fundraising is enhanced by the sponsor gift, and the table and dealer are paid for thus costing nothing to your organization.
Visit and interest local businesses to sponsor tables. This is a great way for local businesses to increase their visibility and each sponsored casino table can display a sponsor flyer and business cards. The business owner can also play at their sponsored table and enjoy the excitement of your casino night event.
By having one or more individuals sponsor a casino table, you can dramatically reduce your
rental cost expenses if not totally eliminate them.
Contact your important guests before your event to see if they would like to sponsor or co-sponsor a casino table. These individuals can then be acknowledged at the
beginning and end of your event for their generous donation.
Pre-Sale Tickets
A big failure for a fundraiser is expecting a large door sale. Door sales usually only account for a very small percentage of your total income.
Provide your own Dealers
Blackjack and Poker Dealers can easily be trained if you have people willing to deal these games for a 3-4 hour evening. We can assist you in that training. Here you must be careful since the experienced dealer can add so much enjoyment and fun to each casino table for your paying guests.
Drawing
Have a 50/50 drawing. This idea works great at casino night events. You can have a few drawings throughout the night to keep your guests donating.
Host a Cash Bar
You can sell drink tickets up front for drinks. Soda, beer, wine and maybe one or two specialty drinks. You do not want to have a lot of different alcohol left over at the end of the night.
Guests play money to get started
Start with $100 in play fun money. After this initial amount you can sell more play money to those that run out. You would sell another $100 in play money for $5-$20 in real money.
One idea that works well in having nice re-buy sales is to have
people floating around the casino selling play fun money. This can
work much better than having one central location to buy all of the
fun money.
Also increase your sale of play money by offering discounts
throughout the night. For example: every hour make an announcement
that for the next 5 minutes your guests will receive $200 in play
money for the same $5-$20 dollar donation.
Raffle tickets and prizes
Make sure your guests know that they will be able to use their casino play winnings and play money purchased to exchange for raffle tickets to be used in a drawing at the end of the night.
Silent Auction
You can also have a silent auction with donated gift baskets and prizes. You do not need a lot of prizes for your casino event. Between 5-10 prizes would be fine. You can get prizes donated from local business and parents.