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