Jackie Blue: Detroit Band's Musical Succeeds in Raising Funds for Charity
Jackie Blue's "Roaring 20's Masquerade Ball" was a huge success! With any event there's always the opportunity to learn from the good and the bad. With this "final event report" we want to share with you what we learned so that you can incorporate this information into your next event. We’ll also name the names of the people and organizations that were critical in helping make this event a success.
(PRWEB) April 15, 2005 -- With the last guests leaving Detroit's Severance
Gallery on late Sunday morning (the event started at 7:00pm on Saturday, April
9th), Jackie Blue's "Roaring 20's Masquerade Ball" was a huge
success!
With any event there's always the opportunity to learn from the
good and the bad. With this "final event report" we want to share with you what
we learned so that you can incorporate this information into your next event.
We'll also name the names of the people and organizations that were critical in
helping make this event a success.
Based on our experience with the
Jackie Blue "2004 Halloween Masquerade Ball", we had solid financial figures
from which to assemble our event budget (see Table 1 at http://www.jackieblue.com/Roaring_20s_news_release_5.PDF).
Through a rigorous cost reduction program, we were able to significantly reduce
our total budget. We analyzed each line item to determine its value for our
target market. Those items that had little value or were too expensive were
eliminated. Frequently we were able to obtain discounts in return for agreeing
to a long-term working relationship with trusted partners and
vendors.
Sponsorships continue to be an important method for funding a
large event. We had 3 levels of sponsorships (see Table 2 at http://www.jackieblue.com/Roaring_20s_news_release_5.PDF).
Each sponsorship package was priced to be of high value when compared to other
advertising and sales channels. Sponsors had the option of purchasing a
sponsorship outright or providing the event with an equivalent value in services
or products. Then we went out of our way to promote our sponsors prior to,
during, and after the event--going beyond the performance that we had agreed to.
Success with sponsors was measured by:
1) The
amount of business that we generate for them during the 6 months following the
event.
2) An increase in awareness of their business due to
our unique events by measuring changes in inquiry rates via the web, E-mail, and
telephone.
Our original sponsors have returned and we’re now being contacted
by new sponsors for future events.
We're firm believers in taking good
notes. Taking a chapter from Detroit's manufacturing heritage, we used an Action
Item List that quickly summarized who was required to do what by a specific
deadline. The Action Item List was distributed once per week (sometimes more
frequently) to each of the team members. By using this technique, it was easy to
determine who was keeping up with their workload, who needed additional support,
and who needed to be eliminated from the team. The Action Item List was also
supported by very detailed notes for reference (35 pages for this event) in case
an issue arose at any point in the event planning process.
Event
Objectives
1. Fun: Bring together the art, music, fashion,
and business communities of metro-Detroit.
2. Raise money
for charity: Friends for the Dearborn Animal Shelter
3.
Ambassadors to Detroit: Bring new people into Detroit from the suburbs and
provide them with a solid example of a fun, safe evening in our
city.
4. Support our artists: We continue to be a proponent
of paying our artists and venues.
How did we do?
The overall
impression by many folks who live in the suburbs is that Detroit is dangerous
and that the only thing fun to do in the city is attend large sporting events.
To overcome this barrier, we continue to plan quarterly mid-size events (100-500
people). During the Roaring 20's Masquerade Ball we passed out event evaluations
forms and received comments such as "I was afraid to come to Detroit for the
event, but after being here, I felt safe and had a wonderful evening." "I met
several people who I expect to do business with in the future." "I loved the
combination of music, fashion, and art." "Didn't know that Detroit had anything
to offer besides sports." The event demographics speak for
themselves:
Jackie Blue's "Roaring 20's Masquerade
Ball"
Event Demographics
Gender
Male 52%
Female
48%
City
Detroit 8%
Outside of
Detroit 92%
As with the 2004 Halloween Masquerade Ball
(benefit for Habitat for Humanity-Detroit), we were again successful in raising
funds for our charity. We ask our artist community for a lot during charity
events—long hours and challenging working conditions, to name a few. We
successfully continued our mission, which we started in 2004 with the Halloween
Masquerade ball, of paying artists and the folks that work on charity events a
fair wage.
Why do we do this? All of us on this
team have volunteered for a variety of local and national not-for-profits over
the years. We all struggle to raise the smaller amount of money required to keep
a charity’s full-time operations running. The monthly fluctuation in available
funds is very stressful for the hardworking staff and also takes time away from
their primary goal.
Because we historically ask
venues and artists to not only give of their time, but to do so without any
monetary compensation, while most venues and artists agree to help, it's not
their number one priority since they like to be able to "eat." Therefore they
choose to participate in events that pay them first and we end up with only a
few fund raising events per year.
