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Acacia Dickson
Intro to Event Planning
(582-KNN-AS)
sect. 95112
Assignment 2
Always There Fundraising Gala
Presented to Mrs. Amanda Beakes
LaSalle College
November 10th
2014

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The gala event for the Always There foundation will need to stand out from all other charity
events. To successfully stand out and arrange the event, it will be held for previous families (including
children), who have gone through the process of having a sick relative, nurses, doctors and general
people that would like to donate to help other families through these hard times. The event will be held in
order to raise money for a good charity (to have a new facility) and to also advertise and get the Always
There organization name known. The gala evening will be held in Montreal, during the summer in the
month of early August. The venue will be the Botanical gardens, with a theme of a surreal and magical
wonderland. The event will take place in early evening, a cocktail for adults and lemonade/beverage
stand for children and teens in attendance. There will be small hors d’oeuvres circulating by
waiters/waitresses and a table set up with gourmet desserts such as cupcakes, cookies and tea (imagine
Alice in Wonderland). Alice In Wonderland will inspire the activities, such as the “right” key that Alice must
pick in the film; we will incorporate this idea into prizes to be won.
By using a market study approach we will easily differentiate the Always There event gala from
another rivalling charity. The specific event that will be our direct competition is one that will take place in
Montreal by the Montreal Children’s Hospital Foundation called the 13th Splash & Dash event. The event
consists of three participants who do a relay race of run-swim-run with all proceeds earned going to
“Sarah’s Fund”. An 8-year-old girl being treated for Ewing’s Sarcoma (rare cancer found in bone tissue)
began the fund in 2001. This foundation has allowed the Montreal Children’s Hospital to build an inpatient
oncology ward called Sarah’s Floor and to support the needs of the Haematology-Oncology division
within the Montreal Children’s Hospital. On the website for the foundation the “markets” that they are
targeting to participate in the relay are “families, companies and schools”. Upon further research on their
website, to register there are 5 categories: open race, stroller dash, heroes and celebrities (invite only),
school challenge and friends and family. Each category except the stroller dash category needs to raise a
minimum of $150. This event will be held on November 8th 2014 at the McGill Sports Centre. The Splash
& Dash does not comprise solely of the relay race but will also have a DJ, inflatable games, basketball,
yoga for kids and other games. The fact that they this is a very popular event may be a problem for our
event however planning and adjusting certain details such as asking clients that the Always There
foundation helped to give a testimonial-speech, will create an even more in-demand guests for our event.

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The Splash & Dash is a large-scaled event and extremely popular, with many participants as they have a
goal to raise $200 000 and have already $117 000. The Splash & Dash and the Always There events will
overlap only in one aspect, which is that we will be catering to the same market. As described above the
events and activities that will happen during the relay race is targeted at teens and kids. The Always
There gala mainly will target teens and children since the theme is based off of Alice in Wonderland, but
we will expect a large amount of adults there to donate on site and to learn more about the foundation.
The money raised for the Sarah’s Fund, is used to create programs and a research facilities in the
Montreal Children’s Hospital (Sarah’s Floor), this strategy is the same for the garden cocktail because it
will be raising money for a larger facility. The main difference is that Sarah’s Fund has a “spokesperson”,
a face for the event and for the Montreal Children’s Foundation. The strategy the Montreal Children’s
Foundation use is like a brand within a brand by making all proceeds go to Sarah’s Fund instead of going
directly to the Children’s Foundation. Our event will be different by not being a competition or a race, but
a relaxed, exciting, thrilling and magical experience. We will cater to the emotions of the inner-child in
every adult and fascinate children who attend.
To effectively raise funds for the Always There foundation the organizers must efficiently attract
the right clientele. We will have sponsors and partnerships to help us organize and pay for this fundraiser.
We could ask sponsors such as banks, local restaurants and Funds will be raised mainly by ticket
purchases. During the event we will have raffles set up; however it will not be the standard buy a ticket
and wait for your number raffle. The raffle purchase will be included in activities integrating the theme of
Alice in Wonderland such as the pick-the-right-key game and paint the roses red activity where you would
purchase a rose, receive a raffle ticket and then paint the rose red. Throughout the event there would also
be the option to donate a certain amount of money at a booth or to a designated representative. To get
guests to donate during event, there will be speeches by clients of Always There and also the founders of
the organization giving thanks to guests who attended and to announce winners. Another strategy to
cater to everyone’s emotions would be to hand out “gift” bags at the end of event with Alice in
Wonderland themed paraphernalia such as keys with the Always There logo on them and mini bottles of
beverages that say “drink me”. This is another strategy to differ from our rivalling event (the Splash and

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Dash). The benefit of this event is to raise money for the new facility, make the organization’s name
known and to create a spark in each guest’s heart through the fascinating and magical themed event.
The following is the script of events:
Morning
9 am arrive at venue (Botanical Gardens) & sign in with botanical garden employees, ensure caterers,
waiters/waitresses are all sorted and confirm their arrival later in the afternoon, do a
walkthrough of where the event will be set up to make sure it is big enough and same as
blueprints that were designed
10 am venue begins to be set up by hired staff, make sure equipment, hang lanterns, structures and
tables are accounted for, set up pop up kitchen, delivery of alcohol and beverages
11 am test microphones, test lights, deal with any last minute delays, start placing signage so guests
will be able to easily find the venue and where to go, place parking signage, make sure
wheelchairs access can also easily get to venue
Afternoon
12 pm send a co-worker to respective stores if missing or something is broken, make sure schedule is
on time and not behind
1 pm last minute details, wait for arrival of waitresses/waiters, other event planning members, sign
in/registration staff, caterers, go over events with botanical gardens staff
3 pm do a walk through of whole venue to make sure everything is perfect, show DJ where to set up
4 pm guests will start arriving, registering/signing in, make sure waiters are going around serving,
send kids & adults to vintage lemonade stand and treats table and activities, donations open
6 pm speeches by guests about the Foundation & speeches from client thanking everyone, raffle
winners
7 pm music and dance floor open

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8 pm give out gift bags as people leave (by staff member), event is finished, clean up, put signage on
equipment to be delivered back to office next day
Since this gala event will be rather large scale, there will be many collaborators involved. The
following is a list of suppliers and staff that will be needed to make this event possible:
Caterer for hors d’oeuvres and desserts external
Waitresses/waiters (circulating hors d’oeuvres & cocktails, replenishing dessert/tea table)
Staff from event planning company internal (registration, giving gift bags, set-up staff, break down staff,
helping make sure the event is ready)
Interns from event planning company internal (placing signage, ushering guests, helping waiters)
Technicians for equipment external (lights, microphone)
DJ (for entertainment, to bring the mood of the event together)
Botanical gardens staff external (helping with venue)

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WORKS CITED
“Splash and Dash.” The Montreal Children’s Hospital Foundation. N.p. n.d. Web. 6 Nov. 2014.
“Splash and Dash.” Events. The Montreal Children’s Foundation. 8 Nov. 2014. Web. 6 Nov. 2014.