The question is what does your society or one you know well do to
raise funds? This is not asking each member to pay dues or kick
in a donation. How do you get enough money each year to hire
speakers and pay their airfares?

Denver has a Spring show which is for the purpose of raising
funds for the Society's year. The real purpose is a sale of
plants by the society to the general public rather than a show
and vendors for the members to buy from. We get about 200
blooming plants in March, mostly Phal. some dendrobium and some
mixed intergeneric or cattleya. These plants have sold at $20 or
3 for $50. most years. This gives us enough space for the
expenses of the show (judges and helpers food, sales tax, &
shipping) and a profit to run the society on. Because shipping
can eat a large part of the profits, we have to watch the overall
cost delivered.

The President's Contest: The President picks a cross and buys
about 20 unbloomed seedlings. These are sold in lunch bag
disguise at $10 a plant. The first bloomed plant is awarded $50,
$35 for the second, and $15 for the third. The cross is not
identified until after the first is bloomed. Then the hybrid's
name is announced and tags become available for all plants
purchased. Some years this contest goes into the 2 year. So
this year many of the plants were in spike. 3 bloomed within a
week of each other. Which is first is still debated.

Monthly we have donations from members of divisions, AOS
magazines or books. These are sold at such a discount that the
income is insignificant. The society allows members to sell
plants at tables in the back of the meeting room. The speaker
may or may not also be there with a collection to sell. We like
it if they do bring things. We have only one commercial gh
locally.



SuE
http://orchids.legolas.org/gallery/albums.php

In the Atlanta OS the fall show isn't really intended to be a big money
maker, sometimes it doesn't make anything. Last year we actually had a
profit because society members cooked the food for the judges' luncheon
instead of having it catered. The main fundraising (aside from dues) is an
auction in the spring, a raffle table at the meetings (plants donated by
members and sometimes the speaker), and sometimes a couple silent auction
plants. When our society does something like your President's contest it
really isn't set up to make much money. When members sell plants they have
to give 10% of sales to the society, but that usually doesn't add up to
much. We also discourage members from selling when a vendor brings plants.
-danny

"Susan Erickson" wrote in message
...
The question is what does your society or one you know well do to
raise funds? This is not asking each member to pay dues or kick
in a donation. How do you get enough money each year to hire
speakers and pay their airfares?

On Mon, 15 Aug 2005 22:11:07 -0400, "danny"
wrote:

In the Atlanta OS the fall show isn't really intended to be a big money
maker, sometimes it doesn't make anything. Last year we actually had a
profit because society members cooked the food for the judges' luncheon
instead of having it catered. The main fundraising (aside from dues) is an
auction in the spring, a raffle table at the meetings (plants donated by
members and sometimes the speaker), and sometimes a couple silent auction
plants. When our society does something like your President's contest it
really isn't set up to make much money. When members sell plants they have
to give 10% of sales to the society, but that usually doesn't add up to
much. We also discourage members from selling when a vendor brings plants.
-danny

When we were in Chicago - the society ran the plant sales for
members for a cut of all the plants sold. This was a regular
source of funds. The society also auctioned big blooming plants
at the start of the meeting. The owner put a reserve on the
plant. It could not sell below. A portion of the actual price
went to the society and it got members to the meeting room on
time and listening. (this can sometimes be a problem).

You say the Auction in the spring is the fund raiser. Is there a
show or exhibit at the same time? Or is the fall show the only
show for the society? Is there another society show close? Our
closest show is a 7-8 hour drive away.
SuE
http://orchids.legolas.org/gallery/albums.php

The auction is not part of a show, it's just a few hours on a Sunday
afternoon in late spring or early summer. We only have one show per year in
November, and there aren't any other orchid-specific shows close by in
Georgia (the Southeastern Flower Show in February has a few orchid vendors
and an orchid display). Some of the Alabama and Tennessee orchid shows
aren't very far away (a couple hours).
-danny

"Susan Erickson" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 15 Aug 2005 22:11:07 -0400, "danny"
wrote:

In the Atlanta OS the fall show isn't really intended to be a big money
maker, sometimes it doesn't make anything. Last year we actually had a
profit because society members cooked the food for the judges' luncheon
instead of having it catered. The main fundraising (aside from dues) is
an
auction in the spring, a raffle table at the meetings (plants donated by
members and sometimes the speaker), and sometimes a couple silent auction
plants. When our society does something like your President's contest it
really isn't set up to make much money. When members sell plants they
have
to give 10% of sales to the society, but that usually doesn't add up to
much. We also discourage members from selling when a vendor brings
plants.
-danny

When we were in Chicago - the society ran the plant sales for
members for a cut of all the plants sold. This was a regular
source of funds. The society also auctioned big blooming plants
at the start of the meeting. The owner put a reserve on the
plant. It could not sell below. A portion of the actual price
went to the society and it got members to the meeting room on
time and listening. (this can sometimes be a problem).

