Fundraising?

[Ski11181]

I have some people that are thinking about putting together an event to raise money to help cover the cost of my medical bills and other expenses of being out of work with out pay for my treatments. Does anybody know the legal way to go about this. Also I would like to use this event to be able to create awareness about TC. So any ideas would be great. They were talking about doing a bowling event. Also I would like to donate anything over and above what was needed to cover medical expenses to a tc cause if somebody could provide any info on that. thanks.

[Sans rt1]

Ski - -

I have no real information about the legal aspects, but I think people can make gifts to you in small amounts each that would be completely legal. I say this because my wife and some friends helped organize a fundraiser for another friend that had a lot of bills from her breast cancer treatments. They threw a wine tasting fundraiser. They asked for a voluntary donation of $25 per person. Its a relatively small town, so many knew what was going on and stepped forward to donate and help. Most of the wine and food was donated or supplied at cost (the friends that were organizing it all split these costs). Additional donations were encouraged after people had a little wine in them - and they also sold raffle tickets for some nice bottles of wine that had been donated.

I really doubt that the recipient of the funds raised thought much about taxes or anything like that because it was lots of people giving her small gifts - kind of like a graduation or wedding, so did not have to be reported as income (I think, but am not an expert in taxes). The only other legal thing I am aware of was that someone had to get a liquor license to serve wine at the hall. I was volunteered to sign for it - which meant I would be held liable if something happened - a definite consideration since alcohol was served.

When my wife first mentioned they were having the fundraiser for her friend, I didn't think it was a good idea. But that was a few weeks before I was diagnosed with TC. The fundraiser was actually held three days after I finished my RT, and by that time my thinking had completely changed - it was awesome - a beautiful show of love and support by friends and family.

It sounds like you are very fortunate to have some good friends helping you through all of this. I wish you luck in your recovery, as well as the fund raiser when it happens.

[topshelf]

the first thing i would do is associate myself with a tc specific charity .. bob hammer from have a ball and steven carey from sean kimmerling or 2 charities that come to mind .... have them sponsor you for an event ... whatever event you decide to throw have your guests write the checks out to the charity .. this accomplishes 2 things .. first it absolves you from any tax liabilities ..2nd it gives your guests a legitimate tax deduction if the charities are registered 501(c) 3 .. which these 2 are .
an event that has worked remarkably well for me has been texas hold em event ... i will use 30 people as an example:
find a local restaraunt that has a private room (hopefully they will donate the room to you) if not pick one of theuir off nights that they would love extra business .. mondays and tuesday usually work best . in ny/nj 50/75 a head is usually the cost for open bar and buffet style dinner for 5 hours with waitstaff ... find a professional event company that supplies dealers and tables for texas hold em .. in ny/nj i get charged 400 for dealer /table/card /chips .. they take care of the whole tournament ... usually 10 people to a table so thats 40 a head .. add that to the 50 a head for the restaraunt and the event will cost you 90 a head ... you charge 200 a head ... so at 30 people your total cost is 2700 and you have brought in 6000 ... 3300 profit just like that .
you can also have a silent auction table at the event .. do a 50/50 raffle to raise extra money ....
as a prize i usually give oyut a 32 in plasma and an ipod .. can cost up to 1000-1200 total ...
to make even more money .. you can sell sponsorship ... prize sponsor .. table sponsor .. food sponsor .. bar sponsor .. etc .. that will eat up all your cost

i have raised over $500,000 since jan of 2005 ... $300,000 to the laf ...$125,000 to sloan kettering and $75,000 to rally for the cure ...
i hope this helps .. ill check back if you have any questions.

[topshelf]

oh .. so you cut a deal with the charity ... that you retain 75% of what you raise .. these charities are designed to help people with their treatment .. you get to pay your bills with the charity money ... the charity gets 25% of what you raise in addition to added exposure .... its a win win for everyone