# Christian Band Concert Festival Fundraising



## sccrthlt (Oct 19, 2011)

I am organizing a christian concert festival that is going to involve many church's praise bands in my area. This is unique to my area seeing there is nothing of the kind and I feel like there will be a lot of support for it. 

It's taking place during the summer of 2012, at a church owned park in a good sized field. Since the property only allows nonprofit organizations all the proceeds will go to charity. We have a basic sound system that includes 4 mackie SRM450's, 32 channel sound board, and all of the necessary cable to get by. We would like to make this an all day event, going into the night, so lighting is required. This requires truss, fixtures, light board, dimmers, lighting tech, sound tech, etc.

We are thinking around a $10 entree fee. We think a reasonable attendance would be 500 people considering all of the bands we ask to play and the built-in audiences they already have.

The problem is that gives us 5k of revenue but after equipment fee i'm thinking roughly 3.8k that would go to charity? This is a pretty low number and we would like to increase it. In what ways could we raise money to pay for the equipment? I was thinking of asking some of the churches we ask to play in it to sponsor. We could frame the stage with sponsor banners on the truss. Also another idea would be to have corporate sponsors but would this be distracting and inappropriate to the christian audience?

Thanks!


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## Van (Oct 19, 2011)

Check out Jesus Fest North West. perhaps you could contact someone in thier organization for some pointers. 
As to your second uestion I think that extremely dicey, in my opinion. I think the answers you get will be powerfully charged in both directions. I am sure, however, depending on your location there will be companies crawling out of the woodwork to advertise with you.


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## sccrthlt (Oct 19, 2011)

Van said:


> Check out Jesus Fest North West. perhaps you could contact someone in thier organization for some pointers.
> As to your second uestion I think that extremely dicey, in my opinion. I think the answers you get will be powerfully charged in both directions. I am sure, however, depending on your location there will be companies crawling out of the woodwork to advertise with you.


 
So you think having corporate sponsorship is controversial but there will be a lot of them wanting to sponsor it? Do you think there is a market for the churches that the praise bands come from to buy in on sponsoring it?


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## chausman (Oct 19, 2011)

I would be curious how churches will be advertising. A church seems to be something that you choose to go to or not, not something you can advertise. I can see wanting to put a logo in a program, but an ad? Other then religious views, what could one church have over another?


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## sccrthlt (Oct 19, 2011)

chausman said:


> I would be curious how churches will be advertising. A church seems to be something that you choose to go to or not, not something you can advertise. I can see wanting to put a logo in a program, but an ad? Other then religious views, what could one church have over another?
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk


 

Good point. What happens if one of the churches is struggling for new members and their trying out this new contemporary service that they want people to come to and by saying that the concert was brought to you by xxxx they get people interested?


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## mstaylor (Oct 19, 2011)

If you ask churches to sponser, do a banner with all the church names on it. Another method is to go up the line, instead of asking the churches, ask the archdiocese or whatever it is called for that denomination. I assume you are doing a cross of different religions.


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## MarshallPope (Oct 19, 2011)

sccrthlt said:


> Good point. What happens if one of the churches is struggling for new members and their trying out this new contemporary service that they want people to come to and by saying that the concert was brought to you by xxxx they get people interested?



For this type of event, though, I feel like your main audience will be members of the churches represented, so there would not be much of a reason (even ethically?) for churches to need to reach this market. Just a thought.


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## sccrthlt (Oct 19, 2011)

How do Christian festivals of this sort normally get their funding?


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## Van (Oct 19, 2011)

What I know is that Jesus Northwest has Big name bands and they sell just like a concert. They book in all sorts of groups and I think it'smostly spill over from the big names and corporate sponsorship of big names the funds the largest part of the costs. It's not really all that different than any other kind of promotion. While the goal is altruistic, the difference bewtween a Christian music festival, and Lolapalooza is target audience and music played.


