Don't Forget to Say "Thanks!"

By Jamie Schriner-Hooper
Organization Specialist
Michigan Main Street Center
Michigan State Housing Development Authority

Festival and fundraiser season is upon us. Gone are the days of planning and trying to account for all of the “what ifs.” Now is the time to test those plans and put on a great event. As a former festival organizer, I know all of the work that goes into a fundraiser event. Now that I have the luxury of simply being a festival volunteer, people are a bit more open and frank with me than what they have been in the past, talking about what they’d like to see. It’s always interesting to hear the comments, including how many people think that an event is a simple feat. Well, for those of you who have planned an event, you know that months of effort go into it. For those of you who have simply been an attendee, here’s a quick breakdown of how a festival fundraiser works.

First, and perhaps most important, you need to come up with a good idea. You want to find something that will attract people to your downtown and ties in with your community’s heritage or style. Calumet’s Pastyfest is a great example of this. It wouldn’t quite work in Niles, but in Calumet, absolutely! Once you have a theme, figure out what you’d like to have at your event. Is your goal to attract kids, adults, seniors? Remember, you can’t please everyone all the time.

Next, find a date and a location. This is not as easy as it seems. You need to coordinate with all of the other events going on in the area; from the 5K runs to parades to festivals in surrounding communities. You don’t want to create ill will with other events, as well as have them serve as competition for your event. After you set a date, the location comes next. If you’re serving alcohol (which is pretty much a necessity for a large fundraiser), you need to find a location in which you can get a temporary liquor license, enclose the area and not damage the property (killing grass with temporary flooring, creating paths where they should not exist, putting holes in asphalt for tent stakes, etc.) This location must also have electric and water hook-ups, not block businesses and have a positive impact on the neighborhood. We can’t forget that you also now need to get insurance for the event, including liability insurance and adding the location property owner as an additional insured. Don’t forget to also fill out the proper location paperwork, including street closure forms, noise waivers, etc.

Still sounding easy?

Ok, on to marketing your event. It is vital that you have a great brand for your event, including a logo, poster and t-shirt design, etc. You absolutely need a professional to put this together for you. Even if you have a top-notch event, if you don’t have top-notch marketing, you will loose out on sponsors and attendees.

Next, you need to find sponsors and vendors to help cover the costs of a festival (tent and stage rental, sound equipment, tables and chairs, t-shirts, advertising, glassware, etc.) Ideally, sponsors cover the cost of the festival set-up and entrance fees are profit for the organization hosting the event. You’ll need to put together a nice sponsorship packet and identify potential sponsors in your area. Your sponsorship packet should have a range of options so that anyone from a small business to a large corporation can take part. Let potential sponsors know that you’re sending a packet and have people who know them follow up. This should not necessarily be your Main Street Manager, rather board and committee members and other community stakeholders.

Once that’s covered, you now need to find people to staff your event. Don’t forget to train them on the rules, why they are volunteering, and most importantly, don’t forget to thank them! Finding enough volunteers and appropriate volunteers to staff the event is always difficult. I know that I was not alone in trying to bribe friends and family members to help out. Once you’re hosting a great event, people often want to be a patron, as well as a volunteer. Try to find a way to make both work.

Are you sweating yet? We’re just now getting to the actual event! Pray for good weather if your event is outdoors. You’ll need to get it set up – having tents and vendors in the right spot; making sure that you have change and credit card machines; staffing the event, having things neat and tidy, ensuring that you don’t have security issues, dealing with the folks who think that they shouldn’t have to pay to get into an event, volunteers not showing up and all of the other fun, last-minute, potential catastrophes that come about.

Finally, after you’ve held a great event, you need to clean up, pay the bills, do the books, get banners and other things back to sponsors and vendors, send thank you cards to volunteers and others, survey people on what they thought of the event, write up a report and get ready for the next big event. While doing all of this, event planners have had no sleep, and are keeping their fingers crossed that they raised money, or at least broke even.

So, the next time you’re at a festival or special event, don’t forget to say thank you to the many volunteers and organizers who work so hard to try to attract people into your neighborhood. There are always improvements to be made, but from this former festival organizer, thank you to all who are making great things happen in Michigan’s downtowns!