A charity bingo night is one of the most effective and fun ways to raise funds for your organisation or cause. It is an excellent way of encouraging people to give money to a good cause as it has the incentive for participants to win some money of their own.
Over the past few months we have had a few calls asking us for advice on organising a bingo fundraiser, so we thought we would put together this helpful guide on how to raise funds with your own charity bingo night.
One of the most important things for any fundraising activity is to determine what sort of fundraising target you want to place on your event. By setting a goal for your fundraising total you will be able to determine the number of bingo books that you need to sell and what size of venue you need to book.
When organising a bingo night it is important to find a great location to host it in. You want to find a place that is presentable, that can hold a large number of people and that ultimately is affordable. A lot of venues will usually offer discounts for charitable events and in some cases may even host the event for free. Good places to start are your local churches, community centres, schools and town halls. Keep in mind that you will want a location with access to a lot of chairs and tables so that everyone can play bingo comfortably.
A critical part of getting bums on seats for your bingo night is to be have a great prize. Some organisers like to look at a simple cash prize where they split the profits from the night 50/50 with the charitable cause. Others like to have a headline prize that has a ‘Wow Factor’ and will capture people’s imagination. And more savvy organisers will often seek out local business who would supply prizes in exchange for a mention or a spot of advertising at your bingo night.
Unashamedly this is where we come in. We can provide everything you need to successfully run your own charity bingo night. The basics are things like bingo singles, bingo balls and bingo cages, however people sometimes forget bingo dabbers which can be an excellent source of additional income from people that haven’t brought their own. Another excellent way to raise additional funds is to sell raffle tickets during your bingo night.
Outside of the actual bingo supplies, you also want to think about refreshments and snacks. Bingo can be quite an energetic game and a lot of people will want to keep their blood sugar up for when they get a house.
The majority of bingo nights are run by a fundraising team made up of volunteers all ready and willing to help the cause. Make sure that you have enough people to help with all aspects of the event from selling tickets to helping with refreshments to calling the bingo numbers themselves.
People enjoy a good game of bingo and most people also want to contribute to a worthy cause; so raise awareness of your bingo night by handing out flyers, contacting your local radio station or posting on Facebook and Twitter. You want to try and tell as many people as possible about your charitable cause as the more people you tell, the more people you will get to attend. Also, never underestimate the power from word of mouth.
Give people plenty of time to arrange to attend your bingo fundraiser. Bingo is a very inclusive activity and as such you will undoubtedly have a lot of families attending so give people time to make themselves available.