A fundraiser needs one number and one date. 'Raise money for the youth program' does not tell a guest what a ticket buys. 'Raise $6,000 to pay for 40 children's swimming lessons by June' does. Write the goal, the cost of the thing it pays for, and the date the money is needed. Then divide the goal by the guests you expect.

A worked example: you want $6,000 and expect 120 guests. The average guest would need to give $50 across tickets and any extra gifts. Sponsors will cover part of that, so the sponsor target is the first number to set, and the ticket price comes after it.

Sponsors decide how big the night can be. A business that commits early tells its staff, and its staff bring a table. Build the sponsor list first, so that the ticket price and the sponsor tiers match what a sponsor will see.

1. List 20 local businesses you already buy from, or whose owner you know.
2. Write a one-page ask: the cause, the goal, the date, and what the sponsor gets on the night.
3. Send that ask to the first five personally. Do not send a mass email yet.
4. Track every reply in one column with four states: asked, replied, committed, paid.

On Connections, the event page has an 'Apply to sponsor' dialog. A business fills in its company and a contact name in that dialog. Sponsor tiers you publish appear in a sponsor section on the page, and approved sponsors are listed there too.

Offer three levels. Name each one by what the sponsor gets on the night: a logo on the slideshow, a table of eight, or a thank-you spoken from the front. Set the top level high enough to matter and the bottom level low enough that a small shop can say yes without a meeting. A worked example: $500 for a table, $150 for a logo on the slideshow, and $50 for a name in the printed program.

A fundraiser night has a shape: guests arrive, they settle, someone speaks, they give, and they leave with a reason to come back. Write the times down. The ask is the part that fails most often, because people will not give without a clear moment for it. Put the ask after the cause has been told through one real story, and before the room starts to thin out.

• 6:30 pm: doors open, check-in at the table, name badges ready
• 7:00 pm: welcome, one minute on the cause, the goal on the screen
• 7:15 pm: one person tells a single story about someone the money helps
• 7:25 pm: the ask, with the amount for each level shown on the screen
• 7:45 pm: sponsors thanked by name, then the closing
• 8:00 pm: thank-yous at the exit, and a date for the next event

Keep the goal on a screen during the ask, with a running total. A number the room can see is easier to follow than one you say once.

Decide before the night how each gift is taken: at the door, at a table, by a card payment, or by cheque to a named account. Each route needs its own record. Keep one list of gifts with four fields: name, amount, method, and whether the money has cleared. Reconcile that list against your bank statement within a week. A gift nobody recorded is a gift nobody thanks, and a donor who is not thanked rarely gives again.

Do not make the ask at the door. Guests are still arriving, and the room is not yet listening.

The thank-you is the start of the next gift. Send each donor a short note within two days. Name the amount, say what it pays for, and add one line that is specific to them. Sponsors get a separate note with their logo and a photo from the night.

Use a script you can fill in, so every note is quick to send and still personal:

Thank you, [name], for giving $[amount] to [fund]. That pays for [one concrete thing]. [One line about something they did on the night.] We will send you the results in [month].

Put the date of the next event on the screen before the closing. Donors who were thanked and told what happens next are the easiest people to ask again. Build the follow-up list from three groups: people who gave, people who came but did not give, and sponsors who said maybe. Each group gets a different message, and the 'maybe' sponsors are the ones most worth a personal call.

• How to price tickets for a small event
• How to follow up after an event, step by step
• How to get more people to RSVP to your event

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