Hosting your own bingo event is a great way to raise money for your favourite charity, organisation, school, community, or church. Bingo is a fun game to play for all ages, and it is easy to set up a game where you can use the proceeds towards your fundraising targets. Here’s how to organise and run an event that is successful and appreciated by all that attend – and how to make sure you actually raise some money from the bingo itself.
Sell Bingo Cards and Admission
The easiest way to raise money through a bingo event is to sell people the bingo cards they use to play the game, and also charge admission to the event. It is a good idea to do both so that people who attend the event as a social occasion but do not want to play also end up contributing to the good cause. When you sell Bingo cards you could throw in a free bonus game card, or a special prize draw ticket. Make sure you have extra bingo cards for people who want more than one for each game. Admission should be set fairly low so everyone can afford to attend.
Organise a Raffle
Another good way to raise money at a bingo fundraiser is to have a raffle or a prize draw. Before the raffle, collect together a bunch of prizes – ask people and companies to donate things large and small. The more prizes you can get, the better, as it will encourage more people to buy tickets. At the event and before the bingo starts, go round selling tickets to everyone. The best person to do this will obviously be the one with the friendly, outgoing personality that can persuade people to part with their cash. You can also maximise your sales by preselling raffle tickets before the event.
Get Your Event Well Organised
Once you have put into place the strategies for raising money you need to make sure that the event will run smoothly. The best way to raise a lot of money is to put on an enjoyable, fun time for everyone and they will be willing to spend money. You certainly need someone who can coordinate the event and call the numbers, and you need the system to generate the numbers randomly. Fortunately you don’t need to buy your own bingo machine anymore unless you want to have the look of the real balls at the event. There are many online bingo sites available where you can set up a game to be played in your own time. Make sure the people calling the numbers understand the system and can operate the software so that there are no problems on the night. And have them call the numbers at a regular pace so that people who go to the bingo halls will feel at home, and no one will feel like they are being rushed.
