Funding a NYC Book Festival
Shane Freer
Martha Austin
COMM 215
February 24, 2013
Elizabeth Hoyle

“New York City is the most populated city in the U.S. with well over double the population of the country’s second largest city, Los Angeles” (www.nycedc.com). With a city this large, over 8 million people, there is no wonder that their public schools have a bad reputation. If children had the possibility to read more books in school or in the comfort of their own home than the high school graduation could rise higher than 65.5% in 2011 (Goldman, 2012). Due to the current economic setbacks, it makes it hard for schools, libraries, and families alike to be able to set money aside to purchase new books for children of all ages. Cities, big and small, across the U.S. are always in need of books for their children; nonprofit book festivals always tend to help bring communities together for the hope that it will make a brighter future for New York City and its people that it touches. The key to any successful nonprofit book drive are an abundance of sponsors to help secure funding for a venue, advertising, book donations, and even a possible celebrity appearance to help with national attention. When it comes to a local book festival in New York City it is a good idea to try to get businesses either that are located within the city, or who operate throughout the city involved to help raise the pride of the residents. This tactic will help get other local businesses and people involved which will help the festival turn into a city bonding experience. The first step would be to make appointments with large corporations down to the small privately owned businesses to have a chance to explain the benefits of a local business helping its local community. The best reason to use to help convince these companies to donate funding, either volunteers or books is to help them see that all of the people they could be helping might eventually turn into customers if they are not already. Once you begin to start securing sponsors than it is time to begin finding places that you can designate as a drop off location for books that people wish to donate to the cause. These types of locations can be local city libraries, churches, police stations or fire houses. Of course permission is needed to place a drop box at any of these locations to avoid any legal ramifications. Drop boxes at a drop-off location need to be clearly marked with the events name, location, date and time. If these events are not visible, it will severely lower the amount of notoriety that could possibly be gained just by the drop boxes alone.
If it is becoming hard to find monetary sponsors than it may be a good idea to try a find some sort of convention center or something along similar lines to possible donate to space for the event instead of actually donating funds. If this is a route that will be attempted it is a good idea to point out that benefits of allowing their space to be used. Whether a venue is paid for with donated fund or the venue itself is donated for the event, it is important to make sure that the location is very accessible. The accessibility can be determined by available parking, distance from the nearest bus or subway stop. Finally, how available it is to people that decide to walk in. it is important not to forget about the people that decide to walk to the festival because there are over 8 million people in the city of New York so most people may not drive.
Having the opportunity to have a celebrity sponsor or come to the event would boost its popularity overnight. Most people do not even realize when they buy products in a store; they may choose certain brand over another just because of a celebrity sponsor. If this can be brought to nonprofit book festival than there is no telling how successful it could become. Some celebrities that are into books and education might volunteer on their own just by seeing the advertising. If no celebrity volunteers to make an appearance than it never hurts to pay for one. The main reason it is always nice to bring in celebrity to an event like this is to help get the attention of the public. “Many people hold certain celebrities in high regard, so an endorsement of a product instantly increases the amount of trust the consumer has in the brand” (Alex Paul, 2013). If a celebrity can bring this kind of attention to a product, than they will be able to bring a lot more people to a book festival versus not having them. This is something that can be worked into the following ideas for advertising. You can also get someone special or two to come to the event. In this case, it would be famous authors. They love to promote their books and while the people come to see them, they will look at the other books that are there as well.
There are many ways to start advertising for your fundraiser; there are stores, restaurants and many other areas that we will cover to show where you can advertise and what you can do to make the fundraiser enjoyable for all. Advertising is a key part of getting your fundraiser off the ground and making it a success. The more you advertise and the more people you reach, you have a better chance for a successful fundraiser.
There are many steps to make the event run smoothly. Primarily you must form a committee. Make sure that you have people that are willing to do the things that are needed to get done. Then make an internet page, use social Medias for the event. Use local newspapers and magazines, online and traditional print. You can blog your event, make eye-catching flyers, and radio stations.
