In a previous diary, I wrote urging you to have a foodraiser wrapped around the film Food, Inc. The Cook for Good Foodraiser turned out to be both more complicated and more successful than I'd originally dreamed.
When asked by the theater how many people might attend, I estimated a minimum of 100 and a goal of 200. That would raise between $400 and $800, plus maybe an extra hundred from people who paid above the minimum.
278 people attended the foodraiser. We raised over $2,250!
Join me below the fold for lessons learned.
My original plan with this event was to:
- Ask the theater for a special showing
- Set the minimum admissions price at $10, with $6 going to the theater as the standard ticket price and $4 going to an anti-hunger organization
- Have a speaker before the film to set a local context and call for action for the participants
- Say a few words about how eating a healthy diet of largely organic, kindly-raised, local foods is NOT expensive or hard, as shown by Cook for Good.
- Have sign-up sheets to gather names and emails
- Watch the documentary
- Get names on the way out
- Donate the proceeds
What happened?
Sponsors:
- I contacted farmer Richard Holcomb of Coon Rock Farm to see if he would be willing to provide the organic local produce to the Food Shuttle in exchange for the funds we raised. During the conversation about this, Richard's participation kept growing. Coon Rock Farm became a generous sponsor of the event, donating produce as well and selling it. Richard brought a CSA box to the event and even led the Q&A session after the film (more about that below).
- A wonderful person at Whole Foods saw some of the early publicity and contacted us about being a sponsor. Whole Foods not only made a big cash donation, but they designed and printed gorgeous posters for the event. The posters were prominently displayed in their stores.
Extra Income & Extra Info: Books for Sale
Quail Ridge Books & Music, our nationally known independent book store, allowed us to sell books that they provided. 20% of the proceeds went to the Food Shuttle. I wrote a page of book reviews that our greeters handed out to the people in line outside the theater, which of course mentioned that every purchase triggered a donation.
As an added bonus, we got books into the hands of the participants that should help them act on what they learned at the theater. I hope we also introduced some people to a great independent book store. Independent book stores are essential to keeping free speech alive.
Joining Forces
In turned out that another activist was also starting to put an event together around Food, Inc. We joined forces, with Karen coordinating the Q&A session after the show. She also made arrangements with a local restaurant so that interested participants could meet after the film and continue the discussion. While we knew many of the same food activists and environmentalists, my other contacts tended to be in progressive politics and hers in birding, so we were able to reach a broader range of people.
Rely on Real Experts
Farmer Richard Holcomb led the Q&A session after the film. While he modestly denies it, I think of him as North Carolina's Joel Salatin, the heroic farmer of Food, Inc. Richard is also co-owner of Zely & Ritz, a restaurant devoted to using the best local, organic ingredients, many of which are grown at Coon Rock Farm. As you can imagine, Richard really knows the farm-to-fork cycle. I think Richard drew many extra people to the event. Certainly he wowed the ones who were there. A high-point of the session was when he described his own motivation for becoming a farmer: to provide wholesome food to his four children. Richard became visibly moved talking about them and about young Steve, whose tragic death from eating tainted hamburger was one of the saddest parts of the film.
Involve More Organizations and Get Those Names
I always view events like this as part of the process of building an active community. I contacted kindred organizations and invited them to provide material on our information table. I also created a One Stop Signup Sheet that let people sign up once and check off the organizations that they were interested in hearing from. We had greeters working the line outside the theater asking people to sign up.
Use Online Donations to Involve People Who Couldn't Attend
In nearly all of the communications about this event, I included a request that I'm now making of you. (Yes, you.)
Donate to the Food Shuttle online. Please pick "other amount" and end your donation with 18 cents, so they will know your gift is from a supporter of sustainable agriculture. Examples: $10.18, $25.18, $100.18. Why 18? It was the date of the Food, Inc. event.
More Information Plus Pix
For more information on organizing a film fundraiser, including an example from the schedule for volunteers and a photo of the volunteer bags, visit the tutorial on CookforGood.com.