The Jingle Bell Gala is our main fundraiser for the Brunswick Rotary so we couldn’t just let it go this year! We usually hold it the second Thursday of November but since we needed to do it virtually this year we decided to move it to the first Thursday in December. We still got sponsorships and in return we made sure that their names and logos were on our Facebook page as well as our Website and they were all listed in the online catalog. Taking pictures of “baskets” doesn’t do much since they are hard to see so we didn’t worry about things being in a basket with a bow but rather one of our members, Deb Wasylko, who owns Baskets Galore, is trained in “staging” so she offered to do the photography for the online catalog. Things were laid out so you could see items.
In order to do an online catalog along with a 50/50 raffle, a lottery tree raffle and a raffle for a diamond necklace that was donated by member Dave Wiant of Wiant Jewelers, you need a “program” We used Ready Set Auction. Yes we paid for it but it’s good for a year so we will be using it to do a 50/50 Raffle for New Years Eve!
On the day of the event we were blessed to have Evan Prunty of Black Valve Media (blackvalvemedia.com) who brought all of his equipment and we were set up like a real TV studio! We were live for one hour where we thanked all of our sponsors and talked about club projects and did the drawing so people could watch. This was live on Facebook and Zoom. This made it very professional. We were able to use part of the hall at St Ambrose for the live studio. Then the next day we set up in the same hall and from 5:00 – 7:00 people could pick up their items (part of the production was on our website to view).
This system lets people know if they have been outbid, you send them an invoice immediately when the bidding closes and they pay on the secure website. The money was deposited directly to our Foundation checking account. You can print reports of who hasn’t paid so you don’t give them their items if they haven’t paid. You can also run reports by winners so if Joe Smith got 5 items, they will all be listed under his name! This makes it so easy to pull the items together for pick up! It also gives you the dollar amount you sold!
In October we did our Pig Roast Reverse Raffle virtual. This one we did ourselves on Zoom and Facebook Live. We sold tickets like always the people drove through and picked up their meals which we had packaged family style. They could pull up and buy side board tickets or purchase 50/50 tickets without having to leave their car. Then they went home and ate while watching the reverse raffle! We actually made $2500 more than we’ve ever made before! Tickets sold out very quickly!
So don’t let the virtual stop you. This year more than ever there is such a need in our communities! We can’t help if we don’t have the money to help!!
Yours in Rotary Spirit and Friendship
Marsha Pappalardo, Rotary Club of Brunswick