Hosting WHD
How to plan a WHD Event in your City…
Hosting An Event & Fund Raising Ideas…
What can I do for World Hoop Day?
Interested in hosting a World Hoop Day Fund-raising Event?
Hosting a fund-raising event can be a creative and fun way to partner with WHD to raise awareness about the importance of fitness for children and give to a great cause. There are a variety of events that you can plan and host. The sky is the limit.
Auctions generate the most income. Here is some great advice from Shanna of DC Hoop Collective.
1. Know your audience – Collect donations that are of interest to and in the general area where event attendees live. For example, avoid things like gift certificates for restaurants, yoga studios, etc. in less trafficked parts of town.
2. Guide and support sponsors – Don’t be afraid to give businesses a few suggestions as to the items you might be interested in having them donate. Be sure to explain to them how the silent auction will help promote their products and, at the close of the event, consider sending them a copy of the program as a thank you.
3. Aim for big ticket items – Fire, LED and specialty hoops bring in a lot more money than smaller grab bag stuff. Whatever small items are collected should be used as donations in a raffle.
4. Keep it simple – Know with the retail price of the item. Made bid sheets that start at 20% of the retail price with 10% increments. Add an OWN it now line at the bottom for 150% of retail for those who must have it. For example: An LED hoop sells for $100. First bid price is $20 and each bid increases by $10 until you reach $150. When the auction is over, whoever has the bid price wins!
5. Short and sweet – If there are a lot of items and a limited amount of time to announce who won them, feel free to announce only the raffle winners and then ask all other participants to check in with the silent auction bidding table at the end of the event.
The entire WHD Team would like to thank you for hosting your special event and for informing your community of what’s happening to the health of children in need. Your time and effort are truly appreciated. Together we can make a difference in the lives of at risk youth and their families.
Examples of Events
If you are interested in planning and hosting a World Hoop Day Fund-raising Event email Annie for more information.
Examples of World Hoop Day Fund-raising Events:
- Fashion Show
- Coffee Shop Concert with live music: charge at the door
- Car wash – with hoops
- Wine & Cheese Party
- Jean Day: $5 to wear jeans to work
- Loose Change collection drive
Examples of recent World Hoop Day Partnerships:
- The Hooping Life donated their $500 license fee to show their movie and posters and other materials to the silent auction in Washington D.C. as part of World Hoop Day 2010. They raised almost $900 for hundreds of hoops to be delivered to Africa.
- Hoopnotica, Inc. donated 10% of their American Girl Hoop sales to World Hoop Day. They donated almost $600 to support fitness for kids.
- SuperHooper donated 10% of one of their LED hoop sales to World Hoop Day. They donated 9 PolyPro hoops to the silent auction at Hoop Camp 2011. These two contributions raised almost $500.
- World Hoop Day is often held in parks, community centers, school gyms and clubs. Sometimes it is done flash mob style where hoopers move from place to place.
- Check with your local City of Commerce or Parks Department to see if you need permits and insurance. World Hoop Day uses Clown Insurance for fire hooping and other performances.
- Keep it simple…in 2010 on his way to DC, Kevin stopped into a small, coffee shop in New Orleans. He started talking about World Hoop Day. The owner loved it and sent out press releases. He told everyone who came into the shop. A hoop group donated hoops. Musicians came to play. Kids and people celebrated. They got on the news and in the news and it was less than a week until 10/10/10.
- Make it huge… DC Hoop Collective celebrated a weekend of hooping. The movie, silent auction, hoop jams, lessons, hoop mob, and performances. It took a team to divide the work and they were happy they did.
- When you have your details, upload the info to our 11/11/11 map and make a Facebook event to help spread the word.
- Gather your friends, family and neighbors and get hooping.
Event Plan
Please contact us as early as possible so that we can help you organize your event. We encourage any questions or comments you have during the process. Event Check list:
- Send us an email to inform us about your event and obtain support materials including information packets.
- Decide on your venue. You can host the event planning at your house, have a brown bag lunch in your office or meet at your library, school or community center.
- Create a guest list for invitations and for follow up after event.
- Design and print or email your invitations. You may also want to use your email or a website such as Evite.
- Send a “Save the Date” email to everyone on your guest list – it can help increase turn out at your event.
- Mail and/or email invitations.
- Plan for food or drink. This can be a simple as tea and cookies or potluck, or as elaborate as you would like. World Hoop Day can provide you with a tax receipt for any food you purchase for the event or for any food donated.
- Send a reminder email – we can provide a link for donations to include in your email and can send donation amounts made for your event.
- Now is the time to mail out Press Releases to contact your papers, TV news and radio. Try to draw the media to our cause.
- If you need more brochures, you can print more from here!
Sample Event Schedule
Below is a sample schedule for you to review and adapt to what is appropriate
for your fund raising event….. 6:30 to 8:30 PM
- Guests arrive and mingle.
- Serve appetizers and drinks.
- Display a sign up sheet for guests to provide their contact information and receive more information about World Hoop Day.
- Discussion of World Hoop Day, what it is and how it helps so many children across the world.
- Thank guests for coming and tell your story about how you became involved with World Hoop Day. For more information on World Hoop Day check out our talking points.
- Show World Hoop Day Videos.
- You may also want to read some of the Ambassador Stories and take turns reading them out loud to give people a better idea of what it feels like to give hoops to children in need.
- Sponsor an Ambassador’s trip for $150
- Support children around the world for $25 per month
- Make a one time donation to support our program
- Make a donation in honor of someone
Following your discussion, provide ideas about how you and your guests can get involved with World Hoop Day. Some ideas are:
Event Wrap-up & Follow-up
A very important part of fund raising and non-profit work is gratitude to those who contribute. Everyone contributes time and energy and some people contribute funds, all of which flows directly into projects that bring hoops to underprivileged children around the world – remember to thank your participants.
- Encourage your guests to sign up to sponsor an Ambassador or make a donation before they leave if possible. You may want to have a specific ask, i.e.everyone gives $20 or you may want to create a group goal for the event. They can also sign up to receive more information and take any materials home with them.
- If your guests want to make donations, please make sure to collect all of the donors’ contact information so World Hoop Day can send them a tax receipt and a thank you message. You can send the donations to us in an envelope at the address below.
- If your guests write a check, make sure they are in US dollars and are payable to World Hoop Day. Credit card donations can be made using Google Checkout on the home page.
Send all donations you collected in an envelope to the following address:
World Hoop Day
Attn: Events
465 Esplanade Avenue, Suite 2
Pacifica, CA 94044
Be sure to include:
- Any donations you collected. Please provide all contact information for any donors who attended the event. World Hoop Day will update everyone who signed up at your event to receive information on our programs and will send a tax receipt and thank you letter to those who made donations.
- If there is anyone who needs a special acknowledgment, such as a local vendor who may have donated food for the event let me know so we can thank them as well.
- Your sign up sheets
- Any unused materials
- Send a personal thank you to your guests