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## sccrthlt (Oct 19, 2011)

Van said:


> What I know is that Jesus Northwest has Big name bands and they sell just like a concert. They book in all sorts of groups and I think it'smostly spill over from the big names and corporate sponsorship of big names the funds the largest part of the costs. It's not really all that different than any other kind of promotion. While the goal is altruistic, the difference bewtween a Christian music festival, and Lolapalooza is target audience and music played.



But I don't have big name bands. So I guess i'll just have to promote and market like crazy and hope for the most ticket sales?


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## MarshallPope (Oct 19, 2011)

Maybe you could work with churches to sell tickets. Maybe offer a reduced group rate if they buy tickets by a certain date. This way you will know how it is going as you get closer to the date.


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## chausman (Oct 19, 2011)

Talk to local churches to put up posters, give flyers out to members, and ask the church to announce it during the service. 


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## sccrthlt (Oct 19, 2011)

MarshallPope said:


> Maybe you could work with churches to sell tickets. Maybe offer a reduced group rate if they buy tickets by a certain date. This way you will know how it is going as you get closer to the date.


 
That is a very good idea. I need to know how much I can rent without going bankrupt and this helps.


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## shiben (Oct 19, 2011)

sccrthlt said:


> I am organizing a christian concert festival that is going to involve many church's praise bands in my area. This is unique to my area seeing there is nothing of the kind and I feel like there will be a lot of support for it.
> 
> It's taking place during the summer of 2012, at a church owned park in a good sized field. Since the property only allows nonprofit organizations all the proceeds will go to charity. We have a basic sound system that includes 4 mackie SRM450's, 32 channel sound board, and all of the necessary cable to get by. We would like to make this an all day event, going into the night, so lighting is required. This requires truss, fixtures, light board, dimmers, lighting tech, sound tech, etc.
> 
> ...


 
See if any Christian publishing houses want to put some sponsorship opportunities out there. If your worried about distractions, perhaps work out some sort of deal so that they can have a booth or something near the back... It might actually work for the event to have a place to buy sheet music and CDs. Zondervan has deep pockets, might want to get involved, perhaps have a little bible booth in the back. There are plenty of companies that make products that not only would want to advertise to the possible audience, but also the audience might actually WANT to get products like that. If your going to go down the road of corporate sponsorship for a religious type event you want to actually find companies that sell products the audience will actually want. Instead of a sponsorship arch go for booths or programs or something. Booths are nice because you hear a new song and then you can go buy the music. Or you could go and find a good deal on Bibles or whatever else you happen to want. Another idea might be find some midsized bands who do that kind of music (Casting Crowns, Etc) and have them do some newer songs that they have written, so that people have incentive to come? I think that churches might also be interested in providing some level of sponsorship in exchange for a program mention or something. Doubtless some youth group or church has lighting gear you could probably get... The biggest expenses I see you having is staging and power. You will want a generator and a nice large stage so that you have room to set a couple bands in the same kind of area and ease of transitions. For light do a line of MR-16 strips for the front (I wouldnt bother with ground supported overhead truss, too much work and money and liability), have them R119 - R60 - R02 or whatever you want. Or use LEDs for the same reason. In the back, get a couple 10' sticks of truss with nice heavy square bases, and throw some LED cans on there. Then you can get some nice lighting looks during the day and night, plus not tons of overhead work which is more expensive and harder to do. A church might have this stuff in stock and might donate it to you for the day. Who knows. If you need sponsorship, look to Christian publishing houses and music distributors. They will probably be your most bang for your buck in terms of least distracting vs actually having products that people want to get advertised to for, if that makes sense.


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## sccrthlt (Oct 19, 2011)

shiben said:


> See if any Christian publishing houses want to put some sponsorship opportunities out there. If your worried about distractions, perhaps work out some sort of deal so that they can have a booth or something near the back... It might actually work for the event to have a place to buy sheet music and CDs. Zondervan has deep pockets, might want to get involved, perhaps have a little bible booth in the back. There are plenty of companies that make products that not only would want to advertise to the possible audience, but also the audience might actually WANT to get products like that. If your going to go down the road of corporate sponsorship for a religious type event you want to actually find companies that sell products the audience will actually want. Instead of a sponsorship arch go for booths or programs or something. Booths are nice because you hear a new song and then you can go buy the music. Or you could go and find a good deal on Bibles or whatever else you happen to want. Another idea might be find some midsized bands who do that kind of music (Casting Crowns, Etc) and have them do some newer songs that they have written, so that people have incentive to come? I think that churches might also be interested in providing some level of sponsorship in exchange for a program mention or something. Doubtless some youth group or church has lighting gear you could probably get... The biggest expenses I see you having is staging and power. You will want a generator and a nice large stage so that you have room to set a couple bands in the same kind of area and ease of transitions. For light do a line of MR-16 strips for the front (I wouldnt bother with ground supported overhead truss, too much work and money and liability), have them R119 - R60 - R02 or whatever you want. Or use LEDs for the same reason. In the back, get a couple 10' sticks of truss with nice heavy square bases, and throw some LED cans on there. Then you can get some nice lighting looks during the day and night, plus not tons of overhead work which is more expensive and harder to do. A church might have this stuff in stock and might donate it to you for the day. Who knows. If you need sponsorship, look to Christian publishing houses and music distributors. They will probably be your most bang for your buck in terms of least distracting vs actually having products that people want to get advertised to for, if that makes sense.


 

Those are some great suggestions. Thank you. Only problem I see is that this is a nonprofit event (because of the property rules) with all proceeds going to charity so booths with vendors wont work. So Christian publishing houses and music distributors would go for banner sponsorship? I'm seeing most of sponsorship money coming from banners and mentioning in the program. Thanks!


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## shiben (Oct 19, 2011)

sccrthlt said:


> Those are some great suggestions. Thank you. Only problem I see is that this is a nonprofit event (because of the property rules) with all proceeds going to charity so booths with vendors wont work. So Christian publishing houses and music distributors would go for banner sponsorship? I'm seeing most of sponsorship money coming from banners and mentioning in the program. Thanks!


 
They might. I was just thinking that if I had a worship band that I was working with and I heard a song that I didnt have, I might want to go buy that songs music. However, they might really just go for banners and whatnot. Churches might as well, especially for programs that might be unique to them, like my parents church has a disability ministry that they might want to advertise, I dont really know that much about how churches sponsor things, mainly because I dont go to one. However, they must, right? And there is an entire industry devoted to selling widgets to Christians and church-goers, so they might want to advertise their business...


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## museav (Oct 19, 2011)

Just to throw a wrench in the works, this is not a 'worship service' and you are charging an entry fee so unless you already have that addressed you better see how much you are going to have to pay for performance rights and factor that in.

As already mentioned, how are you addressing power for all the FOH sound, backline, lights, etc? A bunch of extension cords laying on the grass for hundreds of feet may not be viable or practical (or accepted). Do you have sufficient power where you need it or might a generator be required?

What are you doing for a stage? To cover equipment and FOH in case of inclement weather? For restrooms? For parking? For trash? For food and beverages?

Does the church's property and liability insurance cover such events? Might a rider be required to cover it?

I hesitate to ask, but if you charge an entry fee how are you going to control entry? It's nice to assume people will do right but if someone finds a way around paying you may soon have a great number of attendees not paying and many others who did pay that are rather unhappy about that. A similar issue applies if you have to limit attendance due to zoning, insurance or other restrictions and somebody needs to enforce those limits. Slightly related, may you have to or want to hire off duty police for traffic control and/or security?

Four SRM450s may not cut it for contemporary praise music outdoors to 500 people, although they may suffice for monitors.

Almost conversely, I don't know the area you are in but you likely also want check noise ordinances as you may be severely limited in the levels you can generate at the property line if not outright prohibited from having such an event. Or you may have to get a special permit or waiver. Similar for the lighting especially if it might in any way interfere with or cause problems for nearby traffic (but I swear I thought I had a green light right before I hit them, it must have been from the concert).

While the 32 channel console may be fine for one band you will probably have to completely change over between bands, so you might want to plan on longer periods between bands, a second console to alternate with or a digital console so you can store and recall the settings for each band.