You say the Auction in the spring is the fund raiser. Is there a
show or exhibit at the same time? Or is the fall show the only
show for the society? Is there another society show close? Our
closest show is a 7-8 hour drive away.
SuE
http://orchids.legolas.org/gallery/albums.php

Susan Erickson wrote:
The question is what does your society or one you know well do to
raise funds?

At the Triangle OS (North Carolina), our primary fundraisers are a
Spring and a Fall Auction. We buy plants from Carmela' which usually
sell well, and accept plant donations from members. The donated
plants are major profit makers, because they cost us nothing and are
often unusual species or hybrids that aren't common in the trade.
There is a raffle plant at every monthly meeting, but we minimize other
sales at the meetings to avoid competing with the speakers. We don't
pay an honorarium; instead, the speaker is generally given a monopoly
over sales at the meeting.

There is no show associated with the auctions. In fact, we haven't had
a show for several years. We are currently struggling to find a venue
that would allow us to break even. Our previous venue did not satisfy
our vendors.

We also have an annual "Grower's Day" for beginners. It's our primary
recruiting tool, so we budget to break even rather than make a profit.
The board also organizes group orders from international nurseries once
or twice a year, but again, they are designed to break even rather than
make a profit.

Nick
--

Our major fund raiser is our AOS judged show in March. Normally we have ten
vendors, but this year we had twelve because space usually taken by 100 sf
displays was available. We generally have four Society displays, but two of
our local groups were still pretty devastated by the hurricanes. Our vendors
pay a fee to be there (the show goes on for three days), and we ask a $3.00
donation for entry. The center of the room is taken up by vendor displays on
6' x 30" tables, and on a stage we have 4 or 5 30" square table top displays
by members. There is also a display of "mini niches", cut flowers in
containers. Over all, it is an impressive sight, and there is lots of oohing
and aahing from the visitors. We have a waiting list of vendors. There are
new venues being planned and/or built, and we may need to move to larger
quarters at some future time. There has been a huge population increase
here, and loads of upscale new construction, so demand will be there. We are
thinking about a Fall Fest, on a smaller scale, but it might just be too
much to handle on top of installing displays for other Society shows.

At this show, we sell books, shirts, pins and such, and we have a raffle,
with plant donations from the vendors. To make things even more interesting,
we have hourly door prize announcements. These gifts are donations from
local vendors of all kinds, including Home Depot, and last March we actually
had too many, LOL! For our trophies, we obtain sponsorships; many vendors
sponsor trophies, and many of our members do, too.

We also have two auctions annually, in April and November. We take a
percentage of the price of each plant. We don't purchase plants for these
events; our members bring in plants they want to sell, with a beginning bid
price noted on a leaf. Last March a mature B. digbyana (I know, I know -
it's Rhyncholaelia) sold for $105; the owner was very pleased.

We have raffle plants at every meeting, and sell past editions of Orchids
very inexpensively. Raffle money goes into our Scholarship Fund. We sell ads
in our news letter, but that is a very minimal source of funds. All in all,
we're in very good financial shape.

Diana

After reading this I felt I should mention a couple more things. Our show
is held in a botanical garden that charges admission. Since people have
already paid to get in the garden, we don't charge anything more for them to
see the show. Getting people to sponsor trophies can have a big effect on
the finances, sometimes we don't get enough sponsors for all of them. We
really haven't sold much ourselves at the show. A couple years ago we sold
snacks, but since the garden has a food vendor that can be a touchy subject.
The smaller society that co-hosts our show is going to try a repotting table
this year as a fund-raiser for their society. That's probably a good idea.
We have about a dozen vendors, mostly plants but we also have glass artwork
from Nature Glassworks and last year we had painted silk banners and scarves
from Silk Synergy. It's nice to have a couple non-plant vendors there.
-danny

