When I was the Vice President of a synagogue, I ran an event a month to fundraise and/or to bring members together.
My crowning achievement was having a standup comedy event hosted by Sal The Stockbroker Governale from The Howard Stern Show. It really was an out of the box, off the wall idea. I wanted an event that could draw in an audience from the outside community, so we no longer had to depend on the same 30+ people who attended every one of our events. There are so many times you can ask a member to contribute, so this event with Sal has 200 guests in attendance including Larry Caputo. Instead of the typical holiday celebration or Friday night meal, the synagogue had a unique event that brought in a lot of money from outside its community.
I always sometimes that when it comes to marketing, think of things that your competitors aren’t doing. Recently, a local third party administration (TPA) firm by the name of Associated Pension invited me to attend a screening of The Last Jedi. Of course, I had a ticket already at another theater, but this was a unique event that they used to rent out an entire theater so many of their contacts in the industry could attend. I thought it was something unique and memorable and I’m sure a free movie ticket to the most anticipated movie of the last 2 years is better advertising for a TPA that just a nice brochure.
See what everyone else is doing and offer something unique, you’ll be surprised at how much interest you can create.