Alright, so your major fundraiser event is over. Your self-imposed deadline has come and gone. Now comes the part when you add all the donations up, subtract your expenses, and find out if you met your goal.

Hopefully, you have not only met your goal, but you have wildly exceeded it. However, that isn’t always the case, is it? Sometimes you launch a campaign, and it flops. The imagination of your audience is not captured, and as a result, they didn’t give in either the depth or the breadth that you had hoped.

So, what do you do next?

First, you need to decide if you want to do anything at all. I mean, it’s possible to just ignore the shortfall. You could do the best with the money you did raise and then just move on to something else. Perhaps none of your donors would follow up with questions or concerns about the way their money was used. Maybe nobody will inquire as to whether you hit your target amount. You could get lucky like that.

But, I’m guessing that’s not going to be an option for you.

If you are actually spending time reading this blog, then you are probably committed to your own organization and will want to do things right, even in difficult situations like not meeting your fundraising goal.

Ok, so here are the things I would do if I ran a fundraiser that fell short of the goal my organization had set for it.

Looking Toward the Board

The first thing I’d do is gather my board of directors and tell them everything. I would present to them the amount we did raise and tell them how far short we fell of the goal. I would lay out exactly what we did to raise that money. I’d show them copies of all the communications I sent out during the campaign and share with them any feedback I gathered during the process from employees, volunteers, and donors. I’d also briefly let them know about any other fundraisers in the community that ran at the same time as ours and which may have had a negative impact on our ability to hit our target. The board has to have a complete picture of why the goal was not met in order to figure out a solution.

Your First Ask

Once I had put all this information out there for them to digest, I would ask each one of them to consider adding to their own donations. I know this can be a sensitive topic, but board members are expected to lead their community in financial contributions. Not every board member will be able to do this at a high level, of course, but I think the board should be the first group of people you approach.

Hosting a Power Meeting

After the board members have added to their personal donations, I would talk about them hosting an intimate gathering with specifically invited guests, on whom they can put the squeeze. Again, this is a responsibility of the board members- to use their personal and professional networks to raise money for your non-profit. If a board member is squeamish about giving money him or herself or asking friends for money, then he or she shouldn’t be on the board.

This intimate gathering could be something as simple as a dinner at a board member’s house. I’ve actually held one in a small room at a local country club. The people who are invited to this “party” will know that they should come prepared to write a check.

At the gathering, I (the executive director) would make a passionate case for the purpose behind the fundraiser. I’d really “sell” the mission. However, the responsibility for making the ask should fall to the board members who made the invitations. Some, or maybe all, of the people in attendance may have already given to this fundraiser, so I’d have to be ready with a very good explanation as to why I didn’t reach our goal in the time allotted. I don’t necessarily think this will be a turn-off for the donors, as long as I can tell them I understand what happened and now have a plan to fix it.

One possible strategy to employ at this meeting would be to ask the guests to offer a matching gift that can be leveraged with the community at large. From my experience, many wealthier individuals like the idea of inspiring others to give, which a matching grant does.

An aside- If you are going to go to this length, it should go without saying that this must have been a pretty important fundraiser. In my mind, this would be one of, if not the, most important fundraiser of your year. For the purposes of this article, I wouldn’t think that you’d go to this trouble if you were just trying to raise a thousand dollars for equipment or something. I just wanted to make that clear.

The Next Step: Taking It to the Streets

If, after I’ve asked the board members and their friends for their “enhanced” donations, I am still short of my goal, it’s time to go public.

The first piece of advice I’d offer in this regard is to make sure you are clear that you are trying to cover a shortcoming from your fundraising campaign that just ended. It would not be wise to suddenly throw a new fundraiser out there and not explain that it’s part of the same goal you were just working on. That could be very confusing to potential donors. They would scratch their heads and ask, “Didn’t I just write a check to them?” I would much rather admit that we didn’t meet our goal than to drop an unexpected fundraising bomb on their heads right after we just wrapped one up. Therefore, in everything you say and do, be sure to link this follow up to your unsuccessful campaign.

Honesty is the Best Policy

In addition to being honest that the goal wasn’t reached, I would be very plain in telling people the amount you still need to raise. The community deserves to know what they are being asked for. This would also be the right time to introduce the matching grant that you hopefully secured at the board of director’s gathering.

