Christian Band Concert Festival Fundraising

[WorldwidelLaserLightShow]

What an interesting topic !! Church bands .............

I am organizing a christian concert festival that is going to involve many church's praise bands in my area. This is unique to my area seeing there is nothing of the kind and I feel like there will be a lot of support for it.

It's taking place during the summer of 2012, at a church owned park in a good sized field. Since the property only allows nonprofit organizations all the proceeds will go to charity. We have a basic sound system that includes 4 mackie SRM450's, 32 channel sound board, and all of the necessary cable to get by. We would like to make this an all day event, going into the night, so lighting is required. This requires truss, fixtures, light board, dimmers, lighting tech, sound tech, etc.

We are thinking around a $10 entree fee. We think a reasonable attendance would be 500 people considering all of the bands we ask to play and the built-in audiences they already have.

The problem is that gives us 5k of revenue but after equipment fee i'm thinking roughly 3.8k that would go to charity? This is a pretty low number and we would like to increase it. In what ways could we raise money to pay for the equipment? I was thinking of asking some of the churches we ask to play in it to sponsor. We could frame the stage with sponsor banners on the truss. Also another idea would be to have corporate sponsors but would this be distracting and inappropriate to the christian audience?

Thanks!

 

[museav]

As for brought to you by a church on a banner, that *probably* wont bring too huge of a problem IN MY EXPERIENCE because the US tends to have a lot of people of faith and supporting faith based groups is not seen as a bad thing for most businesses. Often times if the charities being supported are fairly generally accepted, lots of people like working together to make things happen. A praise concert will probably be your biggest issue in this situation, with certain groups not really wanting too much religious association. Just a fact of the situation.

My concern was more from a purely return on investment perspective. Would having your church's name is on any promotional material, a big banner at the entry, etc. potentially deter other churches from contributing? Would the First National Bank be more willing to participate if they know the Second National Bank won't have a banner right next to theirs?

However, the reality is that the audience for such an event may not represent a significant potential customer base for many businesses so their contributions may be more related to supporting, or being seen as supporting, the cause. That's why knowing what the cause is would seem to be critical. You probably want to avoid being infamous as a result of ending up with a 'MADD Benefit sponsored by Al's Liquors' or 'Help the Homeless sponsored by Acme Mortgage'.

 

[shiben]

My concern was more from a purely return on investment perspective. Would having your church's name is on any promotional material, a big banner at the entry, etc. potentially deter other churches from contributing? Would the First National Bank be more willing to participate if they know the Second National Bank won't have a banner right next to theirs?

However, the reality is that the audience for such an event may not represent a significant potential customer base for many businesses so their contributions may be more related to supporting, or being seen as supporting, the cause. That's why knowing what the cause is would seem to be critical. You probably want to avoid being infamous as a result of ending up with a 'MADD Benefit sponsored by Al's Liquors' or 'Help the Homeless sponsored by Acme Mortgage'.

Exactly. Churches seem to like seeming like they work together, so I doubt that as long as they all got equal air time per percent buy in, that wouldnt be an issue. The businesses that are local would be, as you say, wanting to be seen to support the cause, so thats my guess on how that would go...

 

[gafftaper]

I would seriously think about renting a fair grounds grandstand, a big rental theater, a convention center, a college theater, a mega church, or some other venue that is setup for this sort of gig. It's pretty common for events like this to happen places like that. Your headaches with security, bathrooms, parking, etc... will all be solved by using a venue that is prepared for it. I know this sounds expensive but it isn't always that bad depending on what sort of gear comes with it. For example there's a beautiful 700 seat theater a few miles from me. For around $1500 you could host your event and have the equipment and house crew to run it included in the cost.

As was mentioned I would not count on 4 SRM 450's putting out enough sound for a paid admission outdoor concert of 500 people. It might be fine for a 100 sitting close but that bass disperses rapidly outdoors. People in the back are going to be a little annoyed at being that far away.

Also have you considered the bands themselves? If the bands are big names they will cost you a lot to get them there. If they are small they will not draw an audience. A common strategy is to get one major name and then pad them with lots of smaller local talent as opening acts.

Van, Jesus Northwest hasn't happened for quite a while. I think it morphed/merged with some other groups into Creation which was at The Gorge for a while and is now at the Enumclaw fairgrounds. Try contacting the Christian Festival Association for advice. I don't know where you live, but these things happen all over the country. Try hooking up with a promoter of a festival near you and asking for help.