"Diana Kulaga" wrote in message
.. .
Our major fund raiser is our AOS judged show in March. Normally we have
ten vendors, but this year we had twelve because space usually taken by
100 sf displays was available. We generally have four Society displays,
but two of our local groups were still pretty devastated by the
hurricanes. Our vendors pay a fee to be there (the show goes on for three
days), and we ask a $3.00 donation for entry. The center of the room is
taken up by vendor displays on 6' x 30" tables, and on a stage we have 4
or 5 30" square table top displays by members. There is also a display of
"mini niches", cut flowers in containers. Over all, it is an impressive
sight, and there is lots of oohing and aahing from the visitors. We have a
waiting list of vendors. There are new venues being planned and/or built,
and we may need to move to larger quarters at some future time. There has
been a huge population increase here, and loads of upscale new
construction, so demand will be there. We are thinking about a Fall Fest,
on a smaller scale, but it might just be too much to handle on top of
installing displays for other Society shows.

At this show, we sell books, shirts, pins and such, and we have a raffle,
with plant donations from the vendors. To make things even more
interesting, we have hourly door prize announcements. These gifts are
donations from local vendors of all kinds, including Home Depot, and last
March we actually had too many, LOL! For our trophies, we obtain
sponsorships; many vendors sponsor trophies, and many of our members do,
too.

We also have two auctions annually, in April and November. We take a
percentage of the price of each plant. We don't purchase plants for these
events; our members bring in plants they want to sell, with a beginning
bid price noted on a leaf. Last March a mature B. digbyana (I know, I
know - it's Rhyncholaelia) sold for $105; the owner was very pleased.

We have raffle plants at every meeting, and sell past editions of Orchids
very inexpensively. Raffle money goes into our Scholarship Fund. We sell
ads in our news letter, but that is a very minimal source of funds. All in
all, we're in very good financial shape.

Diana

I'm not intimately involved in my society's functions, but here's an
overview of what I know we do for money.

The San Francisco Orchid Society is one of the larger orchid societies, on
par with Miami, Santa Barbara, Greater New York, etc.

We have two events a year. The February Show is the Big One - filling two
football fields, split about 2/3 vendors and 1/3 displays. There are about
50 vendors - most from California, but a good number from Hawaii and a few
from overseas. It is AOS judged and most of the local societies put in
displays, in addition to all of the vendors. There is a big area for member
plant sales, with the society taking a 25% cut. If you have plants in the
members sale area, you have to put yourself on the shift list for the area,
too.

The show has a Benefit Preview Night that costs $35 and it's one of the
sleeper Social Events in San Francisco. A couple dozen Napa/Sonoma wineries
come and pour tasting glasses of their wines all night and we have finger
foods. There are probably 1000 people in/out through the whole night.
Regular Show admission is $12, mainly because the venue we use is expensive.
Preview Night is the big fundraising event, obviously.

The second event is in October - it's a sale with a tiny "show" area and
it's not AOS judged. There are about 25 vendors. The venue is smaller and
the admission charge is only $4. This event is our yearly fundraiser for the
various groups we support - things like a small scholarship at a local
college, funding the purchase of orchid books at the Helen Crocker Russell
Library of Horticulture, funding various projects at both the Conservatory
and Botanical Gardens, and a few others I can't recall.

Our monthly meetings are very busy - I know we fly people in, but I have no
idea how we compensate speakers. Every month we have a large area for
members to sell plants, with the society taking a 20% cut. If the speaker
has plants to sell, those are welcomed. Most of our speakers bring plants
the members would never have, so there's not a problem having both. Not
every speaker has plants to sell. Recent speakers Eric Christenson and Nina
Rach didn't have plants for sale, for instance. But Andrea Niessen and
Weyman Bussey did sell, so..

The Opportunity Table is usually break-even from what I understand and is
provided as a way to generate interest in being a society member more than
being a profit center.

-Eric in SF
www.orchidphotos.org

"Susan Erickson" wrote in message
...
The question is what does your society or one you know well do to
raise funds? This is not asking each member to pay dues or kick
in a donation. How do you get enough money each year to hire
speakers and pay their airfares?

