FUNDRAISER IDEA #4: Restaurant Events

Sample event:

 Tap Project

The Tap Project is a nationwide UNICEF event held in March: 

We held Tap Events at local restaurants & this is how it worked:

Guests at participating restaurants could pay an optional $1 for tap water

The money was donated to UNICEF directly from the restaurants

Our group signed up as a Tap Project volunteers with UNICEF

We contacted local restaurants to encourage them to participate & we:

  • identified ourselves as customers and local students
  • contacted as many local restaurants as possible
  • continued to contact them until we got a response

We set up meetings with the restaurant owners/managers & we:

Gave a Power Point presentation at the meeting that detailed how the project would help the restaurant as well as UNICEF

Publicized the event and the participating restaurants

  • on Facebook
  • in local papers
  • on community websites

Gave participating restaurants as much support as they wanted

Trained staff about what to say to customers about the project

Put information cards at the tables

Offered to have a representative from your group at the event

 

Who helped:

 

Independently owned local restaurant participants

The waiters who promoted the event

The managers were very helpful

  • Some held competitions between their servers to see who got the most tap participation
  • Some held the event on extra days

Lots of customers participated

Restaurant Events

Everybody likes to eat out.  Holding events at restaurants is a fun way to raise funds.  Restaurant events can be informal fast food coupon events or formal sit-down events.

Blueprint

Select a restaurant and event type

  • Restaurants (often upscale fast food places like Chipotle, Noodles, etc.) often have "charity of the month" or "dine to donate" events.
  • You can rent an event room or even a whole restaurant and hold a dedicated event

Contact the restaurant to set up an event

  • Set up a meeting with the manager and show a Power Point presentation about your cause to convince them to set up the event

Set up the events for optimal times:        

  • if school kids go to a certain place on Fridays, set up your event there for Friday 
  • if your school has a late start day, schedule a breakfast event on that day
  • game days are also good days to schedule events targeting students
  • Saturday evenings are good times to schedule more formal restaurant events

Advertise the event: 

  •  on Facebook
  •  on school posters
  •  on school announcements
  •   in school media
  •   in community media
Give restaurant managers any support they need. If the event requires that guests hand the waiter a fundraiser slip, be sure to put these slips
  • on posters
  • in ads
  • link the Facebook event page to PDFs/websites with the slips

EAT OUT & HELP A GOOD CAUSE!

What worked at our event:

  1. We raised a lot of money through the Tap project
  2. We spread the word about the world water crisis and UNICEF
  3. Two of the restaurants we recruited are part of a local chain, so their success may mean all 5 restaurants will participate next year
  4. Many families and community adults attended the event
  5. The restaurants which participated were enthusiastic and will probably participate again
  6. Once we convinced restaurants to participate, it was quite easy to implement
  7. The participating restaurants enjoyed working with students in our group
  8. Advertising in local papers attracted attention and participants

What didn’t work at our event:

  1. Many restaurants refused to participate
  2. Many restaurants refused to meet with us
  3. We did not mobilize a lot of students into attending the events
  4. The participating restaurants did not publicize the event outside of the restaurant
  5. Some group members were not persistent in contacting restaurants that didn’t respond
  6. Some group members did not know how to effectively contact and talk to business people

Tips:

  1. Teach your group members how to contact and interact with businesspeople
  2. Provide group members with a PowerPoint presentation or show them how to create an effective one of their own
  3. Give Power Point presentations to the restaurant managers/owners
  4. Be charming, formal, and professional with the managers
  5. Be persistent in contacting restaurants
  6. Contact restaurants during slow times of their business day
  7. Advertise the event in both school and community media