Special Events Make for Special Challenges

September 13, 2005

By Abny Santicola

Associate editor, FundRaising Success

Special-event fundraising is challenging when it accounts for a large percentage of an organization's fundraising dollars. Keeping things interesting and attendance up year in and year out is no easy feat.

MANNA, a Philadelphia-based nonprofit that delivers nourishment to people living with HIV/AIDS with an annual operating budget of $3 million, relies on special events such as ChefAID (a black-tie gala at the Ritz-Carlton), Shut Up & Dance (a one-night dance performance by dancers from the Pennsylvania Ballet) and Pie in the Sky (a pie sale in the Philadelphia region that provides MANNA clients with a Thanksgiving dinner for four to share with their families) for 30 percent of its income.