These are technical and operational issues but they can significantly impact the cost and even the viability of such an event. It is probably much better to address these things before you get too far along and especially before you start trying to get people to commit to sponsorship. If you get people to commit and then cannot deliver that puts you in a bad position.

How do you envision marketing the event? If it is "Sponsored by" or "Brought to you by" your church then that may discourage other sponsors.

You say that all the profits will go to charity but what charities? The charities being supported may affect the potential attendees and sponsors, so it may make sense to identify the charities before advertising the event or trying to get sponsors.

Consider that you may be able to trade off goods and services for advertising. Someone donating or reducing their fees for goods or services that you would otherwise have to pay for in return for a banner or whatever is the same as them donating that amount in terms of the profit for the event.

Food vendors may not be practical but donated food and beverage being sold may be. Think concert/bake sale. Maybe different churches or other organizations that want to support the charities could set up booths to sell food, drinks, etc. with all proceeds going to the charities. Even if the concert broke even that might generate some decent donations. It may also get back into needing permits or similar in order to sell food.


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## sccrthlt (Oct 19, 2011)

museav said:


> Just to throw a wrench in the works, this is not a 'worship service' and you are charging an entry fee so unless you already have that addressed you better see how much you are going to have to pay for performance rights and factor that in.


 
Thanks for all of the information! For the performance rights, doesn't that only apply to events that make a profit? Also none of this is going to happen unless I devise a plan to fund it all. The scale of it will depend on how much money we can possibly get. Very informative feedback though. Thanks!


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## Footer (Oct 19, 2011)

sccrthlt said:


> Thanks for all of the information! For the performance rights, doesn't that only apply to events that make a profit? Also none of this is going to happen unless I devise a plan to fund it all. The scale of it will depend on how much money we can possibly get. Very informative feedback though. Thanks!


 
No. It applies to anything and everything. If you are charging admission, its a show, therefore you have to pay for rights, profit or not. Any public performance of any song anywhere with few exceptions require the purchase of rights to perform that work. Most venues have this fee built in, however, one off shows usually do not and have to buy rights. "Shout to the Lord" don't write itself.

http://www.ascap.com/licensing/general/generallicensing.aspx


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## shiben (Oct 19, 2011)

sccrthlt said:


> Thanks for all of the information! For the performance rights, doesn't that only apply to events that make a profit? Also none of this is going to happen unless I devise a plan to fund it all. The scale of it will depend on how much money we can possibly get. Very informative feedback though. Thanks!


 
How big is your church? The one my parents go to has about 2000 members, and they have legal and other staff specifically for getting this kind of permit work done properly. Your church probably does too, if its decently sized. Possibly talk to them about before going much further. The reality is, your church probably has a PR group and lawyers, so they might have something to say. As for licensing songs, you might be able to get artists to let you use them, or they might be public domain. Legal can again help address this.

There is a good point about the food, I know for my parents church's events they have had catering people and local businesses provide food for free/reduced price so that you can sell it for charity reasons. Also at that point, you need to have food because 500 people in a field want to eat.

As for brought to you by a church on a banner, that *probably* wont bring too huge of a problem IN MY EXPERIENCE because the US tends to have a lot of people of faith and supporting faith based groups is not seen as a bad thing for most businesses. Often times if the charities being supported are fairly generally accepted, lots of people like working together to make things happen. A praise concert will probably be your biggest issue in this situation, with certain groups not really wanting too much religious association. Just a fact of the situation.

For traffic control and security, you probably have cops that go to your church, so they can probably assist in that regard. I know one church in Grand Rapids advertised for ex-military to serve in this function as well (which I thought was an interesting skill set requested for traffic control people...), and any church has ushers of some stripe, so manpower can be added with them as well. 