I don't see how sponsors and people selling stuff at your event prevents you from doing it. The vendor pays you for the privilege to have a table. That money goes to charity. It's still part of the fund raiser.

What's a Christian event without a preacher? Is there a mega church in your area who might be willing to become a sponsor, get their name on the publicity and have their preacher host the event? It's great publicity for them and it gets you some bucks. Or you could possibly get a Christian Radio station to sponsor you and have a DJ host.

Concluding thoughts. These sorts of events don't just happen. Even in a Christian environment, they still take a lot of work and a lot of money to do them well. If you do them wrong you will have 500 angry people on your hands. Sanctified or not, you don't want people angry with you about the quality of your first event. I suggest you back off a bit and start out slow. Book a cheap small theater somewhere and plan a small event for 200-300 people. Use local bands, go all over town and contact all the church youth groups in town and have them all get together for a fun party. Keep it small, cheap, lower expectations, and most of all learn. Then 6 months later do something a little bigger. Before long you'll be doing a three day festival at the fairgrounds with thousands of people camping in the parking lot. You'll be successful and you'll grow because you learned every step along the way.

 

[shiben]

I would seriously think about renting a fair grounds grandstand, a big rental theater, a convention center, a college theater, a mega church, or some other venue that is setup for this sort of gig. It's pretty common for events like this to happen places like that. Your headaches with security, bathrooms, parking, etc... will all be solved by using a venue that is prepared for it. I know this sounds expensive but it isn't always that bad depending on what sort of gear comes with it. For example there's a beautiful 700 seat theater a few miles from me. For around $1500 you could host your event and have the equipment and house crew to run it included in the cost.

As was mentioned I would not count on 4 SRM 450's putting out enough sound for a paid admission outdoor concert of 500 people. It might be fine for a 100 sitting close but that bass disperses rapidly outdoors. People in the back are going to be a little annoyed at being that far away.

Also have you considered the bands themselves? If the bands are big names they will cost you a lot to get them there. If they are small they will not draw an audience. A common strategy is to get one major name and then pad them with lots of smaller local talent as opening acts.

Van, Jesus Northwest hasn't happened for quite a while. I think it morphed/merged with some other groups into Creation which was at The Gorge for a while and is now at the Enumclaw fairgrounds. Try contacting the Christian Festival Association for advice. I don't know where you live, but these things happen all over the country. Try hooking up with a promoter of a festival near you and asking for help.

I don't see how sponsors and people selling stuff at your event prevents you from doing it. The vendor pays you for the privilege to have a table. That money goes to charity. It's still part of the fund raiser.

What's a Christian event without a preacher? Is there a mega church in your area who might be willing to become a sponsor, get their name on the publicity and have their preacher host the event? It's great publicity for them and it gets you some bucks. Or you could possibly get a Christian Radio station to sponsor you and have a DJ host.

Concluding thoughts. These sorts of events don't just happen. Even in a Christian environment, they still take a lot of work and a lot of money to do them well. If you do them wrong you will have 500 angry people on your hands. Sanctified or not, you don't want people angry with you about the quality of your first event. I suggest you back off a bit and start out slow. Book a cheap small theater somewhere and plan a small event for 200-300 people. Use local bands, go all over town and contact all the church youth groups in town and have them all get together for a fun party. Keep it small, cheap, lower expectations, and most of all learn. Then 6 months later do something a little bigger. Before long you'll be doing a three day festival at the fairgrounds with thousands of people camping in the parking lot. You'll be successful and you'll grow because you learned every step along the way.

I got the idea it was more of a worship fest than a Christian music festival, in which case bands getting paid isnt a problem, you just need to find enough praise bands to put themselves out there. I agree though that you will want at least one big name there to get people to want to come. Also, a preacher is a great idea. Some people (I know a lot of them) will go to just about anything their pastor goes to preach at in the local area... One would think this is not exactly what one would want in a pastor-parishoner relationship but it still happens, and getting a bigger pastor could play into that. One thing I would have to say is you need to market this like a regular concert or event, you cant just count on "oh its churchy stuff" to come in there and get you support. It tends to happen a lot with churches and their events that the planning needs to be just as intense, the management needs to be just as professional, and the PR/Marketing needs to be spot on to actually pull money in. Your doing it to make money in the end. Your not pulling a profit, but its still an event to make money for someone, so you have to kind of consider it like that. Good luck!

