Members mstreck Posted March 25, 2011 Members Share Posted March 25, 2011 The venue that we're playing in a couple of weeks wants to use our show to raise money for one of their pool league member's sons who was hit head on by a drunk driver while he was driving home from work on his motorcycle. He has no insurance and his knee was decimated - it will have to be completely reconstructed. They're going to charge cover and do a couple of 50-50 drawings, but we could use a few other ways to raise money for him during the show. Does anyone have any idea to contribute? Thanks! Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members bnelly428 Posted March 25, 2011 Members Share Posted March 25, 2011 $1 to kiss a band member. the wedding $1 dance thing. Play any request for $100 all night. (but be prepared to fail miserably ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members cherri Posted March 25, 2011 Members Share Posted March 25, 2011 One year, we donated 10% of all of our gig earnings to a local medical cause for the entire month. It was only a few bucks out of each band members pocket each night, but over the course of a month, it added up to a decent donation to the cause. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members BlueStrat Posted March 25, 2011 Members Share Posted March 25, 2011 Get sponsors to donate goods and services for a silent auction. Get local musicians to donate one two or three hour performance for a private party to the highest bidder with a 200 dollar reserve. Ask a local restaurant, pizzaria or whatever nearby to offer a 'benefit special' on limited-item meals and promote the restaurant as a place to eat before, during or after the benefit. Ask them if you promote a crowd for them if they'll offer a percentage of what they sell in those "benefit dishes' that day. Get some local motorcycle shops involved. These guys like charities and love to help downed riders. They may offer raffle or auction items. They may even offer to hold another benefit where your band could play in the parking lot (as an aside, a local bike shop did that here and it turned into a regular Thursday night bike rally with games, dollar tacos, beer and pop, and a band playing May through September) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mstreck Posted March 25, 2011 Author Members Share Posted March 25, 2011 Great ideas, guys! Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Rezrover Posted March 25, 2011 Members Share Posted March 25, 2011 The venue that we're playing in a couple of weeks wants to use our show to raise money for one of their pool league member's sons who was hit head on by a drunk driver while he was driving home from work on his motorcycle. That's terrible. I lost a friend who was riding his motorcycle home after work; as he was coming over a hill, some drunk & high dumb-ass was parked in the middle of the road at the bottom of the hill. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jwlussow Posted March 25, 2011 Members Share Posted March 25, 2011 Charge $5.00 or $10.00 for requests and let everybody know where the money is going. We have had a few where the band put in a large amount of the 50/50 and when we won we donated our 50% back to the cause. That always made a bunch of people donate because they saw it as a very generous gesture from the band. The odds were well in our favor and we already knew that if we won that was what we were going to do. It cost a a couple hundred to enter but it was well worth it for both the charity (Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer) and our rep as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members kmart Posted March 25, 2011 Members Share Posted March 25, 2011 Get sponsors to donate goods and services for a silent auction...Get some local motorcycle shops involved. These guys like charities and love to help downed riders. They may offer raffle or auction items. They may even offer to hold another benefit where your band could play in the parking lot (as an aside, a local bike shop did that here and it turned into a regular Thursday night bike rally with games, dollar tacos, beer and pop, and a band playing May through September) Co-sign on both of these. Have the venue target businesses that relate to the event/your involvement, etc.: music stores, bike shops, etc. Also have them talk to their liquor distributor for swag, free product to raffle off, etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members trevcda Posted March 25, 2011 Members Share Posted March 25, 2011 Also have them talk to their liquor distributor for swag It may just be a fact of life and par for the course but somehow this just seems sort of conflicted with the cause. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Padoobies Posted March 25, 2011 Members Share Posted March 25, 2011 We threw a benefit for a local musician not to long ago and one thing that went over well is that we bought a bunch of cheap stationary type blank cards and for $10 anyone could take a card and write a nice get well message. People liked not only contributing the money, but their well wishes too. As a bonus, the guy that was in the hospital loved all the nice sentiments. We got 100 cards and sold out of them. Just be sure that you are doing regular announcements from the stage to let people know all the things you have going on and all the ways they can help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members kmart Posted March 25, 2011 Members Share Posted March 25, 2011 It may just be a fact of life and par for the course but somehow this just seems sort of conflicted with the cause. Yes, true; wasn't thinking of the specific cause in this case; have worked putting together similar fundraising efforts for musicians with illnesses in the past, and that's what was done, etc. Made the assumption that the venue in the OPs case is a bar/serves alcohol and went from there... Still, a distributor is often one of the best sources for free swag, etc. If they have a 'supports responsible drinking' kind of effort, it may still work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mstreck Posted March 25, 2011 Author Members Share Posted March 25, 2011 Yes, true; wasn't thinking of the specific cause in this case; have worked putting together similar fundraising efforts for musicians with illnesses in the past, and that's what was done, etc.Made the assumption that the venue in the OPs case is a bar/serves alcohol and went from there...Still, a distributor is often one of the best sources for free swag, etc. If they have a 'supports responsible drinking' kind of effort, it may still work. Well, it is a pool hall/bar where everyone gets hammered when bands play on Saturday nights. But the bottom line is that the kid needs a knee very soon so he doesn't lose the bottom part of his leg. Whether the means via which that is acquired is alcohol-related or not is irrelevant to the leg. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members boomboomdrums Posted March 25, 2011 Members Share Posted March 25, 2011 Auction on off a free gig of YOUR band. Play it up all night. Leave a $200 or $300 reserve like the BlueStrat said. Maybe even the bar will pony it up. I did this once for Auction for my High School. It was fun. And it helped a good cause. Win Win Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jeff42 Posted March 25, 2011 Members Share Posted March 25, 2011 Auction on off a free gig of YOUR band. Play it up all night. Leave a $200 or $300 reserve like the BlueStrat said. Maybe even the bar will pony it up. I did this once for Auction for my High School. It was fun. And it helped a good cause. Win Win Good idea. But do it in a place with a full PA or have a PA donated for the show... doing a benefit is not much fun if you have to lug equipment around. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members boomboomdrums Posted March 25, 2011 Members Share Posted March 25, 2011 Good idea. But do it in a place with a full PA or have a PA donated for the show... doing a benefit is not much fun if you have to lug equipment around. Yes, but doing the gig wouldn't be about you having fun, but helping someone not lose their leg. Either do it, or don't. Don't be {censored} and put limitations on it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members badhabit Posted March 25, 2011 Members Share Posted March 25, 2011 When we have done benefits, there are often raffle prizes, usually donated. It's seems to make quite a bit of money. Prizes have included autographed guitars ( usually Squires ), original paintings by local painter, bottles of local wines, free dinners at local restaurants, free gas from local gas station, and so on. I guess this is similar to a silent auction ? With a raffle, you sell tickets for usually a buck each, 6 for $5.00, 13 for $10.00 and so on. Since many of the prizes are donated, the cost is pretty low. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members js1 Posted March 26, 2011 Members Share Posted March 26, 2011 Something we did at a fund raiser was print out menus of the most popular songs, and put them on all the tables. Pricing was based on a formula of how likely it was to be requested and how tired the band was of said song. When you get $100 for a good cause to play BEG, it's a little easier to take. js Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jeff42 Posted March 26, 2011 Members Share Posted March 26, 2011 Yes, but doing the gig wouldn't be about you having fun, but helping someone not lose their leg. Either do it, or don't. Don't be {censored} and put limitations on it. We have done tons of benefits and most of the time there is a PA donated by a sound & light company. I can't remember the last time we hosted a benefit that a sound & light company didn't donate a PA for the day. Of course get that all figured out BEFORE you auction off the band... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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