Looking for a fun and wild night that really gets your donors involved in a good way? Try a Karaoke Raffle Dinner for your next fundraiser!

If you’re hosting an event that just isn’t bringing in as much money as you’d like, and you don’t have time to organize a full live auction, have no fear! This piggyback fundraiser is ideal for any dinner event or gathering with a lot of people who are good sports and support your organization. Start with your regular dinner event, such as a Spayghetti and No Balls dinner, or Around the World in 80 Spays dinner. Charge your regular dinner ticket price, and list “surprise entertainment” on the fliers. The surprise is your guests will be the entertainment!

As people come in for the event, ask them each to enter their name into a raffle drum for a special drawing later that evening. Once the dinner portion has ended, and you’re ready to move on to the next part of your evening, announce the special entertainment for the evening will be Live Karaoke! Explain that you want your guests to have a wonderful and memorable evening, but your group also wanted to keep the expenses down to make sure all money raised goes back to the nonprofit programs. Since professional comedians, string quartets and orchestras cost quite a bit of your budget, you’ve decided to host a Karaoke Raffle.

Your emcee will then draw an attendee’s name from the raffle drum, and pick a song from the list of Karaoke songs available that night. Then, the emcee will ask the audience how much they’d be willing to pay to hear John Carson sing his rendition of “Memories” from the musical Cats. (The crazier the song, the better!) Audience members will then bid $1 to $5 each, and volunteers will roam the room collecting the bids, putting all the money in the pot. As the emcee talks up Mr. Carson’s amazing abilities at squawking out songs like a duck, the pressure will build for him to prove himself one way or another. The only way for Mr. Carson to get out of singing is to match the money in the pot! But, most people will be amazingly good sports and participate in the singing, providing a wonderful and fun evening that is sure to be memorable!

You may want to arrange to have one or two people start the night off with their own karaoke song in order to set the room at ease with the fun notion of the Karaoke Raffle. Having a few good sports break the ice will surely set the mood for a good time to be had by all. Adding in some props from the high school drama department can heighten the showmanship atmosphere. Provide feather boas, top hats, cowboy hats, and other props to turn your average singer into a cabaret extravaganza!

If you figure an average of at least $75 bid to get someone to sing, and you get 10 people to sing, you’d bring in $750 pure profit for this little twist. You’d also save money on live music or other forms of entertainment for the evening. And, you’ll be guaranteed to have an evening that no one will forget!