12122 BBQ and Auction

No, why would anyone tell you to stop? All these ideas are great. It's the logistics of getting things like this organised and well attended that are the barrier - but you being in Le Marche - already have a "Marche Chapter" who could rally round to get the ideas off the ground.

Tell Fabio not to be such a tight arse and to provide food for ten euros a head or less - then you can sell the tickets for twenty. Embarass him into it by telling him the baker is gonna provide five hundred loaves of bread free of charge so he needs to get the three hundred fish sorted for cost price.

The only problem I see you possibly facing is getting the word out for enough people to attend - but if you get the local Italian residents involved - it will go down a storm! Put some posters up in the local bars to advertise it.

It's a great idea - and don't forget to remind Fabio he is doing this from the goodness of his heart - isn't he? :bigergrin:

[quote=juliancoll;115996]
Tell Fabio not to be such a tight arse
:bigergrin:[/quote]

I did,about 2 mins after posting it and he said he would do some figure work :laughs::laughs:

Haha - he's worried about his "bella figura" now eh? :bigergrin:

One word of advice, before you go all out on the organisation of the event, try to ascertain how many people you would expect to come.

If you over cater you are loosing funds and the same if you under cater.

Surely pre-event ticket sales will give a good indication? <~~ Ignore this - I've just understood what Nielo meant

Excellent idea, guys. Just a suggestion to get more people going. Talk to the parish priest and ask him to put some posters in the atrium. If you have not decided to which charitable fund it would go, I recommend "Caritas Italiana" as they are doing a tremendous job in the area and they will have centres to look after the children, elderly, invalids and chronically ill for a long time in order to allow able bodied people to fully work on the reconstruction and to reorganise their lives without the extra burden of having to look after others. Also, Italians will be very generous with such a fundraiser. Good luck with your endeavours!

[quote=deborahandricky;115995]Is this too big an idea?... [/quote]

Excellent idea, which I'm glad to take inspiration from.
I'm selling on Ebay a collectable music keyboard from the seventies, link is [URL="http://cgi.ebay.it/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&item=110372237774"]HERE[/URL]
I'll use the money from the sale to buy priority goods for the victims of the earthquake.

Another great idea from Gala to approach the parish priest to spread the word - but I'm a little confused now Ricky - will this be a "forum fund" event or are you hoping to donate the proceeds to another worthwhile cause like "Caritas Italiana" as Gala has suggested?

Not that it matters which organisation you choose to receive the monies raised - all are doing excellent work in the area - but just so we know.

I also thought at the start that this fundraiser could top up the IM fund, then, when I saw so many Italians involved, I thought that perhaps they would like to see this as a separate contribution. But as JC says, wherever the proceeds go, these organisations, both Red Cross and Caritas are really working hard, so they deserve all the support they can get.
Don't forget to put posters in supermarkets, butcher and bread shops, etc.
You will need a deadline as you have to have numbers for catering purposes.

What do you think??

Moxie

It is excellent, Moxie. Well done!

Nice work, Moxie. It can be improved by changing the too generic "L'Aquila 2009" into something like "Abruzzo Earthquake Relief", to pin point the event.

This image was designed by my daughter's (and him) - it is freely given to the forum to use.
Lewis will adjust it to say whatever we feel most appropriate if the image itself is found acceptable by the majority.
So...

Moxie

I agree with Gianpiero - as it wasn't just L'Aquila (the town) that was affected - but I didn't want to put a downer on things or for you to think I was criticising by asking you to change it.

Lordy! What's wrong with me? I'm getting scared to tread on peoples toes! :bigergrin:

Stomp away Jules I've got me DMs on!:yes:

Draft two is on its way ...

Mox

There we are...finished product?
Any member of the forum can use this on posters or publicity or jolly well anything - just raise more money!

Moxie

Benissimo, Moxie, bravi!

L’Aquila is not only the town but the province as well.

