It's no surprise that dance fundraisers are a popular choice for organizations looking to raise money in a fun way! Fundraisers that include dance offer a chance for supporters to donate to their favorite cause and enjoy dancing the night away. This article gives nonprofits eight ways to include dance in their fundraising strategy.
Dance was one of the world’s first art forms. You can find examples of dance in cave paintings and pottery in every culture. Even people who don’t love to dance enjoy watching others dance or dancing in private. Fundraisers that include dance can boost their fundraising event attendance – which brings in more money for their cause.
Read on for eight ways to include dance in your next fundraiser.
If your nonprofit wants to bring a hint of magic to your fundraiser, holding a masquerade dance fundraiser may be the best way to reach a larger audience and raise funds. You’ll have to find an external site with a ballroom and space for people to mingle. Restaurants, schools, and hotels all have rooms your organization can rent.
Form an event committee and ask them to develop a theme for the evening. This theme will help you decorate the hall and your guests design their costumes.
Sponsors and vendors will be willing to provide food and drinks, and you can add a 50/50 raffle and silent auction table to add a little more excitement and raise more money.
But the best way to ensure that you meet your fundraising goals is to create an online event page and sell tickets to your target audiences. This page should be a part of all your marketing materials, offline and online. With Donorbox Events, you can add unlimited ticket levels to your event ticketing form. These ticket levels should reflect your pricing strategy and should help maximize your revenue from the event. Donorbox also lets you add tax-deductibility information under each ticket type to offer transparency to your purchasers.
Check out this organization’s event page, where they sold tickets for their Masquerade Ball Prom.
Dance recitals are more or less talent shows, except that they include solely dance. Nonprofits can ask students, supporters, and volunteers to form dance teams and entertain attendees. They should find ways to tell the nonprofit’s story with dance. Dance recitals are common with dance academies, schools, and Pom or cheerleading squads.
Like the masquerade, you’ll want to start the event with a theme. An idea like “Dance Your Emotions” will help choreographers or dance teams create dances and provide a foundation for decorations and marketing.
Most of the revenue from this event will be from ticket sales. If you can find a sponsor to pay for the location, you can sell tickets at lower costs. Otherwise, you’ll need to ensure ticket prices are enough to pay for all location and AV costs. Donorbox Events will let you create multiple ticket types to support your pricing strategy. This feature is simple to set up and very easy to use. Your purchasers will receive their tickets as well as a receipt in their inbox right after the purchase is done. Also, your team can manage the sold tickets and purchasers’ information at the backend.
Nonprofits can also hold raffles, sell flowers, and t-shirts to raise more funds during this event.
Just like walk-a-thons and 5ks, your nonprofit can hold a dance-a-thon where participants collect pledges for the number of hours they dance.
Today, nonprofits hold dance-a-thons to raise funds for everything from animal shelters to hospitals to schools. Anyone can attend dance-a-thons, and nonprofits may want to sell tickets to everyone who hopes to watch the contest.
Other ways to raise funds at these events are to sell food and drinks, hold raffles, silent and live auctions, and product sales. These events take place over many hours, so you’ll have plenty of time to add different fundraising activities. You can also create dance teams, give them each a fun name, and sell tickets accordingly. With each ticket, you can add a t-shirt for the dance team and meal options. This complete and fun package will be loved by all while helping you with increase brand presence and revenue.
Nonprofits can live stream the dance-a-thon to allow more people to watch online. Hybrid events are an excellent way to encourage more participation and boost donations. It is also a way to entice more sponsors to your event.
With your dance-a-thon, along with collecting pledges, encourage participants and supporters to raise funds for your nonprofit. This form of fundraising is called peer-to-peer fundraising. It boosts donations and outreach, helps you acquire new donors, and improves engagement.
Dancers all know how crucial the right dance shoes are. Dance shoes are not cheap. The average pointe shoe costs $65 – $75 a pair, and dance teams can run through these shoes in a month or even weeks. Dancers and other donors can support dance and others’ love of dance by purchasing and gifting a pair of new dance shoes.
If you’re a dance studio, school, or other nonprofit supporting dance, holding a dance shoe drive can give young and older people the chance to continue doing something they love. Your local dance team can also benefit from a dance team fundraising initiative like this. Be sure to invite the dance team or other people you’re supporting to inspire more donations from the community.
Before your shoe drive, develop a fundraising plan. If you hope to raise a certain amount, ensure your donor base knows the goal. If you’re willing to accept lightly used shoes, ensure your donors understand specifics about what’s needed.
You may also be able to find a corporation or major donor to give a matching donation if other donors can reach a financial goal. For that to be successful, create a fundraising page online and add a goal thermometer to it. This will inspire donors to support this initiative by giving more than they otherwise would.
School dances like Homecoming and Prom are a rite of passage for many, but how do schools raise money for and from these dances? Schools generally find sponsors to pay for these events. These sponsorships may come from parents or local businesses.
