Hosting a Casino night can be a great fundraising idea. You can bring in people from all walks of life. People also enjoy competing and mostly importantly, winning. Therefore, donors might be more willing to donate money in a casino setting because they are having fun, want to win big and they know its going towards a good cause. Here are a few things to keep in mind when planning your next Casino Night Fundraiser.
Set your goal: You know you want to make money but you need to have a number in mind. As easy as it sounds, remember to maximize your revenue and minimize your expenses. You don’t want to spend too much money in the actual event to where you’re losing money.
Revenue:
Tickets: Sell tickets ahead of time and price them accordingly.
Example of how you can find the price of tickets:
Take the amount of total expenses (entertainment, venue, food, drinks and any other services you are paying for) and divide by it by the number of guests attending.
Food and Drinks: Have popular food and drink items but try to keep the price as low as possible. You want them to feel like the ticket price was worth it but you don’t want to spend money on a glamorous banquet.
Casino Games: Give your attendee’s funny money, enough so they don’t feel short changed but not too much where they won’t want to continue buying. Have a designated station where they can purchase funny money and also walk around and make it easy for donors to find you.
Table sponsorship: Have at least one table sponsor for each casino table. They can have their logo displayed or even have small gifts available like stress balls, coupons or pens. The more they can display their businesses name, the more likely they are to
donate and do it again the following year. Try to have enough sponsors so that your cost to rent the casino equipment is covered. It will be mutually beneficial for you and the business.
Live auction and Silent auction: Have auction items that people will genuinely enjoy and it is best to go out to your community to ask for donated items. If you’re doing a live auction try to have large items and try to keep the auction short.
Theme: Try to bring in other things to go along with your casino theme. “Show girls” and Elvis impersonators are usually huge hits. Have balloons, streamers and other decorations but don’t stress out about decorations too much. Donations if possible however, prioritize a table sponsorship donation ahead of a prop donation almost every time.
If you need help planning your next event, email us at debbie@vegasconcepts.com or call us at 972-438-1800. You can also find additional information on our website: www.vegasconcepts.com