Informal Feasibility Study!

[featherynscale]

I thought about having this locked down to just the KC folks, but what the hell, some of the rest of you might be interested, too.

Here's the deal: Every year, forever, the Gaia Community has done an arts-and-crafts show (the Winter Bazaar, if you've been following along) as a winter fund-raiser. Every year, we make about $1000 on this event. We have put a lot of work into making it bigger and better, which means that we make more money every year, but it also costs more money (and more time) every year, leaving us with a steady profit of, yep, $1000. Getting volunteers to assist with the thing is difficult, getting someone to manage the thing is nigh impossible. Attendance is generally poor. So I'm thinking, this sucks, let's not do it anymore. If we don't do it, we need to come up with some other fund-raising concept that will make at least $1000 profit for the organization.

zylch and I spent some time this evening kicking around the idea of having a Yule Ball, some sort of reasonably upscale (but not obnoxiously upscale) costume and/or fancy dress party experience instead. There would be music and dancing and probably food, and possibly a silent auction and/or raffle. It would be a holiday party that you could take your significant other(s) to, regardless of gender, number, or preferred lifestyle arrangement. It would have a magical theme (possibly but not necessarily something Harry-Potter-ish). There is every possibility that there would be games and/or some sort of participatory art experience. There would be a door charge, previously mentioned silent auction/raffle, and possibly sales of non-alcoholic beverages (because we probably can't get a liquor license).

The thing is, we've not done an event like this. I have no sense at all of whether there would be enough interest in it to make it work or not. Hence, a preliminary investigation, very unofficial. Feel free to comment further on the concept. (Also, if you really love the Winter Bazaar, feel free to defend its continued existence. Nothing's been decided yet at all.)

[Poll #1241479]

Comments

[triadruid.livejournal.com]

I guess I'm going to be the odd man out: I don't think the problem is the Bazaar.

I mean, it's a complex, labor-intensive, expensive event that requires rented space and up-front costs. It also benefits from prior history, publicity, and outside monies.

A masquerade/ball is a complex, labor-intensive, expensive event that requires rented space and up-front costs. It also benefits from prior history, publicity, and outside monies.

We've not done the WB justice in recent years. Internal organization has been spotty; volunteer recruitment has been tough. Publicity and vendor management has been significantly less well-handled than before. The venue has changed repeatedly. The date and time have changed repeatedly. I'm not sure we can look at all of that and say "this event that maintains a constant profit and increasing income is not working". Is it more trouble than it's worth? Maybe.

But I think the problem is rooted somewhere else. We can't get people to go to Games Night, for gods' sake! Look at ALL of our non-Sunday activities. Are any of them thriving? RFB is getting marginally more people than it used to, but otherwise, I'm seeing across-the-board failures, as far as attendance and enthusiasm go. Sunday attendance is flat or declining. The volunteer base is essentially flat. Income is...weird, I can't track or map it effectively right now, but it worries me.

I know that Stewardship needs to make a decision about the fall/winter fundraiser, because if we DO have the Bazaar, publicity should go out to KCRF. But additionally, I want to try to ask the congregation for feedback again. Maybe a survey in the Sept. EH and Greeter's Table. Will try working on that when I get a minute, and would like your help.

[featherynscale.livejournal.com]

If we're going to do any sort of Fall/Winter fundraiser, the basic logistical stuff really needs to be in place by the end of August. WB vendors in past years were asking for end-of-August notification for a December event, so I think we ought to make a strong effort to get end-of-August notification for a mid-November event, you know?

You're right about the overall trend. Either everybody's too busy to do anything at all, or nobody gives a shit anymore, or nobody knows when anything's happening (which I think would likely be related to nobody gives a shit anymore, because the information is out there in all the same places it always has been).

It seemed to me that offering up something that was new and perhaps even sounded like fun instead of sounding like work would get some people engaged and energized. I could well be wrong, though.

[triadruid.livejournal.com]

And I could just be cranky.

[featherynscale.livejournal.com]

Good enough. :)
I know I am. I'm spending the day re-doing some Extremely Tedious Excel work, because the techs changed the server backup routine and didn't tell anybody. Consequently, my PC shut down Weds. evening instead of Thurs. evening. I'm used to saving everything off and shutting down on Thursdays.... GRARG.

[triadruid.livejournal.com]

Oi. Excel didn't autosave?

Our update cycle is Wednesday evenings, too. I can mostly remember that, anymore...