This new fund
raising model has been proven to be successful. We continue to focus on
producing regular fund raising events throughout North America for worthwhile
charities. This will go a long way to giving charities a regular source of money
for their ongoing operations.
Friends for the Dearborn Animal
Shelter-We're approached by many charities asking for our help. The vast
majority of them have worthwhile missions. When we select a charity, we look for
a mission that we believe in and people associated with the charity who are
willing to give of their time to make the fund raising event a success. Elaine
Greene and her team at Friends for the Dearborn Animal Shelter are a good
example of a proactive charity. Contact them at www.dearborn-animals.com
CatharticMedia LLC—Josefine
and Mathew Martin epitomize the "can do" spirit. These are some of the hardest
working folks we've had the pleasure of working with and we plan to produce
future events with them. It's a tribute to their talent and work ethic that the
Roaring 20's Masquerade Ball was such a success. Contact them at www.CatharticMedia.com
John Cowley & Sons—Fine food, friendly service and flexibility is
what you get from Matt Goyette and his team. Check out their website for fun new
events at their Farmington, Michigan pub: www.johncowleys.com
Splash Media Group—Brian Heath and
his team are the perfect example of professionalism. They do quality video and
photography at reasonable prices. Most importantly, they understand the "big
picture" of what you're trying to achieve and they also sweat the details. To
retain them for your next event: www.ispgroupinc.com
31 Seconds—Having met Aaron,
(A.C.), Dan, Aaron (Al), and John several years ago in Brooklyn, Michigan,
Jackie Blue has had the opportunity to hear these guys grow musically. Not only
does their music rock but these gentlemen are some of the kindest folks you'll
meet. Check out their awesome new song "Fine By Myself" from their new CD "31
Seconds" by E-mailing them at e-mail protected from spam bots And yes, Aaron
does have the coolest bass guitar.
Fashion designers—with the success of
the television show "Project Runway" designing clothes now looks easy. The
reality: Combine deadlines and last minute changes, with the need for fresh
ideas, and only the best survive. Special thanks to Susan Libertiny (E-mail:
e-mail protected from spam bots), Sew (E-mail: e-mail protected from spam bots),
Shampoo (E-mail: e-mail protected from spam bots), Rachel (E-mail: e-mail
protected from spam bots), and DelonDetroit (www.delondetroit.com) for
their amazing take on 1920's fashion.
Hair & makeup—how do you
prepare 20 models for the runway in a very short amount of time? Bring in the
best. Thank you to Shannon @ Onesistah (www.musecube.com/onesistah), Bocci Salon (Phone:
586-254-4343), and Marcia Dionne (www.musecube.com/beautybydionne)
Fashion models—The
Beach Boys were wrong. We wish they could all be Michigan girls. The Roaring
20's Masquerade Ball proved that beyond a doubt. Check out some of their photos
at www.JackieBlue.com and
click on "Photos."
ASME Southeastern Michigan—in the motor city, this is
a solid engineering society. With over 2,000 members in Southeastern Michigan
and 100,000+ throughout the world, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers
is the premier engineering society. Website: http://sems.asme.org
MichiganBands.com,
MidwestBands.com, and Tribe.net—Without these three websites, the Roaring 20's
Masquerade Ball wouldn't have happened. The folks from Jackie Blue and
CatharticMedia first met by using these online communities.
Rick, the webmaster of MichiganBands.com is the
ideal person for bouncing ideas off of and he has an endless supply of energy.
www.MichiganBands.com.
Jen & Mark Lush are the dynamic duo who run MidwestBands.com. They are
extremely supportive of local music and have helped us in more ways than you can
be imagined. www.MidewestBands.com
Darien
Patchin is the marketing guru at Tribe.net in San Francisco. His positive
attitude and support of Tribe's 80,000+ grassroot members speaks volumes about
the importance of this global network. Join tribe for free at www.Tribe.net
Michael R.
Meike—tying together the entire event with the story of Nick Fudrich was our
narrator, Mike Meike. Mike has been performing improvisational theatre for the
past 10 years and it shows. His ability to effortlessly roll with the invariable
last minute changes of a live production were very welcome. Check out his work
at Brainstormers www.brainstormersfun.com
Jackie Blue—Finally, very
special thanks to my musical family: Carrie Firth, Chris Mick, and David Dupuie.
Without your friendship, talent, hard work and dedication, none of this would
have been possible. Our music is available at www.JackieBlue.com and
David's artwork is available at www.DavidDupuie.com
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Source: http://www.prweb.com/releases/2005/4/prweb228862.htm