 

[FACTplayers]

I haven't read over all of the responses, but why not model after one of the most successful christian music festivals of all time, Lifest? LIFEST 2012

Also, If you are going to make this an annual event, I don't see a problem with eating up a majority of the profits the first year to buy equipment. The next year you put this one you will have very low overhead costs and hopefully will attract more people.

If you are okay with the above response, then you don't need to bother with the controversy of which church is supporting more than the next. This could becoming pretty tricky and actually end up hurting the festival in the long run. Say a larger church (more money) wants to hog the spotlight (not very christian, but it happens); that church could then essentially get rid of smaller churches.

I'd say the best advice is to just get the show up and running for the first year. See how the festival goes, and try to improve it for next year. The less drama you can get away with the better.

 

[shiben]

(not very christian, but it happens); that church could then essentially get rid of smaller churches.

Churches do this more than they do everything else. Gotta remember a church exists at least in part (or mostly, depending on how cynical you are) to bring in money, and the more people there the more money they can spend on whatever it is churches spend their humongus budgets on...

 

[Les]

the more money they can spend on whatever it is churches spend their humongus budgets on...

Kind of a generalization, but I see your point.

The church should be spending most of their money on charitable ventures. More people = more money= more giving. My church drills water wells and builds schools and food factories in Mumbai, India. I hope that most churches spend their money on similar things, but unfortunately that may not be the case (though multi-million dollar churches probably amount to a small percentage of religious institutions so I still have hope).

Nice things attract more people which hopefully means helping more families both locally and around the world. Yes, bills need to get paid and staff is on payroll, but hopefully most institutions budget their money well enough that this is only a small percent of their offering. My pastor does not live in a mansion and we have 3 campuses, tons of multimedia, etc. They are huge advocates of Dave Ramsey (had him guest speak a few times) and have applied his financial strategies to their accounting practices (all their buildings are now paid off, freeing up finances for -- more giving).

Sorry for the derailment. As for the thread, I'd rent my way through the first event or get by with what you have. See how this one goes. If you see a demand, see if you can get the staff to budget for equipment either from the operating budget, or the money set aside for next year's event. I wouldn't buy anything yet, just in case you guys decide that this one wasn't worth the trouble when it's all said and done.

 

[milemarker68]

I am curious as to what your target audience is: youth, young adults, families, outreach oriented, etc. I would suggest looking beyond the church for support and see if there are programs in your area like campus crusades, young life, ywam, etc. that would come along side you and support this ministry.

In regards to charity donations from the profit, consider thinking beyond the financial donation aspect and toward possible tangible donations. You could do a battle of the bands type deal, where supporters bring in items and donate them on behalf of their favorite band and the band with the most donations wins a "trophy" and the items (such as food, baby clothes, diapers, toys, etc) get donated to the charity that you're teamed up with.

In regards to advertising, connect with youth pastors/young adult pastors who attend camps/retreats that can spread the information to wider population than your local area. If worship bands are playing at the camps/retreats encourage them to invite the campers and camp staff for a "follow-up" gathering or as a kick-off to camp.

In my years of service in ministry, people will support a project with a very clear vision and a tangible way in which they can be part of the experience. Good luck!

Ty

 

[museav]

No. It applies to anything and everything. If you are charging admission, its a show, therefore you have to pay for rights, profit or not. Any public performance of any song anywhere with few exceptions require the purchase of rights to perform that work. Most venues have this fee built in, however, one off shows usually do not and have to buy rights. "Shout to the Lord" don't write itself.

Two aspects to be sure to take from this. One is that 'profit' is not the issue, benefit and damages are and the benefits do not have to be direct financial benefits. Somebody, be it the churches and/or the charities, would be receiving benefit from the music performance and as a result the creators of the music being used to derive those benefits are entitled to compensation. Related to this, the religious use exemption is US Copyright law applies only to music performed as part of worship services and based on your description of the event you would likely have a difficult time getting it considered as a worship service. You could contact the rightsholders and if they support the causes represented then some of them may be willing to grant performance rights for no cost, but one way or the other you legally need to obtain rights or permission.

The other aspect is that while it is common for performance venues to obtain blanket performance rights, anyone involved is potentially at some risk for any rights infringement that might occur so it is in your best interest to verify that rights are addressed rather than to assume so.