The first thing to do is to create a committee and assemble volunteers-  the more help you have the better.

Make sure you work out who is in charge of the event with not just the authority but also the responsibility. Also have someone in charge of all COVID 19 provisions. 

Before planning any event you must know how much money you have to spend, as this will affect most of your planning. This is especially important with an event such as a Dinner & Auction.

Calculate how much you will charge per head and how many people you expect to attend.

A TOP TIP is to keep this number conservative and based on previous years if possible, but also with the consideration of capacity with social distancing. The amount calculated is your base amount to spend. 

Think about getting dinner specific sponsorships to increase your funds – you can offer to give the sponsor a shout-out at your dinner/allow them to give a short talk/put their logo on your posters etc.

Once you know your budget, make a plan on how much you will spend on different things e.g.  venue/food/décor/entertainment etc.

To make sure you get the best time and location, go through the following points on choosing your date and venue:

Choose a date that will attract the biggest turnout and also doesn’t clash with any other big events that might be happening.

A TOP TIP on choosing the date for your dinner is to have it towards the end of CW as a round off event for the week. 

Now for the venue, work out the following:

• • What are the institutions /local rules and guidelines on events and their capacity 

  • Does the venue allow for social distancing, safe seating and good access and exit of the space. 

  • What provisions is the venue putting in place to maintain safety, especially with creating clean touch points throughout the venue. 

  • Do you want it to be internal i.e. at your university/school?

  • Do you want it to be external? Think about your budget and if you have enough money to hire out an external venue.

  • Start early! You need to book your venue very early on to guarantee your event takes place. There is no point planning a great dinner but not having anywhere to hold it.

  • Both external and internal venues are likely to be booked up very early on, due to the large number of postponed events, so this is something you should ideally start thinking about in summer/early September.

  • If you want to book an internal venue, speak to your union/room booking people very early on so they can book it as soon as possible.

  • Do you want a banqueting set up (dinner tables and chairs)? Will these be provided by the venue or do you need to book them yourself?

  • Do they have a stage and projector?

  • Will AV be provided?

Location is very important, you want it to be somewhere easily accessible for your target audience – try to make it close to transport links i.e. train stations and bus stops. Also try to have parking available at the venue/nearby for those who will come by car.

A TOP TIP and recommendation is to keep costs as low as possible by using resources already available to you such as lecture theatres and university halls for the venue choice, if they’re safe to use.

In light of safety, it is best to reduce contact where possible and utilise boxed food and disposable items.  Ensure all food is handled with masks and gloves worn. 

Ask your CW team for a list of caterers that have been used previously and maybe even offering special deals for CW

• • Decide on a price for tickets and it can be a nice touch to create invitations for people who buy the tickets.

  • Determine a method of payment:

    • How much will the tickets be sold at?

    • Are the ticket prices expected to cover expenditure? If so make sure you consider all expected expenditures including everything from hall hire (if there is a price for this) to décor and food.

    • A TOP TIP to get an early boost on sales is to have an early bird discount.

Another TOP TIP is to consider how you will monitor registration and entry into the event.

To sell tickets, use an online platform such as Eventbrite. A TOP TIP when using Eventbrite is to have your tickets as free on the site and ask attendees to use bank transfer/paypal to send the ticker money (so that Eventbrite doesn’t take part of the ticket price).

A better option could be to ask your union if you can use their website to sell tickets too.

For a poster, start off with the CW poster templates in the resources section, find the dinner/auction template and get it jazzed up with all your details!

Next spread the word far and wide, utilise social media by making event pages, regular posts and messaging personally.

A TOP TIP is to encourage key people to spread the word and even have ticket sellers, where you give a couple of tickets to people to sell.

This can be turned into a competition, so the person who sells the most gets a free ticket for themselves!

Depending on where you've chosen to hold your event you will be thinking about how to set the space up and the decor. Here are some popular points to consider:

• • Do you want table and chair covers?

  • Table centerpieces?

  • Favours?

  • Be creative! Try to link your decor to the CW theme.

Decor will largely depend on your budget - be inventive, look into upcycling and keep costs as manageable as possible. It’s important to also consider if any decor will come in contact with guests, or how they’ll need to be handled after the event.

Your event hosts will make or break your event, so choose wisely.

Try to find a person or duo well known on campus and have that confidence and humour!A TOP TIP is to make sure they practice well in advance and don’t just “wing it” on the day.  For your hosts, click here for further guidance.

Do you want to book any entertainment? Maybe motivational speakers/nasheed artists/spoken word/comedians etc?

Although it is tempting to bring well known speakers to attract an audience, sometimes it is better to stick to internal speakers e.g. students from your own institution as they can relate with your audience and save you lots of money – always think about your budget.

Speak to your regional CW team if you would like Islamic Relief or CW speakers to come to your dinner – we are also happy to provide material and support if you would like to have your own students speaking about Charity Week.

