The Beenleigh Fundraising Dinner is the definition of a team effort. It comes together through the joined forces of nine school chaplains in the Beenleigh/Yatala area.
Chappy Nick Carroll of Eagleby State School, Park Lake State School and Eagleby Giants rugby league club says the annual event has already been running for ten years and has gone through some considerable change in the last two.
“We quickly learnt to use all our gifts and talents and combine it all together for success.”
Nick says it is important to listen to what each person has to say and what they believe their strengths are.
“For example, I am good at coming up with ideas, booking and promoting but then other chaplains are really good at the fundraising side of things. We try to work to that,” he says.
The group of chaplains are still taking donations from the fundraiser evening. They hope to reach their goal of $20,000.
Nick says at times it was difficult to keep asking people for money in the same district so the group of Chaplains decided to do their fundraising as a group.
“It’s hard to raise money individually because everyone is approaching the same people for donations,” he says.
The team have learned the most important time for planning is in the days after the event. Nick says the debrief is vital to creating a successful event the following year.
“It all starts with the debrief. After the dinner last year we all sat together and discussed what worked and what could work. We realised we needed to go bigger to raise a bit more money and fit more people in,” he says.
“Through the debrief we decided to go bigger and that’s what motivated me to book the Beenleigh events centre.”
Aiming to grow the event further in years to come the team decided to book a larger venue, with capacity going from 150 to 250 people.
“Our motivation for this dinner was to showcase what we do in the biggest venue in our town, and that’s what we did. We almost packed out the biggest venue in our town and shine our light through there,” he says.
Born and raised in Beenleigh Nick has grown to have a heart to see the next generation make good life choices – this is what motivated him to become a chaplain.
“I became a Christian at the age of 22. I was then mentored by a supportive friend who encouraged me to spend more time volunteering in the community. As a chaplain I love working in communities to help bring people together.
“I want to inspire kids to make smarter choices, have a core value system that keeps them grounded and to lead them to a better life.”
TIPS
- Create a team and delegate tasks
- Plan events early and be organised – don’t leave things to the last minute
- Communication is the key
- Advertise and reach your community
- Network with local churches and businesses
- Communicate often with your team
- Aim high
- Dream BIG with events – good food, good music and good company
- Debrief after every event (within 5 days of event)
- Discuss what worked well and what can be improved.
- It’s not personal just business so leave the egos out of the meetings.
CORRECTION: We had earlier reported that the Beenleigh Dinner raised $20,000. This was the target for the evening, but at the time of publishing this article, the final figure was still being tallied. We apologise for any confusion caused.