A charity ball is a charity event where guests attend a seated dinner with live entertainment and is one of the most popular types of fundraisers in a charity’s annual fundraising calendar.
When you host a charity ball, your organisation can raise money for your mission through ticket sales, auctions, raffles, and donations etc. Ticket sales would usually cover the costs of catering, entertainment, venue hire etc., while any other money raised goes towards helping the charity’s cause.
This type of fundraiser is popular because it allows attendees to have fun while simultaneously raising money for a good cause. As an added bonus, you get to dress up for the event and enjoy a great night out at a great venue.
Your Guide to Hosting a Charity Ball
- Charity Ball Event Concept
Your first step should be to create an event concept. Your event concept should answer all the key questions you will need to plan a great event. A great event concept should include:
- Profiles of your target audience.
- Clear and concise event objectives.
- A working budget for your event.
- The format of your event.
- The location and venue of your event.
- Other practical details of your event.
With profiles of your target audience, a date in mind and a clear budget for your event, you can get started with the planning. Before you begin planning the practicalities of your event, it’s important to come up with a great theme that is exciting and will attract the type of people who are interested in attending.
The theme will help people understand what type of charity ball it is and how to dress, as well as giving you your first step towards publicity. What are the key messages you want to convey? Answering these basic questions can help you narrow down your theme. You should also think about the type of dress code people will need to follow for your event, as well as any entertainment or activities that may be involved. Then you can start to make key decisions with your charity ball planning.
Consider whether your charity ball will be a seated dinner or a dinner dance. What works for your audience, theme and event goals? Do you want your guests to sit around and chat at their tables all night, or do you want them to hit the dance floor? These two options work for different kinds of charities because they each allow attendees to have different experiences.
Next, you’ll need to decide on a venue. When selecting a place to host your charity ball, consider the location and capacity of each space. You should also think about accessibility for guests with disabilities. Remember, the larger the venue is, the more guests it can hold, so have a rough idea of the size of your event before getting started.
You can use our Venue Sourcing Service to help with this.
- Coordinating a Charity Ball & Implementing an Event Concept
Now that you have your charity ball event concept and a chosen venue, you can start to make more strategic decisions and implement your plan. This stage of hosting a charity ball includes:
- Creating a specific itinerary for the charity ball, allowing the event to run smoothly
- Booking the entertainment
- Risk assessments
- Contingency planning
The main component of this stage is the itinerary. By now, you should have your target audience profile clear in mind and know what they expect to experience at your charity ball. The last thing you want is for people to get bored after minutes of arriving at the event. That’s why it’s important you have a plan of action to ensure your charity ball is a success.
For example, you might want to contact your guests and confirm who is attending so you know how many people to expect. In regards to venue, another important factor is to confirm what you can and cannot do with your event space before it’s too late.
You’ll also want to plan the practical details such as hiring equipment, organising staff and booking any extra entertainment or activities you might need at the event. You should calculate how much everything will cost so you know your budget is covered. It’s also important that you plan out your risk assessments to ensure nothing goes wrong.
We recommend creating a master checklist for your charity ball event planning, allowing you to keep track of all the details and tasks related to your event. For example, “Print final guest list” can be listed right alongside “Ensure caterer arrives on time.” Alternatively, you can use our full-service event production services and effectively delegate the stress and specifics of planning your charity ball.
3. Performing Final Checks & Getting Ready for Your Charity Ball
This stage of planning a charity ball is all about checking your plans are watertight and giving yourself enough time for any last-minute changes. It includes:
- Confirming all the key details with your venue, caterer, entertainment and other suppliers
- Finalising guest numbers and dietary requirements
- Finalising running orders
- Last minute rehearsals on speeches
- Finalising auction lots etc
If you have a big team working with you on your charity ball, it’s good practice to get them involved in this stage of the planning process. With clear communication and a master plan for your event, everyone will know what they need to do and when.
The final checks you perform before hosting a charity ball should give you enough time to figure out any last-minute issues that may arise. Remember, it’s always better to be safe than sorry!
4. Hosting a Charity Ball With Precision
This is the day you’ve been waiting for all year – so don’t let yourself down by rushing around and forgetting important tasks. This stage of hosting a charity ball covers:
- Arriving at the event
- Introducing yourself to your guests
- Explaining what’s going on during the evening and how it will run
- Ensure all suppliers are working as they should be
- Ensuring charity helpers and charity ambassadors are fully briefed
Your role as a host is very important so don’t forget to introduce yourself to your guests. It’s also the time when you should explain how the night is going to run, with simple instructions on how they can support with raising funds for the chosen charity.
There are lots of moving parts at a charity ball so it’s important things are running smoothly – especially if you’re not using an expert event company to help you. You may need to take ownership of any minor issues that arise, such as the entertainment running late.
5. Ending a Charity Ball
It’s nearly time for your charity ball to end but there are still some things you should do before telling guests it’s time to leave. This stage of charity ball planning includes:
- Ensuring any catering and entertainment is finished for the night
- Thanking your guests, entertainers and sponsors for attending
- Calculating amounts raised on the night
- Sending a thank-you email or letter to people who donated money or auction lots to your raffle and confirming the fantastic amount of money raised.
6. Keeping the Memory Alive!
This final stage of planning a charity ball is all about keeping the memory alive by sharing special moments with friends and family via social media or email. You can do this by:
- Sharing photos of the night with your guests
- Posting updates on the evening’s entertainment or special announcements, like winners of raffles or auctions
- Thoughts on how your ball went and thank you tweets for sponsors!
- Creating a lasting impression by highlighting your chosen charity’s work in the days, weeks and months after your event.
Your charity’s website is another important way to keep the memory alive – especially if you’re promoting ongoing fundraising activities for guests to get involved with or ways they can support your chosen charity without attending an event. It may seem an age away now, but don’t forget to thank everyone who made your event possible – including any volunteers or suppliers!
Looking For a Full Events Service For Private, Corporate or Charity Events?
At WKM Productions, we are experts in exciting and successful events, whether that’s a charity ball, an award ceremony, or something else! We know what goes into a great charity ball and how to implement and execute that effectively, so why leave the success of your charity ball to chance?
With our expert event services, we’re here to help with everything from venue sourcing, to entertainment choices and even event conceptualisation. We help you avoid key event mistakes and maximise your event success.