I would start by putting all this information into a well-crafted solicitation letter that would be sent, along with a donation envelope, to my entire mailing list. Time is of the essence with this letter. I would not want too much time to pass between the end of the fundraiser and this follow-up letter. Any delay will be perceived as a lack of urgency on the organization’s part by potential donors. It will dramatically lessen the impact of the ask.

In the letter itself, I would focus not so much on the fact that the fundraiser was unsuccessful, but rather I would put an enthusiastic spin on the matching grant, if I had it. Even if I didn’t have the matching grant, I’d write the letter with a grand sense of optimism and celebrate the opportunity for the community to rally together and do something special. I think it would be appropriate to have a greater than normal sense of urgency in this letter. The organization’s back truly is against the wall. It’s ok to “fight” to meet your need.

I would also take this impassioned plea to the electronic side of our organization- mass emails, Facebook, Twitter- any way that the audience would see and respond to. I would also make sure that my website had a large “Donate Now” button prominently displayed on it that linked to a working PayPal account.

Conclusion

As you can tell, I am of the mind to be very direct in this situation. If you fall short in the amount you need to raise, it is my opinion that you should just go out and ask for more. I don’t think you should suddenly plan a car wash or decide to sell some sort of product to cover the deficit.

My experience and my pre-disposition tells me that this honest, straight-forward approach will work. I think that people will respond to your need, as long as you show that you are being a careful steward of the organization and that you tell your story with passion, enthusiasm, and vision.

What do you think? What would you do if your organization didn’t meet an important fundraising goal? I’d love to read your suggestions. Please share them in our comments section!

Photo by: jeffk

Need some inspiration?  New fundraising ideas from other successful fundraisers?  Here’s a list of great fundraising success stories and case studies.  These range from huge formal balls to small house parties and one-on-one donation requests.

I challenge you to find at least one strategy from these stories that can make a big impact for your group, and put it into action.

1. April Fools Extravaganza, hosted by the nonprofit Clowns Without Borders. Great idea for a “minor holiday” celebration and costume party

2. Children’s Hospital Benefit a Great Success lessons learned from first-time event planner Helen Johnson

3. A Mover and a Shaker of Money Trees New York Times article profiles Billy Starr and his 7 secrets to making the Pan-Massachusetts Challenge charity bikeathon a success

4. Phantom Gourmet Cooks-Up Cause Marketing Success Boston Medical partners with existing community event for mutual benefit using pin-ups (AKA point of sale cards) at 342 retail stores, resulting in over $114,000 raised.

5. A Chocolate Lovers Brunch provided a fun event with a  delicious menu to raise funds for VON Hamilton Foundation

6. Chicago’s Top Galas million dollar black tie affairs still alive and well in 2009

7. Music to Their Ears—How a Symphony’s Campaign Reached Crescendo from the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP)

8 . Calvin College in Grand Rapids Michigan exceeded its $150 million fundraising goal.  The article explores how they accomplished this.  The college is the winner of a 2009 fundraising award from the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education (CASE).

9. Charity: Water third annual ball celebrates 2008, a year of new partnerships and fundraising.

10. Just three months after Charity: Water’s ball, $250,000 was raised from a grassroots movement of Twitter  users worldwide called Twestival.

11. A case study featuring Doctors Without Borders USA/Medecins Sans Frontieres explores the strategy used to convert one-time, emergency donors into repeat givers

12. Wine Tasting Party – Like a Fine Wine, Fundraising Should be Savored Lisa Krueger describes this home based event that helped her raise funds

13. A Tea Party Fundraiser is another creative event that can be hosted in a home

14. A fund raising success story: Adopt-a-Computer from the Essex Public Library in Tappahannock, VA

15. Annual Pool Tournament Fundraiser a Success one pool table, thousands of dollars raised

16. A Fundraising Success Story: Lessons Learned from efforts to grow the annual fund drive for a preschool, which was up to $100,000 annually within six years

17. A traditional Spaghetti Dinner Fundraiser raises funds for a young child with cancer

18. 10 Steps to a Successful Celebrity Waiter Event from the experiences of Soroptimist International of Santa Cruz, CA.

19. BPW Trivia Night a Success report of the first annual trivia night (it’s been so successful, there have been three since then!) A great small event for a group of friends

20. A Collaboration/Fund Raising Case Study of KaBOOM!, a national non-profit that empowers communities to build playgrounds.