But whatever it’s a great design, well done Moxie (and all)

Young Lewis will be glad you like it thank you - can it be of use for your badges Ricky?

(If any forum member requires the design for print drop me a PM including your email address and I'll send you the original file).

Moxie

I'm going to try and incorporate the badge into some Youtube vids if I can - and if it's OK with Ghianda - I'll also try to put it into his "Buck Naked" video - which I hope you have all seen!

It is an absolute hoot and shows what a bloody good egg he is - in fact he has proven that it's sometimes the Gander who lays golden eggs at Easter! :bigergrin:

I am sure ITALY mag can do some sort of auction of holidays, etc (accommodation, activities, etc) with all funds going straight towards the reconstruction/recovery effort - will iron out the details in the office next week and get back to you.

Oh and now you have given me another idea Ronald, will chat it through will other apartment/house owners here and see what we can come up with for your holiday auction.
A

Keep those of us not on the spot in the loop in case we can bid for anything....

Hi Guys
Really sorry that I have not made contact in the last few days, but if you read below, you will see that I have not been idle………..So far these are the people I have contacted, but there will be more today.
The ideas that have come through have been great, and I will be using all of them…….
The local churches etc will be contacted over the next few days, and am meeting with the badge company later today to see if Moxies great design can be used………The target date for the Meal and Auction is the 2/3 of May, this will give us more time to get the word out and get ( maybe more things ) for the auction.I will be adding a new page to our website, so if anybody wants tickets for the meal they can contact us through that.
Again sorry for the delays……….but the ball is rolling …………….cheers all .

[COLOR="Orange"]Hi Simon and the guys, Hope you had a great weekend? Deborah is doing really well and we managed to kidnap her from the hospital on Sunday and take her out for lunch, which was great and a little sad when we had to take her back The other reason I am writing is this. I have offered to organize a lunch in about 2 weeks for the victims of the earthquakes, and have arranged with Fabio ( remember him ) to have it at his place, charging 30E for a set meal and wine, and the local baker has offered all the bread we can eat, but I’m printing posters etc today , and posting them all over the local area , we are trying for 100 guests, ……..I have also talked a local company into giving us 2000 die stamped badges that we can sell locally, again to raise funds………Why is he telling me all this he asks…………well, knowing that you have a shed load of contacts , that would maybe help us, Deborah and I thought that you could maybe have a chat with these people and ask them, if they would have anything that they would like to donate , to the lunch so we could Auction it off, we have asked the guy that’s giving us the badges as he makes belt buckles etc for Prada, D&G and the like.
If you can let us anything that would be great, we will of course cover the shipping cost etc, and we thought that if in the event we could not sell it at the auction, we would put them on Ebay and sell them that way…………anything would be great and very welcome ………[/COLOR]

Ricky.. erm.. 30 euros a ticket? For a B B Q? In an area where people may have already given generously to their neighbours in Abruzzo may be a little steep for a glass of wine, a burger and a free bun. Work on those figures some more mate - unless you've managed to get some very famous Italian multi Michelin starred chefs to flip the burgers. :bigergrin:

[quote=juliancoll;116440]Ricky.. erm.. 30 euros a ticket? For a B B Q? In an area where people may have already given generously to their neighbours in Abruzzo may be a little steep for a glass of wine, a burger and a free bun. Work on those figures some more mate - unless you've managed to get some very famous Italian multi Michelin starred chefs to flip the burgers. :bigergrin:[/quote]

Hi J&C
I think the guy wants to do a more formal sit down type deal, anti pasta, 2 types of pasta, meat course and sweets ...... and it does include all food and wine, beer etc.........what figure would you suggest, as Im seeing him tonight I could finialze the details and cost then .........any ideas welcome :yes

Erm.. well.. erm.. I suppose you've gotta think about how much something similar would cost at "normal" times and price it accordingly Ricky.

