While fundraisers for causes great and small happen year around, the spring and summer months always seem to ramp up the number of fundraisers occurring. Here are some important steps and tips for finding the right band for your fundraiser.
Decide whether or not you need/want a band at your fundraiser.
Fundraisers that have entertainment booked attract more attendees and encourage people to stay longer. If you're selling food or holding an auction or fundraising sale, keeping people around longer is going to be a positive thing for your benefit, bringing in more funds.
However, bands aren't the only type of entertainment that can be successful for fundraisers. Shows by magicians or comedians can be fun. Other popular ideas include activities that get people involved such as bingo, trivia, or sports-related games like bags or golf tournaments.
Once you've decided you want live music, get your details ironed out.
For a band to make a decision on whether or not they can be a part of your event, they need to know the cause, venue, date, time, if you are providing anything (lights, sound system, a sound engineer, backline, meals, drinks, etc.) and what your budget is. Understand that the easier you make it for the band to come in and play, the lower the rate some bands will be able to accept.
If you read that and your first thought included anything about asking bands to perform for free, please scroll to the section at the bottom of the page, “Why you should never ask or expect bands to work your fundraiser for free” then come back here to read the rest.
If you aren't sure what your budget is, but have the rest ironed out, try sending this to the bands you’re considering:
“We are looking for live music quotes for an upcoming fundraiser that we're putting together for (CAUSE OR PERSON’S NAME.) Funds raised from this benefit will (finish that sentence and add one or two more about why the fundraiser is being held.)
To help make the show run more smoothly, we will be providing ______.
Is your band available for a fundraiser at (PLACE) on (DATE) at (TIME)? What would you quote us for this?
We appreciate your time and hope to let you know one way or the other within ______ (ex: 48 hours) .”
Make sure the section on what is being provided or what they need to provide includes things like sound systems and backlines. This gives the band all the facts they need to make their decision.
They may say they are not available. They may quote you their regular price. They may quote you a reduced price. They may say they are available and would like to donate their time. Never expect anyone to do this, just know these are all possibilities.
Chase Seiting is often part of fundraising events for the group 22VA, which is a group of talented Veteran Artists that want to help other Veterans express themselves through art and music.
Make your choices and get everything confirmed ASAP.
Holding a date for you that you might not need can cause them to lose other gigs, or cause other people’s schedules to be held up. As soon as you can, let the bands you didn’t choose know you went in another direction and thank them for their time. Let the band(s) you did choose know and get all the details settled.
One other tip that can help your fundraiser...
Unless they require payment before the event, pay the bands in cash on the day of the event. There may be a band member or two who will donate some or all of their payment for the day back to the cause, or use that to enter a raffle or buy extra food. Just remember that if they do this, it is out of the kindness of their hearts.
You shouldn’t expect anyone to do so, but it helps if you don’t make it difficult either.
Why you should never ask or expect bands to play at your fundraiser for free
Emilele performed at the Harmonize Peoria last fall.
Asking bands to play for free can be tempting. After all, you are trying to raise as much money as possible for your specific cause. But there are several reasons to avoid this.
It's unfair. Who else would you ask to perform what they do for work, for free? The venue, the food, the drinks, raffle tickets, and all other supplies have to be paid for. If the providers of those things choose to donate them, that’s wonderful. But people rarely go into the fundraisers expecting all of those things to be donated.
It's unethical. Musicians spend a lot of time and effort honing their craft. If performing at events is a source of income for them, then taking advantage of their passion for making music and their desire to help a good cause by asking them to perform for free undervalues their skills and time. It tells them that you don't respect how hard they work or value their talent.
It sets a bad precedent. Every time someone asks bands to play for free and they do it, others get the idea that it's okay. As you can see from the other bullet points, it's not.
It can hurt your event. Not having a budget to pay your band often means not giving yourself access to the best, most reliable talent available for your cause.
It would be easy to think, “We can’t spend $1200 on a band. We need to raise money, not spend it. However, if 100 more people attend because of the band, and spend an average of $20 each between the door and food and other things happening there, that’s $2000 that you have raised for the cause, which is $800 more than you would have had with no band.
Of course, there are exceptions about bands playing for free... close friends and family members of a person for whom funds are being raised may volunteer, which is fantastic.
We have an amazingly supportive music community in the Peoria area. Sometimes the bands themselves put the fundraiser together. In that case, if everyone in the band agrees to perform for the cause… that is great. But the vast majority of fundraisers do not happen that way and just because you know a band performed for free previously, it doesn’t mean they will again.
In the end, you’re always safest to assume you will need to pay musicians to perform. That respectful approach will get you much further than you might have expected originally.