21. How to Set Up a Successful Online Fundraising Page – Two Case Studies: Nonprofit Organization and Individual, from About.com

Dear Ms. Sims,

We just finished our second annual fund-raiser to benefit our medical/dental pediatric patients at Medical College of Georgia Children’s Medical Center in Augusta, GA. I am writing to you because your newsletter has been an invaluable tool to teach me how to be more successful in raising funds for this effort. I also have learned so much by trail and error. Some of which I wanted to share, just in case it might help some of your readers.

Helen Johnson and Miss Georgia Chasity Hardmon

We raised a total of $41,000 net for the children’s hospital. The event was pretty formal, we described the attire as “Business or Better”. I am a volunteer, however my son is a student at the dental school and my daughter is a Dr. at the Children’s hospital, so that is how I got involved.

I started trying to get the dinner and silent auction costs underwritten by corporate donations both years. Then I could tell everyone that donated items for the silent auction and those who bought tickets to attend the event, that ALL money raised at the event itself would go directly to the children’s hospital. I appealed to these corporations and businesses sense of doing good for the community that they live and work in. I also thought who would not want to give to a children’s hospital?

I did pretty well the first year, but in a conversation that I had with a friend who is a newspaper writer I was asked why he should give to my cause, rather than any of the several other causes that contacted him annually.  He said “what can you give me?”, I was shocked at first and thought, how rude, but he was asking a legitimate question. What could I offer to a business that would make them give their charity funds to me?

I started calling advertising companies and asking if they would be willing to give me free or very cheap advertising that I could then offer to the companies that would support my charity event. I found that our local Lamar billboard sign company offered 8 electronic signs for $1500.00 for a month of advertising. They could put several ads on each sign every day, the only stipulation was that somewhere on the ad, the fact that these businesses were sponsoring this event would have to be evident. Lamar Signs said that they have very low prices for public service or charity events. The more money a company donated, the larger their ad, small donations had their logo on our own ad which advertised the actual event.

The next thing is I found that Comcast has a similar policy, They agreed to give me 300 FREE public service announcements, which could include a company’s logo as being a sponsor of this charity event. I also got our local newspaper to do an editorial on this event with a story line that they found interesting (Our chair for this event was a Student at the dental school, and this was a great story about a local young man giving back to the community that he will soon be a dentist in. I am sure that all fund-raisers have someone associated with the event that would make a great story for the newspaper.

I was then able to go to these corporations and companies and offer free advertising for their support. I was amazed at how well this worked. I was told that supporting an event like ours usually only gets the attention of those individuals who attend the event, but ours put their name on billboards all over town. I also was able to trade services and goods for advertising. I got a local printer to print our invitations and programs in exchange for advertising on the above mentioned areas. I got our local Fresh Market to put all of the baskets together of the items which were donated for the silent auction, in a professional manner (they provided baskets and talent) in exchange for advertising.

University of Georgia football players A.J. Green, Darrell Gamble, Sanders Commings, David Elrod-Chair of the event, and Dr. Sarah Shelton, Mistress of Ceremony

I invited the University of Georgia Football players to our event, never knowing if they would consider coming. They are in Athens, GA, which is about an hour and a half from Augusta. Several players did come, which was a selling point not only for advertisers, because the local media wanted to cover the event with the football players attending, but it was easy to sell tickets to this event.

We also invited and had in attendance, Miss Georgia, Miss Augusta, Miss Teen USA. I never knew if they would come, but they all did! We had a band for the event that agreed to perform at half price because it was a charity event. Miss Georgia and Miss Teen USA also sang as part of the entertainment.

I had the silent auction guide and it was well worth the money I spent for it. The best thing was that the silent auction was very organized, and ran so smoothly. We made about $28,000 for the silent auction portion of the fundraiser, and as your guide suggested, I made up baskets rather than just have gift certificates sitting on a clipboard, and I combined several smaller items in many cases to make beautiful baskets. I also saw from your information that we got about what was expected for the $40,000 in value of the items we had for the auction.

I found that the local merchants were more willing to give to the silent auction then the stores in the malls. Local well known artists also supported this event. All the local golf clubs gave free golf outing which included the cart for their play.

