Trying to get people to take part in a fundraiser for charity you are hosting can be difficult but one place that most people frequent on a regular basis is the local pub so why not use this to your advantage. Everyone has sat in front of the TV yelling at Chris Tarrant that they know the answers to questions on Who Wants to be a Millionaire so hold a pub quiz fundraiser and find out who really is a Blockbuster, A Question of Sport or Secret Fortune star.
How to Guide
Location
The first thing you will need to do is contact your local pub and discuss holding a quiz at their establishment. Most landlords and bar managers will happily allow you to hold an evening if you believe you can get a large number of people through the door. They will be most keen if you can promise to do it in the middle of the week when the pub is most quiet. Once you have agreed on a date you need to agree that all of the proceedings from entering the qui z will go to charity and all takings on the bar will be kept by the pub. It might be worth asking if they could provide food at a set cost of £5 which you could build into your promotional activity. One of the best charity pub quizzes in London costs £10 to enter and you get Bangers & Mash thrown into the bargain. You can't argue with that!
Fundraising
With the location secured you now need to consider how much money you are going to try and make from the evening. If you have negotiated a meal ticket so to speak with the pub you now need to add the cost of the quiz to the total and this is your price per ticket. £10 is a very reasonable price with the food built in. On this basis your aim should be to get 20 teams of 5 through the door, this will make you £500 from your event and the bar manager will be your friend for life.
Questions
Most pub quizzes require at least 80 questions in 4 groups of 20 to make a night out of it and you should look at 4 different areas to test people on. Therefore decide on General Knowledge, film, music and sport for instance and then start building a list of questions from here. There are a number of great websites that you can use to help build your quiz and some that have readymade quizzes that you can use.
Promotion
You need to drum up support for your evening and there are a number of ways that you can do this. Firstly use your own social network, setup a Facebook event and invite all of your friends to join you. In addition to this request that all of your friends invite all of their friends as this can significantly increase your numbers. Contact local newspapers and radio stations and try and get a mention where you can as this will drive in people from the general public who fancy themselves as a bit of an Egghead or are happy to support your charity. Ask your charity, this is not done enough. The simple reason being that they have a supporter base and a quick Tweet could significantly increase your numbers on the night. Finally try and turn it into a work place social as well, enlist the help of your boss or anyone else who can get people out for a drink or two as you can often get a good number of people that way.
On the night
You will need to arrange the equipment to facilitate the Quiz so you need pens, paper, (ideally with question numbers already printed on) and any visual aids if your questions require them. Other than this you need to make sure that the pub has a microphone system that you can use, otherwise with a pub filled with 100 people you will need a very loud voice. Get each team to come up with a team name for the evening and away you go. Ask the questions in groups of 20 and then have a break, this break is used to swap teams answer sheets with other contestants and mark them. You must do this otherwise you might find that at the end of your quiz a number of teams have full marks thanks to Mr Google!
Added Extras
When putting on these evenings you should try and build in plenty of added extras where you can. Raffles are always an easy way to add value to your evening. Ask a few local businesses if they will donate a prize in return for a mention on the night. Charge £2 a ticket with all proceedings going to your charity.
Finally
Make sure that you thank everyone involved and you really help get your charities message across wherever you can. The main reason being that the amount you fundraise might not be the only benefit to your charity. You may inspire others to take on a charity run or perhaps start a monthly donation, so keep this at the forefront of your mind when hosting this type of event.
