How to Organize a Debutant Ball Fund-Raiser

Long ago, the sole purpose of a debutant ball was to formally introduce a young woman into polite society. Today, however, many debutant ball committees are also using this celebration to organize fund-raisers for charities. It's not much different to organize a debutant ball fund-raiser than a traditional one, and you'll still need a lot of time, patience and effort.

Things You'll Need

• Budget
• Fund-raising committee
• Invitations

Instructions

Organize a Debutant Ball Fund-Raiser

1. Put together a fund-raising committee that will oversee all aspects of the debutant ball and the fund-raiser. The duties of the committee may include contacting supporters, arranging a venue and creating a guest list.

2. Schedule a meeting with your committee where you can pick a date for the debutant ball, come up with a reasonable budget to cover the function and any advertising, ask for guest-list suggestions and come up with a sample invitation.

3. Send out invitations to families with prospective debutants. These families may be personally known by members of the committee or families that have expressed an interest in participating in a debutant ball. The invitations should specify the name of the charity or organization the ball will be supporting.

4. Expect parents to contribute to the fund-raiser before the date of the debutant ball. You may even want to make a note on the invitations that any family wishing to participate must make their donations by a specified date.

5. Mail the remaining invitations to regular attendees of social events, those interested in the cause the fund-raiser is supporting and prominent individuals in your city, such as the mayor and city council members.

6. Consider offering a limited number of tickets to the general public. You can announce the sale of tickets on the radio and in the local newspaper. Be sure to specify that all proceeds will go to support a charity or organization.

7. Think about raising more money through a raffle at the debutant ball. You can ask local companies to donate merchandise or offer it at wholesale to support the event.

Tips & Warnings

• Ask the charity you're supporting for flyers or pamphlets explaining its purpose, organization and history. You can give these to attendees, who may feel better about donating money to a cause they know more about.

• You may want to ask the families of the debutants to host one or two intimate fund-raising events throughout the year to support the charity. You can offer this as an alternative to donating money to participate in the debutant ball, or you can make it a requirement in addition to donating funds.