A local design company to donated their time and talent to design our theme, our invitations and our advertising logos. The only thing they asked was to be recognized at the event for two years. This was their second year, and they offered to get more involved next year for free. They said they could set up a website for our fundraiser to bring more attention to it, and people could go to the web-site to see what would be available at the silent auction, or just to donate, or to buy tickets to the event.

I did have the help of four volunteers, which was plenty.  We started early enough that we were not rushed to do anything, including picking up the auction items. I found that several area merchants hold monthly meetings to discuss things like advertising, security etc, and so I asked if I could address these meetings, and so I was able to ask several merchants at one time if they could donate something for the silent auction, I brought a sheet with each merchant listed, and passed it around so that they could each let me know if they would donate. This made it a lot easier than “cold calling” each one of them.

I guess you can tell that I am excited about everything that I learned this year, and am already planning to learn more for next years event. I really feel that I would never have been as successful without the help of your web site. I learned a lot! I hope some of what I learned will help your readers.

Kind Regards,
Helen Johnson

The Fraternal Order of Eagles hosted a motorcycle race to benefit charity. The 54-mile race “Poker Run” raised money for research for Alzheimer’s disease and also Muscular Dystrophy. The event held on June 24^th raised $2,000 for the charities. It was the largest Poker Run since the event first began three years ago.

The group, 700 members strong, is well-known for its charitable works. They have raised approximately $90,000 for good causes, such as youth sports leagues and wheelchairs for the Marlborough Hospital in Marlborough, Massachusetts.

The motorcycle ride attracted riders from many locations, such as Hudson, Marlborough and other Metrowest towns in Massachusetts. The Poker Run event was a 54-mile loop that included stops at several local stores before finally returning to the Marlborough Fish and Game club for the picnic and concert finale.

At each stop along the way, motorcycle riders were given a playing card. The rider who wound up with the best poker hand at the end of the ride won $150 in prize money. This year’s winner was Jeremy Erlandson who had four sixes in his poker hand.

During the year the team also holds a raffle that is successful. Players are given tickets to sell for $10 and the league raffles off $1,500 for first place and they also purchase prizes for second and third place. But everyone looks forward to the Burrito Bingo event. This can be either family or evening just for the adults. “That’s what is so great about it. Some bring their kids and they play bingo. Others want an adult night out so they don’t bring the kids. Everyone has a great time,” said Debbie O’Neil. O’Neil was an organizer of this year’s event.

Tickets for the event are $20 and this includes dinner and 20 games of bingo plus punch, coffee and then cookies for dessert. The group also sells soda, bottled water, beer, margaritas. They sell raffle tickets throughout the night for leftover prizes (3/$1 or arms length $10), extra bingo games, and also a 50/50 raffle.

The Secret to Success: Planning Early

Debbie O’Neil suggests that you start early if you would like to do this type of fundraiser. “You need to start early to reserve the hall for a date that will work best for you. An early start on prize donations helps too. We ask for donations from local merchants – we always purchase a grand prize for the last game of the night “black out”. This year we bought a Nintendo Wii,” said O’Neil. She tries to have at least 2 to 3 prizes per bingo game, so that if they have more than one winner they can “make everyone happy.”

“We usually have an A table (one prize list) and a B table (a second prize list) and each game is assigned to a table so the winner can pick from the prizes on that table. We sell raffle tickets thru out the night to raffle off left over prizes. I always try to make each game prize in the $30-$50 range,” said O’Neil.

Bingo Games Are Popular Favorites

To play the bingo games themselves, they just use the same patterns every year. “One is four corners, game two is Railroad Tracks, game three is any bingo and we always spell P, O, N, Y since that is our organization. Some game takes longer than others. We provide game patterns and a list of the prizes to each guest so that they can follow along and see what prizes are left,” said O’Neil.

Great Organization and Terrific Volunteers Make An Event Run Smoothly

Most of the shopping for the event is done the day before, because items need to be refrigerated. “We are fortunate enough to have a local Jimboys who provides us with our main dish; he does this in trade for a sponsorship. This is so nice because you don’t have to spend the day cooking,” said O’Neil. The group decorates the night before and preps as much of the food as possible. O’Neil has been very pleased because clean up usually goes really well because everyone always pitches in and helps when the event is over.

