Promoting your event - Advocacy Matters

Planning is everything when organising an event no matter how large or small. The thing is to be realistic in terms of how long it will take you to make it happen and how much you want to raise.

The following advice sets out some guidelines on what you’ll need to think about and the sequence in which to make it happen. Work to your strengths or try something completely different!

Choose the date. A coffee morning at home may take 4 to 6 weeks to put together in order to give your guests plenty of notice. An event such as a barn dance or talent night could take up to 6 months if an outside venue is needed. A challenge or activity not involving anyone else could have a lead-in time driven around the time it takes to find sponsorship.
Choose your event or activity from the A – Z fundraising selection on this website or choose one of your own.
Think of who you need to help you. This might be your fellow Advocacy Matters fundraising volunteers, a friend or family. It may also be that you need additional helpers to carry out the event.
Decide what your event is going to be. Who can bake, has a talent, can collect or make items for sale, can offer you a venue for free?
When you know what your event involves; work out what it’s going to cost for materials. Items like paper, printing ink, baking ingredients are often donated by helpers, but you need to know the costs because when you charge for refreshments, you must make a profit. Raffle tickets, bunting, face paints, consumables and any other products must be noted because they will be deducted from the takings on the day.
Do you need to carry out a risk assessment? Check out Advocacy Matters Risk Management form to see if any apply to your event.
Promote your event by creating a flyer or ask us to help you. Let us know about your activity so that we can advertise it on our website.
Write a check-list of what you have already done and what needs to be done before your Big Day!
Give yourself a 5 day lead-in to your event: are your volunteers still in place? Remind your guests to come to the event. Have you given yourself enough time to decorate the venue? Have all the items for sale been priced to give you a profit? Can guests make donations? If you are selling tickets in advance, is there any remaining you could sell? If you are holding a bring-and-buy sale; have you got a healthy range of items to get the ball rolling?
Hold your event.
Arrange to pay-in your funds to Advocacy Matters.
Give your helpers a large coffee and a slice to thank them for their hard work. Run a debrief asking them what went well? What would you do differently?