Benefit opinion

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elliottsmama

Guest
If you are throwing a benefit to raise money for medical bills(yes, we are) and you have to pay $6 per person to the caterer and $100 to rent the hall, what is a fair price for the tickets? There is a lot of work involved in doing all this and I want to be fair but I need to raise money for these bills. We simply do not have this kind of cash. Thanks for your input.
 
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nieciez

Guest
Never done it but guess a lot depends on what kind of food the $6 will get you and you many people you expect to attend to cover the $100 fee. I would "guess" a start at price of $25pp =huh
 
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elliottsmama

Guest
We are having corned beef and cabbage with the trimmings and the caterer is charging us $6 a plate. So we have the tickets at $12 and $15 if you buy them at the door. We hope to have between 150-200 people. I ask this question as one of the caringbrige readers emailed me and thought $12 was too much. Just wanted to know if I was way off base here.
 
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BostonsJ

Guest
Cindy I am looking at this from a business perspective.

Based on 100 people here would be your profit and costs.

If the cost of the food is $6.00 a plate for 100 people that would be $600.00
Now add the hall rental that would be $1.00 a person based on 100 people.

What are your other expenses? Decorations? Tips? Advertising? Are soft beverages included in the cost or will you have to expend for them? Any others?

If the tickets are $12.00 just based on the two expenses you mentioned that would give you a profit of 5.00 a person. Times
100 people your result would be 500.00 after all bills are paid.

For 200 people of course double that. I guess it all depends on if you feel by lowering the ticket a tad if you feel you could create more interest. But the costs remain the same. So you would have to have a good feel for whether a little less ticket cost would draw more people.

The other thing is 500.00 end result is relatively low if you get 100 people at 12.00 a person. So now are there going to be other ways to raise money? What are the demographics of those you hope to draw to this event? Are they also struggling with medical bills because of illness? Or do you have a network of Towns folk and business people who will attend?

If you could reduce the cost of the meals by having volunteers do the cooking and serving it sure would allow you to have a tad lower ticket price. For corned beef and cabbage the caterer is charging you for their time. And adding a little profit on the food on top of that. With volunteers, holding this event when Corned beef and cabbage is relatively inexpensive you could do it for much less money. I would estimate the caterer is making about at least a 30% profit. Maybe a little higher.

I think you have to carefully determiine what the real attendance might be, what the true costs are, and base it on that.
 
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Donna - dsw

Guest
We do benefit at the club all the time. People understand it is a BENEFIT. I think $12.00 / $15.00 at door is a fair price.

Good Luck - - we also do alot of Spaghetti dinners - cheap and easy to do. We charge $6.00 to $8.00 per person.

Most clubs / will donate the hall for this if asked. IE, American Legions, Eagles, VFW, etc. You may want to contact them next time.
 
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cycofan

Guest
Have you considered asking a church if they would host for you? You could use their social hall and save the money for the rental. If they are available, I would think most churches would be willing to help.....I know ours would, if we had a comparable opportunity.
 
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Calgon1

Guest
I think your price is quite reasonable. Reasonable people will understand that the focus here is on the charity not the diner. I know SunFlower and I routinely buy tickets to these dinners and never go. Just the donation goes, and hopefully where it will help out.
 
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Mal D. Olive

Guest
You may also want to consider having a 50/50 drawing, and also having your family, neighbors, and friends bring something to to be raffled off depending on the legality of that in your area. We have been to several fund raisers where there has been a table setup with everything from craft items, bottles of wine, and even gift certificates to local business, like restaurants and such that were all contributed for the cause. The atmosphere of the event itself usually causes folks to dig a bit deeper in the wallet when they know it is for a good cause.
 
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