For what its worth, events like this are done all the time. Summer VBS programs, Summer Attendance Boosters and the like regularly do this kind of work, so it is something you can do. In fact, a bigger church will have people specifically to plan this sort of events. If one of your churches is a big one, their people will probably be a big help. I think the key to make this kind of event good and profitable (in terms of whatever kind of "profit" you want to get out of it, in this case to giving to charity groups) is to make sure it doesnt look too much like a "church event" sort of thing. No one wants to really pay money and donate more money when the event has 4 speakers on sticks and you cant hear, a bunch of not-so-great praise bands with old songs and people who cant sing, and generally low production value. On the same token, you dont want to be too ostentatious, and have a stage with a big roof and tons of MLs, as that kind of makes it less "worshipy" if you will. Also since your liable to be slinging around a not insignificant amount of money (1200 bucks is not buying you much in the way of staging, truss and lighting, by the way) so there will doubtless need to be a committee to oversee the money and spending. Again, this is not really a problem so much as something to think about. Its done a lot, but you just need to make sure you have your bases covered or you might get in a pile of trouble.


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## WorldwidelLaserLightShow (Oct 19, 2011)

What an interesting topic !! Church bands .............




sccrthlt said:


> I am organizing a christian concert festival that is going to involve many church's praise bands in my area. This is unique to my area seeing there is nothing of the kind and I feel like there will be a lot of support for it.
> 
> It's taking place during the summer of 2012, at a church owned park in a good sized field. Since the property only allows nonprofit organizations all the proceeds will go to charity. We have a basic sound system that includes 4 mackie SRM450's, 32 channel sound board, and all of the necessary cable to get by. We would like to make this an all day event, going into the night, so lighting is required. This requires truss, fixtures, light board, dimmers, lighting tech, sound tech, etc.
> 
> ...


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## museav (Oct 21, 2011)

shiben said:


> As for brought to you by a church on a banner, that *probably* wont bring too huge of a problem IN MY EXPERIENCE because the US tends to have a lot of people of faith and supporting faith based groups is not seen as a bad thing for most businesses. Often times if the charities being supported are fairly generally accepted, lots of people like working together to make things happen. A praise concert will probably be your biggest issue in this situation, with certain groups not really wanting too much religious association. Just a fact of the situation.


My concern was more from a purely return on investment perspective. Would having your church's name is on any promotional material, a big banner at the entry, etc. potentially deter other churches from contributing? Would the First National Bank be more willing to participate if they know the Second National Bank won't have a banner right next to theirs?

However, the reality is that the audience for such an event may not represent a significant potential customer base for many businesses so their contributions may be more related to supporting, or being seen as supporting, the cause. That's why knowing what the cause is would seem to be critical. You probably want to avoid being infamous as a result of ending up with a 'MADD Benefit sponsored by Al's Liquors' or 'Help the Homeless sponsored by Acme Mortgage'.


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## shiben (Oct 21, 2011)

museav said:


> My concern was more from a purely return on investment perspective. Would having your church's name is on any promotional material, a big banner at the entry, etc. potentially deter other churches from contributing? Would the First National Bank be more willing to participate if they know the Second National Bank won't have a banner right next to theirs?
> 
> However, the reality is that the audience for such an event may not represent a significant potential customer base for many businesses so their contributions may be more related to supporting, or being seen as supporting, the cause. That's why knowing what the cause is would seem to be critical. You probably want to avoid being infamous as a result of ending up with a 'MADD Benefit sponsored by Al's Liquors' or 'Help the Homeless sponsored by Acme Mortgage'.


 
Exactly. Churches seem to like seeming like they work together, so I doubt that as long as they all got equal air time per percent buy in, that wouldnt be an issue. The businesses that are local would be, as you say, wanting to be seen to support the cause, so thats my guess on how that would go...


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## gafftaper (Oct 22, 2011)

I would seriously think about renting a fair grounds grandstand, a big rental theater, a convention center, a college theater, a mega church, or some other venue that is setup for this sort of gig. It's pretty common for events like this to happen places like that. Your headaches with security, bathrooms, parking, etc... will all be solved by using a venue that is prepared for it. I know this sounds expensive but it isn't always that bad depending on what sort of gear comes with it. For example there's a beautiful 700 seat theater a few miles from me. For around $1500 you could host your event and have the equipment and house crew to run it included in the cost. 