All speakers must undergo speaker clearance for the benefit of yourselves and all parties involved. Please ask the CW regional / national team for the process. Also check with your union on their policies too.

If you choose to have an auction it can be a big source of donations.

Think about creative ways to increase the price of items – for example creating a competition between the brothers and sisters to bid on a certain item.

Firstly think about Items:

• • • You will need to decide on how many items you want to auction depending on how long your event is. Each item will take 5-10minutes but can take much longer depending on your audience!  We recommend a maximum of 5-6 Items.

To collect items a TOP TIP is to ask for items to be donated e.g. from local shops, companies and even Instagram businesses.

Consider having a fun/crazy item – e.g. paperclip in Germany which sold for € 2,250 or a banana at UCL which sold for £3K!

Possible items for auction could be:

• • • Quran

    • Prayer mats (to put in your institution’s prayer room)

    • Experiences e.g. paintballing, spa/pamper days, getaways, go karting

    • Sports items e.g. signed cricket balls/boxing gloves/football

    • Hamper baskets – these can include a variety of items

    • Cake – Cake Wars!

    • Clothes – abaya/thobe/sponsor merchandise

    • Fun item e.g. banana (or any fruit), paperclip etc

    • ANYTHING – be creative and see what you can get your hands on!

Tell people in advance about the auction items so they can decide what they want to bid on and can start saving up/pooling money.

Choosing who will conduct your auction is something to think about wisely, like your host they can either make or break the auction – think about having a funny confident person/duo and make sure they are prepared beforehand and know the auction items well.

Islamic Relief can provide you with experienced fundraisers – you will need to book early as there are a lot of dinners happening across the country and we will allocate on a first come first serve basis. Get in touch with your regional/national CW team for this. 

You can also give your audience bidding cards with their own number on it as they enter so that the auctioning process is easier and more realistic.

An alternative to an auction is to have a fundraising section to your dinner. This will be more straightforward to organise however may not be as “fun” as an auction.  A TOP TIP is to ensure whilst the auction or fundraising is taking place, no food is being served so that everyone can partake and there are no distractions!

To make sure your event runs smoothly, it's important to have a water tight itinerary. An example of an itinerary is here. 

A TOP TIP is to be ready for changes on the day, have buffer time to account for any delays and make sure you take into account prayer times.

Try to collect donations as card payments or online donations, where possible.  For any cash collected, handle with gloves and do not count for 24-48 hours. 

Make sure people know the deadline that they need to pay any pledges by, so that the pledge counts towards CW.

Work out with your venue where toilet/ wudhu facilities are and when prayer times are. Ensure the prayer space allows for social distancing. 

Also ensure social media volunteers are assigned. A TOP TIP is to ensure people are happy with their pictures being circulated/ going up on social media.

Don't forget why you're doing the event! The beginning of the event is a great time to share with your audience about what Charity Week is.

A TOP TIP is to play Charity Week videos on loop as people walk in, or play at the start of the event.

Check out the Charity Week Youtube channel for videos!

It is important to have someone in charge of the day, so they can solve any challenges that arise. Also have someone in charge of all COVID 19 provisions. 

Have extra masks, gloves and hand sanitiser, in case anyone forgets to bring their own. 

Work out prior when you'll need to break for prayer. Ensure the prayer space allows for social distancing. 

A TOP TIP is to allocate someone to time keeping, so you can pray on time and end on time too! Ensure they have a way of communicating with the speakers/host to update on how much time they have left (e.g. they can write X minutes remaining on a small paper/whiteboard and hold it up for the speakers to see). For the hosts, make sure they have prepared beforehand and that they arrive on time. Make sure they know the itinerary for the day and when each speaker will come up.

For your speakers and entertainment – make sure they arrive on time and have someone to greet them. Double check they are coming a few days before the event to prevent any last minute cancellations.

A top tip is to make sure all the AV equipment is ready at least a few days before so that any glitches can be resolved.

Think of all of the possible things that could go wrong and put measures in place to prevent this from happening. E.g. speaker not turning up on time, issues with platform starting, people struggling to join.

Send a message via your social media and sign up lists thanking everyone for attending and helping.

A TOP TIP is to use this moment to remind them to fulfill any pledges made and link in your donation page.

Send a special thank you to your organising team which made the event possible!

Thank the speakers and hosts personally – a nice gesture would be to send them a small gift e.g. chocolates as a sign of appreciation.

Have a team of volunteers ready to contact those who made any pledges or bid for items to ensure you are able to collect all donations on time. 

If you have any extra food or drink remaining, a TOP TIP is to have someone ready to store it and distribute to those in need. 

There are always hiccups or lessons that we learn, but do we make sure that the team next year will learn from these? Use our template event planning document to keep a record of how you put on your event and also any feedback to pass onto next year's team!