O’ Neil states that having a plan is essential to this burrito bingo fundraiser. “I would leave yourself enough time to have 2-3 meetings with your helpers. This year I had one person handling prizes, one handling decorations, one handled the food, 1 picked up the margarita machine, we always wear T-shirts that match and someone handled that and I was able to oversee everything and do the shopping. You can do all the shopping in 1 day,” said O’Neil.

“I always let people sign up for jobs so they do something they want to do. You need at least 6-7 servers and kitchen runners (restocking food). Usually 2-3 greeters are also needed. When the guest arrive we give them a ticket to provide at the dinner buffet, their bingo tickets, and they can buy drink tickets,” said O’Neil. They sell margaritas and beer which are “huge profit” items for the group. They also sell extra packs of bingo tickets in books of 10. The group uses their entire panel of board members. They have about 15 to 17 people. “Usually there are 2 greeters, 6-7 servers and kitchen runners to restock food. 1-2 people in the kitchen heating and filling bowls, 2 bartenders, then after everyone has eaten the servers move out onto the floor as ‘runners’,” said O’Neil. Runners sell raffle tickets, 50/50 tickets, check bingo cards, take out trash and do a little bit of everything.

Easy-to-do Publicity Makes An Event Popular With The Community

The event has been popular with just about everyone. For publicity they have used a number of sources that have worked well for them. “We rely on work of mouth, selling tickets thru the league, and the local paper. We actually have family members who come from out of town because they have so much fun,” said O’Neil. After running the event for four years, the group is confident that they have the logistics well-organized to create a successful and popular event. “I was told this year was the smoothest and most fun ever!” said O’Neil.

Looking for a great food-based fundraiser that spans different hours of the day? One that will also work wonderfully as a Vegetarian meal without being obvious? Try a Belgian Waffle Fundraiser for a delicious fundraising success!

While pancake breakfasts are always a wonderful fundraiser that can raise some great dough, another clever cooking event is a Belgian Waffle Fundraiser! This event can be hosted as a morning breakfast, a brunch, or as a dessert fundraiser after another event, such as a concert or art show. You’ve just created another time where you could host this event!

Menu
Belgian waffles with assorted syrups and toppings (whipped topping, berries in syrup, flavored syrups)
Fresh fruit
Sausage links or bacon strips (omit if you’re hosting a vegetarian meal)
Juice and Coffee

How It’s Done
The key here is to sell tickets in advance! You’ll need the capital ahead of time to purchase food ingredients, rent a room, and get needed items such as plates, napkins, and silverware. Also, if the ticket holders don’t show up the day of your event, no worries since they’ve already given to your group. Allow carry out orders to bring in more people without everyone needing to sit down at the same time.

Dry waffle batter can be purchased in bulk from warehouse stores such as Costco or Sam’s Club. Obviously, you’ll need several waffle irons which can be borrowed from friends and neighbors. Giv people the chance to use that wedding gift they rarely pull out of the cabinets! Coordinate this collection well in advance so you’ll know how many you have and how much food can be cooking at one time. Be sure to take accurate count ahead of time as to whose you can borrow. Label them prior to the day of the event to make sure everyone gets their own waffle irons back!

Frozen berries, ice cream and whipped topping can also be purchased from warehouse stores. Try to get berries donated from local farmers and ice cream and whipped topping donated from local grocery stores. The more you can get donated, the less you’ll have to purchase. These in-kind donations are also easier for many stores to handle than donating money to your cause.

You can also purchase flavored syrups, or make your own! Dayle’s Growlies for Groups has an excellent recipe for a homemade maple syrup that you can make for 100 servings. Adjust flavorings to get creative with the syrups and add fruits as needed.

Total costs for items should average around $3 per person. You can sell tickets for $5 to $7 since the event will be an all you can eat event. If you’ll be adding meats or home fries (hash browns) or dessert items for a dinner version, aim for the $7 to $9 ticket range. Many groups use language denoting “suggested minimum donations of $5 per person” which means most people will give more. Children under 5 can eat for free since they usually don’t eat much.

Best Locations
Church fellowship halls, school cafeterias/ auditoriums, VFW hall or other civic organization locations, hotel ballrooms, community events center and other larger spaces that can easily hold 200+ people. You’ll definitely want an area where you can access a kitchen if possible. One option that is frequently used for pancake breakfasts is to host the event at a restaurant that is normally closed during breakfast, since the location is already inspected and ready to serve food and accommodate guests!

