I do not know most of the organization details, unfortunately.
What I do know:
A few of the parents who support the arts decided that we needed money. A few ideas were tossed around, and it was decided that we should have this storytelling. Originally it was going to be in our theater (/gym/cafeteria). I was called and put on the tech committee, since I was the only one at the school who knows our tech set-up.
We sold many tickets, however, and they realized that we would need to have it somewhere else, in a larger room. Someone found this space, an old textile mill that has been semi-converted into an arts area. It was really just a huge room.
For the live auction part, it was just a bunch of people knocking on doors. One of our parents is the head of the youth theater department at the regional theater that I work in, so she donated a series to the main-stage shows in the theater. Bill Irwin donated tickets and backstage passes to his upcoming play on Broadway, one parent donated a meal (he is a chef...) However, people also got companies to donate stuff, though how exactly I'm not sure.
Breaking it down by money raised:
approx $55,000 was raised by ticket sales, the cost of the tables. This ranged from $100 a seat to $5000 a table (table has 6 people). If you paid more, you got caviar and got to go into the green room before the show to meet Paul Newman and the rest.
The remaining $45,000 was raised by the auctions. This was split into 2 segments, the silent auction and the live auction. The silent auction was auctioning smaller things off, photos, a ticket series, basically anything under $1000 or $2000. About $20,000 was raised in the live auction. Some of the things were use of a huge
house in Bermuda, Sesame Street's Mr. Noodle would come to your child's birthday party (this was then donated to a child's hospital, which was amazingly nice), and things of that scale (furniture was also auctioned off, but that did not sell very well).
The main thing you need is the thing to draw people in. People heard that Paul Newman was coming, and everyone wanted to go (he is about 80 now, but was once a very popular actor, for all you kids) as well as David Hyde Pierce and John Tuttorro, and people wanted to come. We had a great MC (an actor who teaches history and is the head of admissions, Jim Fyfe), and it made everyone want to come.
I think that is the hardest thing, getting people to want to come. Most schools do not have the connections to stars like my school does. We are lucky enough to have Bill Irwin, as well as a woman who is artistic director for several moves (her last one was Manchurian Candidate). It could be better for other schools to find some connection they have in some other way, or possibly invite back old graduated acting stars and re-live some of the good moments of the theater. You wouldn't be able to make a hundred thousand dollars, but you still may be able to make 10 or 20 thousand for the theater department.
The problem we are facing now is how to split up the money. This money was for the entire arts department, not just the theater department. Because of this, the theater department may only end up with 20,000 or 30,000 (but i'll be damed if I give it up without a fight!).
I will leave off on the artistic design of the show, though I should mention that it was almost all borrowed equipment. One of the parents of my school designs lighting for clubs, and routinely purchases hundreds thousands of dollars worth of equipment from places, such as
High End Systems. Because of this, we had a rep from High End Systems come in with the equipment, and help to set it up. However, no one came for a fancy light show, so even if you just set up with an SM-58 and a speaker and 2 Source 4's, that shouldn't be a problem. This was not done in a theater, we built a stage against a wall. For this type of fundraiser, it is almost better not to have the fourth wall, but to open everything up. The front row of tables was about 2 feet away from where the stars were talking on stage.
Also, another plus is that I now have a good relationship with Steven Dunnington, the designer. He said that since he is moving his storage location, he will possibly donate some old intelligent lights he doesn't need anymore!!!!!
Any more questions? This was an amazing thing for the arts at my school, and it would be great if everyone else's school could try something like it. Every teacher who came was astounded by what they saw, and congratulated me for it.
I also should say that I had a great crew of guys helping out for load in and load out, and for all the long hours.
Anything I left out, any questions? I'm somewhat tired, so I hope all of this makes sense....