Written for men and women who are dedicated volunteers, The Ultimate Benefit Book is a complete blueprint for mounting a money-making benefit. The key words here are net profit. Too many fundraisers don't make enough money for the time and energy invested. With this authoritative guide in hand, you'll never under-earn again! With more than 125 pages of step by step instructions, including an entire chapter on how to prepare a professional budget that will steer you to success, The Ultimate Benefit Book is an indispensable reference tool for any volunteer, no matter what your experience. Even the veteran should find insights in the exploration of such fine points as: picking the right chairperson; ticket pricing strategies; recruiting and motivating benefit committee workers; communicating effectively with the organization's paid staff; guaranteeing a sellout; and avoiding problems.

The book also features a wide variety of planning aids that can be photocopied and adapted to individual use, and extra wide margins for jotting notes. For creative inspiration, 20 recent Greater Cleveland benefits, each of which netted a significant profit, are described in detail. There's even an appendix of pertinent legal and financial information. In short, The Ultimate Benefit Book shows the committed volunteer how to squeeze every possible penny of profit from these glamorous but time consuming, prestigious but labor intensive tricky but fun events. (book jacket)

CONTENTS
Acknowledgements.
Foreward by Kitty Carlisle Hart.
Introduction.

1. To benefit or not? What a benefit is, what it can do for your organization and how
    to decide whether you're ready to have one. 

Here's to your success. 
The benefit concept. 
Criteria for successful benefits. 
Know your objectives. 
When is a benefit not a benefit? 
Deciding what's right for your organization. 
Planning a first-time event. 
Should you use a paid consultant? 
Checklist: Are you ready to begin?

2. Creating a concept: How to put together a basic benefit package and get organized
    to carry it out. 

What comes first? 
How big a ticket? 
Save the date. 
All dressed up with someplace to go. 
The pick of party rooms. 
Let us entertain you. 
Shall we dance? 
Who's in charge? 
The benefit notebook: Your traveling desk. 
Plotting a time line.

3. Watch your figures: How to develop a realistic budget to meet your financial goal.

How to draft your budget. 
Filling in the blanks. 
Pricing decisions. 
Finding your levels. 
Projecting income. 
Cost containment. 
Checking and balancing.

4. Department of human resources, Part 1. Choosing the right leaders and assembling
    a winning volunteer team. 

The benefit CEO. 
Are two (or more) heads better than one? 
The chain of command. 
The job description. 
How many volunteers do you need? 
Why volunteers volunteer. 
Recruiting tactics. 
Orderly proceedings. 
Make everybody a winner. 
Discipline with discretion. 
Role of the Board of Trustees.

5. Department of human resources, Part 2. Building productive relationships with staff
    and suppliers.

Keep it professional. 
Sharing the workload. 
Role of professional staff. 
Finding the right suppliers. 
Service with a smile.

6. Maximizing profits: How to find and work with underwriters and guarantee a
    sellout.

Finding a corporate angel. 
Additional underwriting. 
Corporate concerns. 
Etiquette for co-sponsors. 
Selling out the house. 
Table hosts and hostesses. 
Kickoff parties. 
Advertising and publicity. 
Tools of the PR trade. 
Timed-release action. 
Invitations and other mailings. 
Compiling and maintaining a mailing list. 
Organizing bulk mailings. 
The personal touch.

7. A sense of occasion: Creating the ultimate benefit. 

Choosing a theme. 
Brainstorming. 
Compensating for deficiencies. 
People moving. 
Dressing the stage. 
Typecasting. 
Strike up the band. 
What's for dinner? 
Star gazing. 
Dressing the part. 
Perks that work. 
Little Touches mean a lot. 
Thoughts of an inveterate benefit goer.

8. The final countdown: How to stay on schedule during the last hectic week.

9. It's a wrap: Taking care of post-event details and preparing a final report.

Cleaning up. 
Thank you, thank you, thank you. 
Summing up. 
Benefits of the future.

Appendix: Twenty Terrific benefits.
Job descriptions.
Accounting and tax advice.
Index.

Written for men and women who are dedicated volunteers, The Ultimate Benefit Book is a complete blueprint for mounting a money-making benefit. The key words here are net profit. Too many fundraisers don't make enough money for the time and energy invested. With this authoritative guide in hand, you'll never under-earn again! With more than 125 pages of step by step instructions, including an entire chapter on how to prepare a professional budget that will steer you to success, The Ultimate Benefit Book is an indispensable reference tool for any volunteer, no matter what your experience.