Permits
Be sure to check with your local health department officials to make sure you get any and all necessary food handlers’ permits for your volunteers, inspections for your facilities, and guidelines for safe food handling.

Using Professionals
There are several companies that can do a pancake or Belgian waffle fundraiser for your charity! The cooking will be done for you by professionals who know how to flip the flapjacks and create enthusiasm for a crowd! All you have to do is provide the location, sell the tickets, create the media buzz, and provide a few volunteers to assist with clean up. Check out Dad’s Belgian Waffles at
www.dadsbelgianwaffles.com (serving MN and IA). If you’re in the Lincoln, Nebraska area, contact Waffleman Doug at www.wafflemandoug.com to host a Belgian Waffle Fundraiser in that area.
And, for a great pancake fundraiser, contact The Pancake Man at www.pancakeman.net who serves Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri and Kansas! They bring the expertise and experience, and help with the fundraiser. This is a great opportunity for a group to learn how to do this from a pro and then do it on their own next year!

Add Ons
The add-on fundraiser of selling advertising space on placemats that will help bring in another $1,000 at your Belgian waffle or pancake breakfast. Another add-on option is to get sponsors for the event, such as pledges for a walkathon. This works better if you’re doing the cooking yourselves, since you’ll be challenging your group to cook as many as possible. If you break past a certain number, your sponsors will give you an extra donation. This type of sponsorship is used with car washes so it may take some tweaking to make it work well for a cooking event!

urn your Belgian Waffle Fundraiser into a Breakfast with Santa! This will offer children the opportunity to have a special meal with their favorite guest, talk to him for a few minutes, and take lots of photos. Name tags for all children allow Santa to greet his guests by name! And, parents will be able to hear the special toy requests that only Santa is told about by their child! You may want to charge more for this special event.
Add on a silent auction event, raffle, or other mini fundraiser that can bring in some more money while taking your event to the next level.

* If you need to purchase Belgian Waffle dry mix and you can’t find it locally, here’s one company that has it: BES Incorporated

About the Author: Danielle Hamilton is the editor of HumaneFundraising.com and moderator of a Yahoo group dedicated to helping animal rescue groups raise money for animals.

A spaghetti dinner is a popular fund-raiser for many organizations. When planning your menu, you want to offer a delicious meal while keeping your costs down for your organization. You also want to offer people a generous meal that is delicious, in thanks for their donation.

There are real benefits to holding a dinner for your charity, school or organization: the actual dinner is a great chance to meet n’ greet: to build relationships and meet with fellow volunteers and Board members. It is a wonderful opportunity to meet other people in your community who are interested in your organization, who may be interested in getting involved in some way.

Get Sponsors Involved

One thing to consider when planning your menu is involving “menu sponsors”. A grocery store or a restaurant may be happy to donate to your organization. Or you can ask people that support your organization to “sponsor” your dinner to donate items that you will need for the dinner. Obtaining sponsorship may help you offer a fancier or more generous meal to your attendees.

Spaghetti and Other Menu Ideas

When planning your spaghetti fund-raiser, keep in mind that one pound of spaghetti feeds about 4 to 6 people. It will feed more or less people depending on their appetites and also depending on what other items you are serving at the meal (salad, bread, dessert, etc.). A wonderful idea for your leftovers is to make plans ahead of time to donate them to a food bank or homeless shelter in need.

Making spaghetti with meat sauce: Plan a half pound of hamburger for every pound of spaghetti for a hearty meat sauce. You should also have a standard size jar of spaghetti sauce for every pound of spaghetti that you have. If you are making meatballs you will probably want a bit more hamburger than this. Sometimes someone that loves to cook has their own spaghetti sauce recipe and you may want to use this instead, depending on if time permits.

To make a great salad: plan 8-9 heads of lettuce to feed 100 people. Adding additional vegetables to your salad is a great way to make your spaghetti dinner seem fancier. You can add one to two red, yellow and green peppers. Color in a salad makes it look very appealing. Tomatoes are popular in salad, consider adding cherry tomatoes or several (5 -6) larger tomatoes. Add four to five cucumbers. Onions are another great way to add color to a salad, select several red onions and chop finely. Add croutons. Offer a variety of salad dressings – Ranch, Thousand Island, Italian, Russian and Balsamic Vinegar are some of the most popular types of salad dressings. You could also look for some light or sugar free versions of salad dressings.

