Sorority Life: Planning a Philanthropic Fundraising Event

This past year I have been honored to serve as the Vice President of Philanthropy for my sorority, Delta Zeta. It is a position that I cherish because it enables me to serve my Baton Rouge community, help make a difference on a national level, and gain leadership experience within my organization.

One of my jobs as the VP of Philanthropy is planning and organizing fundraising events for Delta Zeta’s local and national philanthropies.

Check out my post on Delta Zeta's philanthropic fundraising event, Turtles and Ties here! 

Locally, our chapter serves St. Lillian Academy, The Emerge Center, and Alzheimer’s Services of the Capital Area. Nationally Delta Zeta serves The Starkey Hearing Foundation and The Painted Turtle Camp. Every single DZ chapter is dedicated to supporting organizations that focus on speech and hearing disorders. Our chapter is extremely passionate about the organizations that we serve, so it is important for our fundraising events to be successful.

While event planning in itself can be a challenge, planning a philanthropic fundraising event for a sorority can be a daunting task. I have taken some time to briefly outline a few of the things that I have learned throughout this year. I’m not an expert and this is not a definitive list, but if you are unsure of where to begin, this may be helpful!

Steps to take in order to plan a philanthropic fundraising event for your organization:

1. Assemble a team

Select girls who are passionate, organized and driven to be the event chairs. From there, work with your event chairs to select a committee of hardworking, dedicated girls.

2. Brainstorm

After establishing a team, it is important to discuss and share your ideas as a group.
You can answer the questions:

• What type of event will this be? 
• What are our goals for this event? 
• If the event is an annual one, what needs to be improved from the previous year? 
• Who will attend the event?
• Where will the event be held? 
• How will we promote the event? 
• What materials do we need to gather or purchase? 
• What is our budget? 

3. Create an action plan

Once you and your team have brainstormed ideas, it is time to finalize the details and goals of the event. From there, you need to establish an action plan that outlines how you are going to accomplish all of your goals.

Delegation is key. If there is a lot of work to be done, split up the tasks and keep team members accountable for their specific roles.

Establish a timeline that outlines when certain tasks need to be completed by.

4. Kick it into gear

Execute the action plan and communicate everything with your team.

• Order supplies
• Reach out to local businesses for donations and sponsorship opportunities 
• Organize volunteers 
• Promote the event

5. Work hard, don’t sweat the small stuff, and have fun

During the event, remember to roll with the punches and laugh off the silly things you can’t control.

Last week, my committee and I hosted a field-day style fundraising event that took place on the LSU Parade Grounds. During the event, the sprinklers, which are on a scheduled timer, came on right where our guests were playing the games we set up. 

We immediately called LSU and asked them to turn the sprinklers off, but in the meantime we had to run around and try to cover each one with a cone, without getting ourselves soaked! After that, was easy for us to laugh at the situation and continue on with the event. The rest of the day went smoothly and everyone had a great time!

 

At the end of the day, whether your event is a huge success or not, it is important to know that you and your team worked extremely hard and probably learned a few life lessons along the way.




Photos by Peyton Klemm and Alexis DeZayas