The number of guests at your event can truly determine the success of your evening. The easiest way to ensure enough participants at your dinner or other event is to schedule it during the best time of year. Keep these scheduling strategies in mind when planning your major fundraising events.

Check your community’s event calendar for other major galas, dinners and large scale events scheduled throughout the year. Your local convention center or tourism bureau will have this info. You can also check your newspaper listings at your local library to find out when other major events are scheduled. You don’t want your event to conflict on the same day, or be too close to another large scale or higher priced ticket event in the immediate area. This will draw your donors away from your event, and make it harder to secure sponsorships or donated items from local businesses.

Avoid scheduling your event close to your annual membership renewal, or another major donation drive. You don’t want your donors to feel they are experiencing an ‘either/ or’ situation, where they will either attend the event, or participate in another donation drive. You want them to feel generous at both times, giving deep from their hearts. Schedule your event at least 6 weeks after your annual membership drive or annual campaign, to give enough space in between the events. If the event comes first, it may jeopardize the gift amount the donor is willing to donate because they have just recently given to your group, through ticket purchases, auction bids, and special appeals.

Be mindful of holidays and popular vacation times when people may not be able to attend. Scheduling large scale events in the middle of the Christmas season may reduce your attendance because of conflicting parties, concerts and church events. Check your local school system’s holiday schedule and take note of Spring Break week and other 3 day weekends that may differ from the typical business holidays. Keep these special days in mind, and send out a ’save the date’ notice in advance if you choose to host an event around a popular holiday. This will ensure your donors will mark their calendars and save that date for your event.

Colder weather months are popular times for hosting a formal event. It gives some frivolity and fun time to an otherwise dreary time of year. Early spring months are also popular times, as there are fewer major holidays to conflict with the event, and many exciting themes to borrow. Families rarely leave town for Mardi Gras, St. Patrick’s Day or Easter, but you can use these themes for your own local events.

Consider the schedules of major sports teams and tournaments, both locally and nationally, when scheduling your event, if possible. Hosting a large scale event on the afternoon of the Super Bowl will inherently reduce your audience numbers, particularly for men. Most major sports dates can be found online, and many game dates are scheduled well over a year in advance. By checking the sports schedules in advance, you’ll know in plenty of time the game date for your local college rivalry teams, or the date for Homecoming weekend.

After you’ve browsed online and combed through the community calendars, there may be only a few dates that would do well for your particular event. There are many nonprofit charities and groups in each community who are trying to raise money. There is little chance that you’ll find a weekend completely free from all activities whatsoever. Just do your best to schedule away from major conflicts, and then make a concerted effort to target the audiences you want to attend your event. It’s obviously a strain to schedule a car show on the same weekend as another local car show. But, if you were to schedule an evening gala and auction on the same date as another charity group’s morning walk, attendees could easily choose to support both events.

Keep these strategies in mind when planning your next year’s fundraising calendar. Through some basic research and calendar investigating, your group can remove as many obstacles as possible and optimize your attendance rate by choosing event dates that are most attractive to a wider population. This will help you target a larger population to attend your festivities, and in turn, increase funds raised at your special event.