HOST A PHENOM HOUSE PARTY
We already know you are a PHENOMenal leader, and you can support PHENOM by hosting a house party. While one person can organize a PHENOM house party, ideally there would be 2 or possibly 3 people working together. We are more than happy to help you plan the House Party — please email us (phenom@phenomonline.org) or call us at 978-227-8473, to start the planning process.
The success of a party is determined in large part by the ability of the host and PHENOM volunteers to bring friends, family, and others who are not necessarily already part of PHENOM’s inner circle. The party does not need to be terribly large to be successful.
Get your friends together for a night of board games, wine tasting, a gourmet cook-off, or just a night of socializing. Have fun while raising money!
- People receive an invitation to come to a part at a private home
- Invitation makes it clear that the evening will be a fundraising event
- Guests arrive and have some refreshments
- Guests sit through a brief presentation about the organization
- The host or a peer (someone articulate, enthusiastic, and respected by the guests) stands up an asks everyone to make a contribution
STEP 1 – Find a location. A PHENOM activist or friend volunteers their house. It does not need to be a fancy house, but should be fairly accessible and suitable for 15-20 people.
STEP 2 – Volunteers select a few possible dates about 6-10 weeks away after consultation with the host.
STEP 3 – Ask a couple of people with positive name recognition to be listed on the invitation as co-hosts, as in “Please join ___________ and _____________ at a reception for PHENOM” These could be community leaders, legislators, college presidents, respected faculty, etc.
STEP 4 – Get agreement among the host committee (the host and the “names”) on a date.
STEP 5 – Volunteers and host decide on food and drink. This can be some combination of home-made, bought, catered. You want to keep the cost down, but you want to provide an atmosphere that will encourage generous donations. The host may want to be intimately involved with the food, or not at all. Either is OK.
STEP 6 – Make a nice invitation (we have samples from past parties) that can be both mailed and emailed. The invitation makes clear this is a fundraiser and makes it easy for people who cannot attend to mail in a donation. Include return envelope and card to send back. The invitation should make clear if there will be refreshments, a particular theme, particular discussion topic, dinner, etc. – whatever gimmick or hook if there is one. The email invitation (with link to our donate page) is critical, especially for members of the host committee — we really want them to reach out to their contacts and they may not take the time to do a snail mailing.
STEP 7 – Ask host, PHENOM activists in the area, and (ideally) the “names” to compile a list of names and addresses of friends who they would invite. Volunteers will get them invitations and stamps to send out.