Village Hall Fundraising

[DRD]

Can I pick the collective pinball info brain pls ?

Our village hall has been a very steady little enterprise that basically breaks even. It is a 90s building that has been well maintained. The sky rocketing electricity bills together with reduced attendance (lingering effects of covid so maybe 25 per cent of folk still in hiding) mean that it lost £4k last year, which may well be £8k this year given electricity costs

The main hall seats 120 and is comfortably larger than the badminton court marked on the floor. We have tables and chairs for 120. A well resourced separate bar. Aircon. Separate function room. Kitchen with lots of fridges, double oven, dishwasher etc. No significant outside space - but enough for a few cars and a takeaway van.

Does anyone have any suggestions please for pragmatic fundraising/ events please that are low risk ? - booking performers is high risk as they want paying even if no-one shows up/ weather puts people off etc

• I have run a monthly cinema for 5 years (shut during covid), that makes about £300 profit a show across tickets, bar, kitchen
• Quiz nights ?
• Weddings ?
• 1980s disco - bar revenue can be £1,700 for these. Profit margin is well north of 50%
• Big screen events using the cinema kit - world cup footy ? coronation ? eurovision ? proms ? - bar revenue is the driver
• Annual events for local sports clubs/ awards night etc
• Kids parties - no booze sales
• Adult parties - booze sales
• Weekly yoga/ zumba/ badminton/ WI type stuff that pays maybe £10 an hour

Thank you

 

[Mfresh]

Quiz can be a big fund raiser with very little cost

Also race nights using the video setups that play canned races.

In some ways the actual event is secondary - the key is to run a raffle (with donated prizes) run a bar, do games (like heads or tails) and you should make a grand if you can get 80 - 100 people to turn up.

 

[Calimori]

I have gone to village halls for the following things outside of your list:

1. Baby groups - https://www.hartbeeps.com/
2. pre-school Kids creche (monday to friday, 0800-1200)
3. Creation Station kids sessions (https://www.thecreationstation.co.uk/)
4. First aid training sessions (used by local companies)
5. Company wide briefings where we can't all fit in the company's largest office space

Other

1. Therapy sessions
2. Music classes
3. Chess club
4. Book reading club
5. Cubs/Scouts/Brownies

Parents are desperate to get out the house with pre-school kids or need someone to look after the kids if they work. Kids groups and activities for this age range can make a lot of income.

 

[DRD]

What is heads or tails please?

Has anyone ever been to a decent Christmas event ? What was laid on ?

 

[Judderman]

Heads or tails - everyone stands up & puts their hands on their heads or asses. Then the MC tosses a coin - everyone with their hands in the non-matching place sits down (apart from the cheats). This is repeated until there's only two left (& then the MC fixes it so that whoever they are best mates with/fancies most gets the prize). The latter part may be coloured by seeing this at a Christmas do where it was played for a grand.

 

[johnwhitfield]

Not my type of thing but casino nights / race nights as mentioned earlier
Local speakers / u3a type stuff for older people
If kids parties add a face painting booth. Always makes loads of money at school events
Gaming / roll playing venue. But generally the bar take is low but good for regular bookings in off time
Rent as band rehearsal space

Might be worth approaching the national lottery to see if there is any chance of sponsorship

 

[Sam C]

Why not put a pin in there at 50p a play or something?

 

[Pick Holder]

I was on a village hall committee 5 years ago.

Forget baby things, yoga classes, cubs, scouts etc as none of them want to pay ANYTHING for the hall.

You are best hiring it out for private events - parties (18th/21st/30th/40th etc). Wedding receptions (evening do's).

Maybe do say 70s/80s theme nights with a DJ and a band - but these risks are a little higher if you have a band. But if you have a band then you can charge more.

Do a facebook page, advertising for local private hires. If you (ie the venue) run the bar then that will be where the money is. Scouts just want storage rooms and everything for f. alll.
It will take a while for the private hires to come in, maybe a couple of years.

In the bar put a fruit machine in there. These still take money and are cheap on the WWW. But do not do the ones with high jackpots. Grab a cheap CD jukebox for the bar area. Take all the money and put in your CDs.

If you take on weddings you can charge for the hire of the kitchen, even if you do not supply any staff. But police what is in there and check it off after any hire.

Charge a £200 deposit on any hire in case stuff goes missing in the kitchen etc.

Also have a clause in the contract that if any damage is done during an event that it is hired out for - the customer is responsible. At a wedding once, we had a sink pulled off the wall and due to this in the contract - they had to pay for it.

A good hall can be a licence to print money, but you need to know what the locals want..... Maybe post on the facebook pages of other towns in a 5 mile radius.

 

[Deleted member 2463]

Run a tournament! Pinball or do a lan party (assuming it’s got decent connectivity)

neil.

 

[Deleted member 2463]

Or and dont forget to talk to the council about a grant - everyone else is getting free money!

 

[AlanJ]

Host a new years eve party - we used to hire the local community hall and do that, Everyone chipped in with left over booze and xmas food and we had the hilarious "unwanted xmas present" tombola. Every year we had too many people wanting to come along.

Funeral wakes. Works well if you can find someone willing to do a bit of catering. Finger buffet and drinks.

 

[Asiapinball]

We have an annual auction at ours. People donate their unwanted stuff and there is usually 600 lots that raise £2-3k typically plus the take from teas and cakes and bacon butties on the day. Parish population is about 2,000 people and probably 150 attend and bid but it even attracts dealers from 50 miles away. But its a lot of work to organise so you need lots of volunteers and preferably some storage space as people donate stuff through the year.