As was mentioned I would not count on 4 SRM 450's putting out enough sound for a paid admission outdoor concert of 500 people. It might be fine for a 100 sitting close but that bass disperses rapidly outdoors. People in the back are going to be a little annoyed at being that far away. 

Also have you considered the bands themselves? If the bands are big names they will cost you a lot to get them there. If they are small they will not draw an audience. A common strategy is to get one major name and then pad them with lots of smaller local talent as opening acts. 

Van, Jesus Northwest hasn't happened for quite a while. I think it morphed/merged with some other groups into Creation which was at The Gorge for a while and is now at the Enumclaw fairgrounds. Try contacting the Christian Festival Association for advice. I don't know where you live, but these things happen all over the country. Try hooking up with a promoter of a festival near you and asking for help. 

I don't see how sponsors and people selling stuff at your event prevents you from doing it. The vendor pays you for the privilege to have a table. That money goes to charity. It's still part of the fund raiser.

What's a Christian event without a preacher? Is there a mega church in your area who might be willing to become a sponsor, get their name on the publicity and have their preacher host the event? It's great publicity for them and it gets you some bucks. Or you could possibly get a Christian Radio station to sponsor you and have a DJ host. 

Concluding thoughts. These sorts of events don't just happen. Even in a Christian environment, they still take a lot of work and a lot of money to do them well. If you do them wrong you will have 500 angry people on your hands. Sanctified or not, you don't want people angry with you about the quality of your first event. I suggest you back off a bit and start out slow. Book a cheap small theater somewhere and plan a small event for 200-300 people. Use local bands, go all over town and contact all the church youth groups in town and have them all get together for a fun party. Keep it small, cheap, lower expectations, and most of all *learn*. Then 6 months later do something a little bigger. Before long you'll be doing a three day festival at the fairgrounds with thousands of people camping in the parking lot. You'll be successful and you'll grow because you learned every step along the way.


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## shiben (Oct 22, 2011)

gafftaper said:


> I would seriously think about renting a fair grounds grandstand, a big rental theater, a convention center, a college theater, a mega church, or some other venue that is setup for this sort of gig. It's pretty common for events like this to happen places like that. Your headaches with security, bathrooms, parking, etc... will all be solved by using a venue that is prepared for it. I know this sounds expensive but it isn't always that bad depending on what sort of gear comes with it. For example there's a beautiful 700 seat theater a few miles from me. For around $1500 you could host your event and have the equipment and house crew to run it included in the cost.
> 
> As was mentioned I would not count on 4 SRM 450's putting out enough sound for a paid admission outdoor concert of 500 people. It might be fine for a 100 sitting close but that bass disperses rapidly outdoors. People in the back are going to be a little annoyed at being that far away.
> 
> ...


 
I got the idea it was more of a worship fest than a Christian music festival, in which case bands getting paid isnt a problem, you just need to find enough praise bands to put themselves out there. I agree though that you will want at least one big name there to get people to want to come. Also, a preacher is a great idea. Some people (I know a lot of them) will go to just about anything their pastor goes to preach at in the local area... One would think this is not exactly what one would want in a pastor-parishoner relationship but it still happens, and getting a bigger pastor could play into that. One thing I would have to say is you need to market this like a regular concert or event, you cant just count on "oh its churchy stuff" to come in there and get you support. It tends to happen a lot with churches and their events that the planning needs to be just as intense, the management needs to be just as professional, and the PR/Marketing needs to be spot on to actually pull money in. Your doing it to make money in the end. Your not pulling a profit, but its still an event to make money for someone, so you have to kind of consider it like that. Good luck!


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## FACTplayers (Oct 22, 2011)

I haven't read over all of the responses, but why not model after one of the most successful christian music festivals of all time, Lifest? LIFEST 2012

Also, If you are going to make this an annual event, I don't see a problem with eating up a majority of the profits the first year to buy equipment. The next year you put this one you will have very low overhead costs and hopefully will attract more people. 