Denver has a Spring show which is for the purpose of raising
funds for the Society's year. The real purpose is a sale of
plants by the society to the general public rather than a show
and vendors for the members to buy from. We get about 200
blooming plants in March, mostly Phal. some dendrobium and some
mixed intergeneric or cattleya. These plants have sold at $20 or
3 for $50. most years. This gives us enough space for the
expenses of the show (judges and helpers food, sales tax, &
shipping) and a profit to run the society on. Because shipping
can eat a large part of the profits, we have to watch the overall
cost delivered.

The President's Contest: The President picks a cross and buys
about 20 unbloomed seedlings. These are sold in lunch bag
disguise at $10 a plant. The first bloomed plant is awarded $50,
$35 for the second, and $15 for the third. The cross is not
identified until after the first is bloomed. Then the hybrid's
name is announced and tags become available for all plants
purchased. Some years this contest goes into the 2 year. So
this year many of the plants were in spike. 3 bloomed within a
week of each other. Which is first is still debated.

Monthly we have donations from members of divisions, AOS
magazines or books. These are sold at such a discount that the
income is insignificant. The society allows members to sell
plants at tables in the back of the meeting room. The speaker
may or may not also be there with a collection to sell. We like
it if they do bring things. We have only one commercial gh
locally.



SuE
http://orchids.legolas.org/gallery/albums.php

I would gladly put up a banner on my site to promote any orchid
society's show or even. Free of charge of course.

Marty
www.OrchidBoard.com

First, that is very generous of you, Marty.

And thanks to others for reminding me of a couple of things I left out of my
first post to this thread. We do have a potting service at our show, but it
is more a convenience for newbies than a profit center. We just ask a couple
of bucks for materials.

Also, we've been offering free classes for the past couple of years. We
advertise them along with our regular show ads, and they are a big draw, so
that means more people. For next year we are hoping to have a preview party,
on a somewhat smaller scale than Eric described. The hang-up, if there is
one, will be the cost of an insurance rider that the venue will require.

Diana

Susan Erickson wrote in
:

The question is what does your society or one you know well do to
raise funds? This is not asking each member to pay dues or kick
in a donation. How do you get enough money each year to hire
speakers and pay their airfares?

Denver has a Spring show which is for the purpose of raising
funds for the Society's year. The real purpose is a sale of
plants by the society to the general public rather than a show
and vendors for the members to buy from. We get about 200
blooming plants in March, mostly Phal. some dendrobium and some
mixed intergeneric or cattleya. These plants have sold at $20 or
3 for $50. most years. This gives us enough space for the
expenses of the show (judges and helpers food, sales tax, &
shipping) and a profit to run the society on. Because shipping
can eat a large part of the profits, we have to watch the overall
cost delivered.

The President's Contest: The President picks a cross and buys
about 20 unbloomed seedlings. These are sold in lunch bag
disguise at $10 a plant. The first bloomed plant is awarded $50,
$35 for the second, and $15 for the third. The cross is not
identified until after the first is bloomed. Then the hybrid's
name is announced and tags become available for all plants
purchased. Some years this contest goes into the 2 year. So
this year many of the plants were in spike. 3 bloomed within a
week of each other. Which is first is still debated.

Monthly we have donations from members of divisions, AOS
magazines or books. These are sold at such a discount that the
income is insignificant. The society allows members to sell
plants at tables in the back of the meeting room. The speaker
may or may not also be there with a collection to sell. We like
it if they do bring things. We have only one commercial gh
locally.



SuE
http://orchids.legolas.org/gallery/albums.php

Though I may have missed it the one thing I didn't see is an auction where
society members donate plants to the auction. You know those divided
plants, excess from com pots that you have to many of or just ones your
tired of looking at. Our society also gets venders to donate and the
botanical garden also donates. Of course all plants must be free of bugs
to go into the auction and they are all checked by selected members. Lat
years auction lasted over 5 hours. This year was the smallest auction I've
ever attended but had many more great plants, it lasted over 4 hours with
plants going from $3 to $95. That means there's buys for beginners and the
experts alike.

Grow well and bloom magnificently
dusty

Dusty,

You didn't miss it - no one mentioned it, and I should have done so. We have
a limit on how many plants can be brought to auction by any one seller;
anything over that goes to the Society. We did that to prevent folks from
flooding the auction with duplicate seedings bought from a commercial GH at
bargain prices. Members are also encouraged to donate plants for the
auctions, and many do.

Diana