Ticket sales can also pay for most dance expenses. For an event like Prom, schools may choose to rent a space outside the school, which causes ticket prices and event costs to rise. All these expenses should be a part of your ticket pricing strategy.
One creative way to raise funds for your school dance is to ask vendors to sponsor the event with discounts or free items for students. This won’t cover the cost of the actual event but may encourage more participation from students, thus more ticket sales. A few things students will need include:
Is your nonprofit located outside the US? Do your donors have backgrounds and interests in other cultures? Dance is an excellent way to share different demographics and cultures.
Your nonprofit can hold a “dances from around the world” contest, asking volunteers and other supporters to participate. You can also invite a local dance studio or a dance team to be a part of this event. This can help you sell more tickets. This dance fundraiser can be held in-person, online, or as a hybrid event. In-person attendees can pay the entry fee and participate in raffles, and a silent auction or live auction. Online attendees may not be as willing to buy tickets but still interested in participating in the raffle and auction activities.
Other ways to excite online event participants are a chance to vote for their favorite dances and dancers.
The voting can be given a twist of fundraising. Create a fundraising page for each participant and get a unique campaign ID for them. Now ask attendees to text the ID of their preferred participant to the text-to-give number. This way, as the event ends, the campaign with the most text-to-give donations can win the contest. Let attendees (family, friends, and others) repeat their donations to send more votes.
Donorbox Text-to-Give offers you two plans: a basic and shortcode plan. Your attendees can easily give through texting (they’ll receive a mobile-friendly donation page link where they can make a donation) and then repeat the donation without any hassle. Here’s how it looks –
Pro tip: Ask participants to form dance teams and brainstorm with them different ideas for dance. The more the diversity, the more entertaining the event will be. This will also help you with many opportunities to market the event. Ask each dance team to invite their friends and family, and also collect pledges for donations.
Talent shows are one of the easiest and most popular ways to promote dance and raise funds for your nonprofit. Nonprofits can get beneficiaries, supporters, a local dance team, as well as staff of their organization, to perform a dance, sing a song, do a skit, or share another talent.
After you have found the performers, you must find an audience. If your performers are children, you’ll have an easy time encouraging their parents to buy tickets. Other talent shows can market a theme to catch the community’s interest.
Nonprofits must find a location to put on the show. You may be able to hold this event outside at a local band shell or rent space from the high school or community theatre. You’ll also have to pay for a professional audio/visual company or find volunteers that can run the lights and sound. To liven up things, you can also add a bake sale or a cookie dough fundraiser to your talent show. This is great for entertaining and engaging kids if you have many in your community, especially after the show. Needless to say, you’ll also potentially raise more money with add-on fundraising ideas like these.
The best way to raise funds with a talent show dance fundraiser is to create a fundraising page or an online event page to sell tickets to the event. Participants can help promote the page or the online event. Their family, friends, and peers would love to make a donation to support their talent and efforts. For example, the below fundraising page is created by Religion Outside The Box (ROTB) for a talent show in support of Ukraine. As you can see, they’re already on the brink of reaching their fundraising goal.
Schools, PTAs, nonprofits, and churches can hold daddy-daughter dances to encourage families to socialize and enjoy the evening.
When you begin to plan, ask your donors and volunteers if they have contacts with local restaurants or hotels and see if you can get sponsorship or a discount for the more significant event costs.
Next, you’ll need a DJ or band to play throughout the event. You can hire a professional or find a local group that would be willing to volunteer. Decorations do not have to be over the top but make sure it’s fun and colorful.
You can have a little fun, pick a theme, and ask fathers and kids to dress to fit the theme. Finally, you must advertise your event through local press and online with emails and social media posts.
Sell tickets online to raise money with an event like this. Add multiple ticket levels to the event ticketing form. The pricing must be well planned to cover your expenses and raise more. If you’re having a raffle or other games, be sure to add a ticket for that too. Check out the below online event example for a father-daughter dance. This can be an excellent reference for your own dance event of this kind.
Dance remains one of the most beloved activities. Your nonprofit can add a dance to an existing fundraising event or hold a separate dance event that tells your organization’s story and bring in a larger audience.
Dance fundraisers may appeal to people outside your donor base, so what you do afterward matters most. All event attendees should receive a personalized thank you and an invitation to join your organization in other events, campaigns, or programs. By encouraging event attendees to learn more about your nonprofit’s mission and programs, you are starting a relationship that can be built upon in the future.
Choose an all-in-one online fundraising platform that makes raising money with these events and reaching out to donors a breeze. Donorbox has helped 50,000+ nonprofits scale their growth through more funds and excellent donor management. Our simple and effective features include Recurring Donation Forms, Free Customizable Donation Pages, Text-to-Give, Crowdfunding, Peer-to-Peer fundraising, Events, Memberships, QuickDonate, and more.
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Kristine Ensor is a freelance writer with over a decade of experience working with local and international nonprofits. As a nonprofit professional she has specialized in fundraising, marketing, event planning, volunteer management, and board development.
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Kristine Ensor