NMMR: Wine for fundraiser

formerlyGDaisy09 · October 2014

I'm planning a fundraiser for Saturday for the Ballet Company I work with. It's an evening of wine, good food from local restaurants, performance, silent and live auction...etc.

We've charged guests $60/person for this event, we're expecting 75-100 people to attend (I have everything crossed that we'll hit the 100 people mark).

This is our first year planning the event and we have to buy the wine, since it's a fundraiser we're obviously trying to minimize what we spend. I'm trying to hit that balance between being economical about the wine and not serving something really cheap. Is Barefoot wine too low-end for this? (usually it's $6.99/750ml bottle, I can get it for $4.25/bottle).

Another organization mentioned that serving boxed wine in decanters was a way to save some money, but I can't get the bulk-discount on the boxes because we wouldn't need as many.

hoffse · October 2014

Gdaisy09 said:

I'm planning a fundraiser for Saturday for the Ballet Company I work with. It's an evening of wine, good food from local restaurants, performance, silent and live auction...etc.

We've charged guests $60/person for this event, we're expecting 75-100 people to attend (I have everything crossed that we'll hit the 100 people mark).

This is our first year planning the event and we have to buy the wine, since it's a fundraiser we're obviously trying to minimize what we spend. I'm trying to hit that balance between being economical about the wine and not serving something really cheap. Is Barefoot wine too low-end for this? (usually it's $6.99/750ml bottle, I can get it for $4.25/bottle).

Another organization mentioned that serving boxed wine in decanters was a way to save some money, but I can't get the bulk-discount on the boxes because we wouldn't need as many.

I don't think that's a problem at all. Granted, I am always very happy to drink extremely cheap wine. I can taste the difference between cheap and non-cheap, but as long as something is available, I don't care what it is. And I certainly wouldn't expect high-end stuff at a fundraiser (defeats the point).

Nice wine is one of those things I appreciate but would never pay for. Therefore, I don't expect other people or organizations to pay for it either.

Xstatic3333 · October 2014

I think Barefoot is perfectly reasonable, especially if it's open bar.

Erikan73 · October 2014

Do you have any wineries in your area that might be willing to cut you a deal on stuff if you list them as a sponsor?

formerlyGDaisy09 · October 2014

We've approached all the places we can think of. unfortunately nothing for this year. we're stuck with buying whatever we're serving

als1982 · October 2014

I think it's okay for bar service, but not table service. If you're doing table service, I'd rent decanters or your venue may already have them.

What is your constituency group coming to this event? Under 40? Over 50? Major donors? Or new to the organization?

formerlyGDaisy09 · October 2014

it is bar service. I'd say we're probably averaging in the 40-50 range. some major donors, the purpose of the event is to bring in new people as numbers on our supporter list are weak

CuriousKiddosMama · October 2014

But the wine from sams club- anybody can buy the alcohol there you don't need a membership for that. And it's a lot cheaper. I bought the wine for my wedding there and got the double bottles for almost the same price as a single bottle at the liquor store. If you don't want to have the big bottles out, or let people know what brand you bought then use decanters.
Because it's included with the ticket- you aren't charging extra for drinks, I think it's perfectly ok to go with a cheap wine. If anybody says anything they can politely be reminded that this was a fundraiser and you didn't think it was a responsible use of their money to spend it all on alcohol.

formerlyGDaisy09 · October 2014

thanks! we don't have a Sam's Club around here. the State liquor store offers a bulk discount...even on top of sale prices.

als1982 · October 2014

Are you serving beer and hard liquor too?

formerlyGDaisy09 · October 2014

no, just wine.

als1982 · October 2014

I'd at the very, very least serve beer too. Just look at it as a short term investment in more monies raised through your auctions, as well as a longterm investment in relationships that could result in larger gifts outright.

brij2006 · October 2014

You could always do just 2 house whites and 2 reds only (one sweet or semi dry and one dry for each). There's nothing wrong with using Barefoot. They have some decent wines for the price, and don't taste overly cheap.

Charles Shaw from Trader Joes is another cheap one too, but I would be afraid to use that as it can definitely taste cheap.

Another one are the Cupcake wines.

Here's a list of the top 20 Good Value wines. http://wine.about.com/od/byprice/tp/ValueWinesunder10.htm

ETA: Of course Thenest won't let me post a link. Ugh. Go to about.com and type in "20 Good Value Wines under 10 Bucks." That's the name of the article.

formerlyGDaisy09 · October 2014

als1982 said:

I'd at the very, very least serve beer too. Just look at it as a short term investment in more monies raised through your auctions, as well as a longterm investment in relationships that could result in larger gifts outright.

I would have loved to serve beer...unfortunately that decision was out of my hands. The rest of the board felt strongly about making this "easy" and they wanted to advertise it as an evening of wine and sweet and savory food. we have such a plethora of really good micro-brews in this area I thought we should use that to our advantage (I'm sure I would have had an easier time getting beer donated). however we voted and I lost.

I've been planning to have Merlot, Pinot Noir, and a smaller portion of cab sauv for reds and Chardonay and pinot gris for white.

the only reason barefoot jumped out at me was that it happens to be on sale this week at the state wine and liquor outlet, combined with their 20% discount for purchasing more than 24 bottles it's a pretty good deal.

formerlyGDaisy09 · October 2014

Gdaisy09 said:

als1982 said:

I'd at the very, very least serve beer too. Just look at it as a short term investment in more monies raised through your auctions, as well as a longterm investment in relationships that could result in larger gifts outright.

I would have loved to serve beer...unfortunately that decision was out of my hands. The rest of the board felt strongly about making this "easy" and they wanted to advertise it as an evening of wine and sweet and savory food. we have such a plethora of really good micro-brews in this area I thought we should use that to our advantage (I'm sure I would have had an easier time getting beer donated). however we voted and I lost.

I've been planning to have Merlot, Pinot Noir, and a smaller portion of cab sauv for reds and Chardonay and pinot gris for white.

the only reason barefoot jumped out at me was that it happens to be on sale this week at the state wine and liquor outlet, combined with their 20% discount for purchasing more than 24 bottles it's a pretty good deal.

I feel a little better about the wine thing as we've planned this...we've kind of made it a theme. we have a wine grab and most the auction items somehow include wine. as someone who often shooses beer over wine I would have liked beer, but I don't think we've blown the event by not including that as an option. I'm hoping we get a little feedback on it wo next year i have more leverage going into the 2nd annual event to say "hey, the people said they want beer too"

NMMR: Wine for fundraiser

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