If you are okay with the above response, then you don't need to bother with the controversy of which church is supporting more than the next. This could becoming pretty tricky and actually end up hurting the festival in the long run. Say a larger church (more money) wants to hog the spotlight (not very christian, but it happens); that church could then essentially get rid of smaller churches. 

I'd say the best advice is to just get the show up and running for the first year. See how the festival goes, and try to improve it for next year. The less drama you can get away with the better.


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## shiben (Oct 23, 2011)

FACTplayers said:


> (not very christian, but it happens); that church could then essentially get rid of smaller churches.


 
Churches do this more than they do everything else. Gotta remember a church exists at least in part (or mostly, depending on how cynical you are) to bring in money, and the more people there the more money they can spend on whatever it is churches spend their humongus budgets on...


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## Les (Oct 23, 2011)

shiben said:


> the more money they can spend on whatever it is churches spend their humongus budgets on...



Kind of a generalization, but I see your point.

The church _should_ be spending most of their money on charitable ventures. More people = more money= more giving. My church drills water wells and builds schools and food factories in Mumbai, India. I hope that most churches spend their money on similar things, but unfortunately that may not be the case (though multi-million dollar churches probably amount to a small percentage of religious institutions so I still have hope). 

Nice things attract more people which hopefully means helping more families both locally and around the world. Yes, bills need to get paid and staff is on payroll, but hopefully most institutions budget their money well enough that this is only a small percent of their offering. My pastor does not live in a mansion and we have 3 campuses, tons of multimedia, etc. They are huge advocates of Dave Ramsey (had him guest speak a few times) and have applied his financial strategies to their accounting practices (all their buildings are now paid off, freeing up finances for -- more giving). 

Sorry for the derailment. As for the thread, I'd rent my way through the first event or get by with what you have. See how this one goes. If you see a demand, see if you can get the staff to budget for equipment either from the operating budget, or the money set aside for next year's event. I wouldn't buy anything yet, just in case you guys decide that this one wasn't worth the trouble when it's all said and done.


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## milemarker68 (Oct 23, 2011)

I am curious as to what your target audience is: youth, young adults, families, outreach oriented, etc. I would suggest looking beyond the church for support and see if there are programs in your area like campus crusades, young life, ywam, etc. that would come along side you and support this ministry. 

In regards to charity donations from the profit, consider thinking beyond the financial donation aspect and toward possible tangible donations. You could do a battle of the bands type deal, where supporters bring in items and donate them on behalf of their favorite band and the band with the most donations wins a "trophy" and the items (such as food, baby clothes, diapers, toys, etc) get donated to the charity that you're teamed up with.

In regards to advertising, connect with youth pastors/young adult pastors who attend camps/retreats that can spread the information to wider population than your local area. If worship bands are playing at the camps/retreats encourage them to invite the campers and camp staff for a "follow-up" gathering or as a kick-off to camp. 

In my years of service in ministry, people will support a project with a very clear vision and a tangible way in which they can be part of the experience. Good luck! 

Ty


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## museav (Oct 23, 2011)

Footer said:


> No. It applies to anything and everything. If you are charging admission, its a show, therefore you have to pay for rights, profit or not. Any public performance of any song anywhere with few exceptions require the purchase of rights to perform that work. Most venues have this fee built in, however, one off shows usually do not and have to buy rights. "Shout to the Lord" don't write itself.


Two aspects to be sure to take from this. One is that 'profit' is not the issue, benefit and damages are and the benefits do not have to be direct financial benefits. Somebody, be it the churches and/or the charities, would be receiving benefit from the music performance and as a result the creators of the music being used to derive those benefits are entitled to compensation. Related to this, the religious use exemption is US Copyright law applies only to music performed as part of worship services and based on your description of the event you would likely have a difficult time getting it considered as a worship service. You could contact the rightsholders and if they support the causes represented then some of them may be willing to grant performance rights for no cost, but one way or the other you legally need to obtain rights or permission.

The other aspect is that while it is common for performance venues to obtain blanket performance rights, anyone involved is potentially at some risk for any rights infringement that might occur so it is in your best interest to verify that rights are addressed rather than to assume so.


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