I don't know the restaurant prices in your area - or the popularity of eating out - especially at this time - not just because of the earthquake, but also because of the recession - but I would think you have to be as reasonably priced as you can be and hope to make a little bit less from a lot more people than trying to make a bit more from a few.

Don't forget - they are not coming for the food (although it will have to be good) - you also want to hold an auction - so you want people to bid - and if the ticket price is too high - it could put people off attending in the first place. Think about the atmosphere you will create - yes, its a serious and sad time, but people will want to enjoy themselves a bit and if you only have X amount of people attending at 30 euros a head - wouldnt it create a better atmosphere if there were double that amount of people at 15 euros a head?

Pile it high and sell it at reasonable prices - get the punters in and then you've got a captive audience for the auction. If you can get these badges made and donated for free - perhaps think of handing one out to everyone who attends.. a little gift to show appreciation?

Go to the butcher - is he prepared to donate some meat - to the greengrocer - see if he will let you have the fruit and veg you need for free - you've already got the bread and cakes sorted, but the more you can get for free, the more Fabio can cut his prices to you (tell him he is still a tight arse and should be doing it at no more than cost). Choose the most popular and sociable people to help you - they will spread the word and bring others with them.

Do you have a local printer? Talk to him about printing up the posters for free - acknowledge the trade people on the posters who are giving freely their time/goods - everyone likes to have their names up in lights - it's good publicity for them and makes them feel a part of what is going on. Music - who do you know who would sort that part out?

I don't know Ricky - I'm no expert on this type of thing - these are just ideas off the top of my head - talk to Nielo - she has lots of experience with fund raising.

You have taken on a massive task Ricky. I applaud you. :yes:

Thanks for all the great ideas J&C.............will keep everyone updated .........cheers

I totally agree with JC, Ricky, the cost for the meal is too high for a fundraiser. You should be looking at something half the cost, as suggested by JC, to make it work. And I think that if you twist a few arms and get donations of meat, pasta, vegetables, etc., you can come up with a much lower price. You can get set menus in many large cities such as Florence for less money and I am talking about normal business prices, not a fundraiser.
Talk to the guy and make him understand that this is charity, not an ordinary event. It does not matter if he does not offer too many treats. From my old fundraising days, sometimes it is better to have a cheese and wine party where you will raise 10 euro a head than a banquet where you will only get 2 a head. And it takes exactly the same effort. And don't try to organise too many raffles, etc. People have already contributed to come to the event, you cannot twist their arms too much after that. Particularly taking account the recession and the fact that most of them may have already contributed to other funds.

As I said before, you need to get a pretty good idea of how many you expect to come, then set your ticket price accordingly. If you are expecting many people to come then you can lower the price JC is absolutely right if you are having an auction you want as many people there as possible and If they think they got a good deal on the meal they will be more willing to bid in the auction.

I did a medieval banquet once, where the ticket price just covered the cost of the meal (which we got at a very good discount) we packed the place and the auction (all items donated free) raised about 9 grand.

I also watched another fundraiser put on a Caribbean night – did not do the initial research, charged over the odds for the tickets (its for charity) only sold fifty tickets and got very low bids for the auction in the end it made a loss of 4 grand.

So the first thing to do is find out what the enthusiasm is, if that is really positive (and not everyone who says they will come, will come) you can afford to keep the ticket price low and make the money on the auction.

As in all things enthusiasm is wonderful but it also pays to do your research.
Good luck

I agree with Nielo and you need to get as many helpers as you can. Not very sure about the auction... is this something that Italians will understand? Another idea is to sell raffle tickets. You can do something like 5 euros a ticket or 3 for 10 euros. Many people will like the second option and it really does not matter how many tickets you are actually entering into the final raffle. Enlist as many helpers as you can. You can have some of these tickets at the door. Then, wait until everyone has had the first course and proceed to sell tickets table after table. At the end of the meal have some more volunteers going around the tables telling everyone that those are the last tickets left. People will buy more tickets, for sure.