Be sure to delegate what you want done and when you want it done, make sure to set a date for all to be ready for the fundraiser. When you organize, a committee be sure and try to have a person that is a good writer, that way you will have someone that can write about the fundraiser and get it out to others. Have someone that is willing to do the legwork, they can make sure that the flyers, and other brochures are gotten out to the public. Have someone that is artistic, they would be a good choice to make the banners, and logos for the fundraiser appealing. Finally, yet just as important, make sure you have someone that is good with a computer. They can help make the web sites and other places to advertise easier to build.
When you advertise a fundraiser, you want to build web pages so that you can reach many of the people you would not reach through traditional advertising. Have a page for the committee; maybe post their names and things on it to acknowledge their good work. Be sure to have a page for the fundraiser and what it is all about, who is going to be there (if there is someone special or not). When you advertise, make sure to use the social media that is out there on the internet, Twitter, Facebook, Google, Craigslist, and even YouTube Videos. All of these have followers, and there are many who will look for fundraisers and things to go to just to see what they are all about. Always make sure that you post all the information ahead of time so that it will reach as much of the public as possible.
Designing flyers is another good way to advertise. There are many good ways to make flyers and they can be any size or shape you want. You can place large for posters in stores, and other places. Medium for restaurants and hair salons, doctors and dentist offices any place where people go a lot. It can be expensive to have flyers made, so it is best to try to split the costs among the volunteer’s if donated funds are not able to cover the cost. It is also a great idea to see if a printing company will do the printing for free as a donation. Banners are another good way to advertise, one can get material donations from many places that make clothes, and then use very good hefty markers or paints to make up the banners. You can fly them mostly anywhere as long as they do not interfere with traffic. Flagpoles, lights on streets, maybe even get permission to fly them at some businesses. You can also recycle old campaign signs. Take them off the lawn, paint them and then add the fundraiser on them and repost in the yard, on street corners and where ever you want them to be seen.
You can also ask for other organizations to post your fundraiser on their sites, such as churches, schools, VFW, Libraries, etc. These places are likely to do the advertising for you as it will benefit their place of business as well as make your fundraiser a success. Marquees are another good source. There are many throughout the city, many businesses, schools, churches, libraries, and any other business that have a place to advertise.
Lastly, here is a list of the sites on the internet that you can place the fundraiser and they are all free. It will just take your time to set the pages up and make sure that they are gotten out there to be seen.
Craigslist – community events are posted free of charge
Facebook, has a large following and could get people to show up at your fundraiser
Radio, may stations will advertise a good cause free of charge
YouCaring.com Here you can create a website that will allow you to post your fundraiser and make the public aware of it.
Yahoo Groups are a good one, you need to have a following or know a lot of people to make this work.
Micklan.com/fundraisers: You can get fundraising kits from this one and you can advertise as well. www.squidoo.com/advertising_market: Another good site to make your own web site and promote your product.
In conclusion, New York City is a very large city and to have a book festival there is a really large event to have happen. There are over 8 million people in a relatively small area and many of the kids do not have the books to read. This is where a book festival would benefit a lot of kids and people. There are many ways to make sure this is done, you have to make sure you have the sponsors, so that you have what you need to make it work. You need to try and get a celebrity or two to show up, they can advertise their books as well as get people to come to the fundraiser and maybe buy some books. You need to make sure you have the donations and the funding to make the banners, maybe pay for the celebrity, make the flyers or any other expenses that may occur. Volunteers are necessary, for your committee so that you can get things organized. Volunteers are important so that you can get the flyers and things out to the public, to make sure that things run smoothly. Location of the festival will also play a key role in the success. If the location is a bad one you are not going to get as much of the public to visit as you would with a good location.
Advertising is also a key factor in making sure that the fundraiser is a success. You need to make sure that the advertising is put out there in a timely manner so as many people as possible have a chance to see it. The more you advertise the better off you are going to be. Lastly make sure you advertise on the internet in as many places as possible; with the technology the way it is today there is no way that you are going to lose by using the internet. There are so many sites available today that it makes designing a web page and advertising so much easier then it was in the past.
A book festival is a good cause and it can benefit many. There are many children out there that could use a good book, rather than just being on the streets. Many schools out there could use the book donations that a fundraiser like this could bring to them. It is a very good cause. Tell your friends!