In May we knew that gathering 400 people for our fall banquet was unlikely. Several non-profits in our community pivoted to virtual events and experienced success. Thinking this was our only option, we began planning one ourselves. We quickly realized that we are not great at virtual anything which led us to ask: What are we good at? As co-area directors, we both had done numerous summer camp program assignments. We make people laugh by dressing up in elaborate costumes attempting to draw out child-like wonder in the process. Our events are unique because we are good at making characters come alive.
With our strengths in view, we asked a second question: Who do we know? As our team looked at the community, we recognized that we had a strong relationship with the owner of our local drive-in movie theater. We also knew multiple talented videographers who understand the vision of Young Life.
As we combined our answers to those questions we uncovered an idea to make our own Young Life mockumentary and show it at the drive-in for our fall fundraiser. We rallied our staff, leaders, committee, and students to fill in the cast and crew. Weeks of pre-production, three days of filming and 200 snack bags later we premiered our film for our community. We treated the entrance like a camp welcome and had leaders distributing glow sticks, balloon animals, and playing tic tac toe on car windows. The skills we learned from camp translated to this event and we leveraged that experience to our advantage.
This is what we learned: The laughter and whimsy of Young Life are some of our best assets. No matter the medium, highlighting the friendships between leaders and kids is the best story we can tell our community. Folks loved sharing the ‘banquet’ experience with their kids. The community was thankful for a night that felt almost normal. We also released the movie on YouTube that night for non-local attendees. We can now use the movie indefinitely to share the vision and raise funds.
We also discovered that the peer pressure to give around a banquet table is more powerful for potential donors than it is snacking on popcorn in the back of a hatchback. We only raised $30,000 of our $65,000 goal that evening. Strategic and consistent follow up the next week generated another $10,000.
You don’t have to have access to a drive-in theater or be experienced in program to do something similar. The point of this article is to compel you to gather your team and ask these questions. Your next event could be uncovered by simply asking: What are we good at? Who do we know?
Your area has a story worth telling and worth funding. How will you tell it this year?
Written by Jodi Green (jodi.younglife34@gmail.com) & Greg Hook (greg.younglife@gmail.com)