Making a fruit salad: Again, this is another way that you can make your spaghetti dinner fancier, by offering some exotic fruits. By slicing some kiwi fruits on the top of your fruit salad, suddenly your fruit salad looks more fancy and stylish. Go for color and a variety of colors when selecting fruits for your salad. Fruits in season will be the freshest, tastiest and probably the least expensive. One idea for a fruit salad is to start with 1 ½ dozen bananas, 6 apples (try to find different types of apples, get different tastes), 5 pounds of grapes, 3 quarts of pineapple and 1 gallon of peaches. Add 2 lbs of mini marshmallows, ½ gallon mayonnaise dressing and ½ gallon whipped cream. Wash fresh fruit and slice and drain canned fruit. Put all fruit into mayonnaise. Whip the cream and fold it into the mayonnaise and fruit mixture. Serves 100.

Dessert table: a great way to offer your attendees dessert is to ask your volunteers to bake or make a dessert to bring to the event. They will bake cakes, cookies, brownies and other delicious treats. One of the benefits of having many people make dessert is that you will have a variety of lovely desserts to offer people.

The “Stockdale Family Hoedown” was held outdoors in downtown Middleton to benefit the Stockdale family. The close-knit, small community became the first city in the history of “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” to create a special fund-raiser for a family featured on the program. “Extreme Makeover” and CBH Homes are joining together with many volunteers to build a home for Ryan and Karia Stockdale and their children.

The Stockdale children have eosinophilic esophagitis, a rare white blood cell disease. Kayden, 7; Jett, 5; Baylee, 4; and McKinnon,2 will now have a home that has been equipped to make thier life a bit easier.

The fund-raiser was organized by Becky Abbott who volunteered at the “Exctreme Makeover” work site where the home was being built. She printed up flyers and brought them to the work site and the reality show producers wanted to work with her. Radio station KIZN 92FM also

donated time and sponsorship for the charity event. Response has been phenomenal — with 800 people calling the local City Hall for information about the event, and hundreds more calling Abbott and other volunteers for information about the fund-raiser.

The fund-raiser’s entertainment included local bands, a raffle, a charity auction, an appearance by the “Extreme Home” celebrity home designers and a performance by Abbott’s dance team. The fund-raising event was filmed for a segment on the show about the building of the Stockdale home.

Seven very lucky (and happy) couples were married on 7/7/07 at a fund-raiser for the Chain of Lakes Recreation Complex to benefit the North Brevard Historical Foundation. Monies raised will go to restore the foundation’s 18th and 19th century homes in the area.

The fund-raiser “777 – Perfect in Nature, Lucky in Love” was offered for up to seven couples as a complete wedding package that included a decorated outside location, photographer, videography and a dance reception for all of the couples and their guests together.

The foundation expected to raise approximately $500 per couple, which will help to restore the Pritchard House in Titusville and also to create a historical village at Chain of Lakes. Vendors for the weddings generously reduced their fees for the weddings for the day.

Another wedding fund-raiser is planned for Valentine’s Day.

On Thursday, June 14th, Chef Ilan Hall, winner of Bravo TV’s Top Chef and Executive Chef Ryan Hardy of The Little Nell’s Montagna restaurant worked together to create a delicious lunch all in the name of a very good cause. Fifty per cent of the proceeds from the lunch will be donated to Food & Wine’s “Grow for Good” campaign, to benefit “Farm to Table.” “Farm to Table” is a national initiative dedicated to support local farms and also encourage sustainable agriculture. The luncheon was held in Aspen, Colorado.

The lunch was sold out. A three-course lunch featured chicken liver pate, chilled sorrel soup with smoked mackerel, Finocchiona salume, and panna cotta with strawberry rhubarb preserves. The lunch showcased Chef Hardy’s Rocky Mountain artisan cuisine and Chef Hall’s eclectic Mediterranean style.

Food & Wine’s “Grow for Good” campaign started to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Food & Wine Classic in Aspen. They are committed to raising $1 million to expand Farm to Table’s programs and services.