What to do with leftover money! Q?
This provocative question is from Sandy, Butler High School Class of 1997 reunion, Augusta, Georgia. I have just begun to organize
the reunion and it occurred to me that more people might respond
than I expect, leaving the possibility that we might have surplus
money when we finish. Any ideas for "leftover" money
collected for this high school reunion? A!
Responses are from members of the National Association of Reunion Managers (NARM).
Everyone agreed with Debby Pattin &
Carol Riley, owners of Reunions Unlimited, Olympia, Washington,
and Denise Silva, President of Great Reunions, Garden Grove, California,
who say if you’re lucky enough to have a surplus, you can
save the money as seed money for the next reunion or donate it
to your school.
Kirsten Richardson, Reunions With Class, Inc.,
Bellevue, Washington, cautions that surpluses “can be a hassle
to track, report interest to the IRS and manage the account if
it is small (banks like to charge fees for small accounts).”
Joe Smith of Back to the Future Reunions, Pleasanton,
California, suggests having the account set up legally with a
CPA to prevent trouble on a number of fronts, including the possibility
that something happens to the person in charge of the account.
After the account is set up and the reunion is a memory, “wait
three to four months to be sure all the bills have been paid and
no one is requesting a refund for any reason. Once you are sure
the money left is really ‘extra’ money, then start thinking
about what to do.”
If you use the money for start-up funds for
the next reunion, there are some pitfalls. Who controls the money?
Is it in a bank account and who has access? Is the person who
has control of the money going to want to plan the next reunion?
As shocking as it may seem, some reunion chairmen have moved away
and taken the funds with them. If a great deal of money is involved,
safety precautions should be explored.
Linda Wright and Jim O'Gorman, Keep In Touch Reunions LLC, St.
Charles, Missouri, exclaimed: “WOW! What a great problem
to have! You could give the money to your high school as a 'thank
you' gift from your class. Pinpoint it for a special use, say
for technology or library. We give committees an option of adding
a dollar or two to their ticket price for just this purpose.
The money can be used to buy door prizes. By
a day or two before the reunion you should know if you will have
extra funds. Door prizes can be given at the dinner dance or be
used to help boost attendance for a Sunday event which is usually
less well-attended. Or give the money itself as a door prize and
call it a ticket refund.
Nancy Shirey at A+ Reunion in Ellicott City,
Maryland, suggests offering a cordials bar after dinner or door
prizes. Create a calendar with pictures of events from reunion
weekend, offers Frances Farlow, Reunions For U, Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
Or participate in an adopt-a-family for Thanksgiving or Christmas.
Put the money toward what Darla Methey, Reunions
By Design, El Cajon, California, calls memorabilia enhancements. “Sometimes committees rent mannequins to display prom dresses
or outfits of the era (from wigs to shoes). Or consider these
ideas that don't require a lot of lead time — reimburse committee
members' tickets, award a prize to the first person to RSVP or
pay for faculty tickets.
In preparation for our ten-year reunion, we
discovered we had never spent the high school funds our class
president placed in a savings account,” Michelle Webber,
Administrative Assistant for NARM in Canby, Oregon wrote. “We
had over $1500 to spend for our first reunion. We used half to
reduce the per-person ticket cost for alumni from $60 to $40.
I believe this helped increase reunion attendance.”
Jonathan Miller, Reunited, Inc., Weston, Florida,
added some new ideas. Project your estimated windfall and purchase
a keepsake item to give out at the reunion or as a post-reunion
thank-you for attending. Create a fund to subsidize tickets for
classmates who feel they can't otherwise afford to attend the
reunion. Create a scholarship fund to recognize a current/upcoming
graduate of your school or support a worthy program at your school
or in your school community. Or you can upgrade your catering
menu or offer a complimentary cocktail.
Reunion entertainment ideas Q?
Deborah
Swan, from Toukley, New South Wales, Australia, asked for entertainment
ideas for her Gorokan High School Class of 1980 reunion. A! Denise
Silva of Great Reunions, Garden Grove, California, cautioned that
too much entertainment is just as bad, if not worse, than no entertainment.
The majority of classmates want to spend their limited time reminiscing,
not watching a show. She has been successful having the current
school band and/or cheerleaders come for a brief alma mater and
traditional cheer just before the awards. They do it for a small
donation. Another suggestion is to have classmates send pictures
before the reunion (with their name and address on the back) to
be made into a video.
Darla
Methey at Reunions By Design in El Cajon, California, reports
that they have a company come in with blackjack and crap tables.
She says you can find companies in the yellow pages under “entertainment,”
or contact the Convention and Visitors Bureau for referrals. The
company they use costs about $100 an hour. Sometimes they offer
raffle tickets at the end of the night for exchange of chips,
with a prize of a 3-day/2-night stay in Las Vegas. These games
are good for spouses and guests at reunions because they are happy
and have something fun to do while the spouse enjoys talking to
classmates. One of the DJs Methey hires devises contests. One
requires a group of five to eight male classmates to strike poses
or do a skit. Then the females do the same. Methey reports it’s
great for laughs and a fun opener for the committee. They’ve
also had comedians or a disk jockey who plays Name That Tune.
Nancy Shirey at A+ Reunion in Ellicott City, Maryland, adds a
trivia game.
Joseph
W. Smith of Back to the Future Reunions in Pleasanton, California,
says the three things to keep in mind for your reunion are: “Be
creative and think outside the box. People are more interested
in reminiscing than anything else, so any entertainment that you
bring in should be unobtrusive. And keep it cheap!”
Keeping
that in mind, you are ready to start looking for entertainment.
The first thing you should do is start talking to your classmates
about who they work for and who they know. A lot of times we find
that someone owns a company that has something we can use or knows
someone that they can talk into donating a service or selling
it to us at cost. Possibilities include Casino Nights, magicians
that go table-to-table, a comedian during dinner, or just a fun
icebreaker game. Local libraries offer books that describe hundreds
of party games.
