Free Charity and Fundraiser Broadway and TV Show Tickets
How to get free Charity and Fundraiser Tickets
 One of the more popular fundraising ideas for charity and other non-profit entities is to request free Broadway and free TV Show tickets from Broadway theaters and TV studios and raffle them off to raise funds for their cause. This is a noble gesture, but one that often bears little fruit.
The problem is that there are too many worthy charities, too many pleading letters, and just too much competition between the charities for these lucrative, but elusive freebies.
Fundraiser and Charity Tickets For TV Shows
Giving away tickets to a charity is difficult for purely practical reasons. TV show productions in New York City are run on such low budgets that they don't even print tickets anymore, so there aren't any physical tickets to offer. TV shows also don't like to hear that someone actually paid to get into a taping (even in a raffle), when it is a standard policy for TV show tapings to be free of charge. In lieu of issuing tickets, the system that the audience coordinators at the TV shows use is to write someone's name down on a list and then check their ID at the door, so when it comes to a raffle, unless the person who requested the tickets has the same name as the winner, trouble will ensue.
TV shows also aren't very good at giving people concrete dates for when they can actually come to a taping because most of them don't fix their booking until just a few weeks in advance. Furthermore, the TV shows in New York City have discovered that any tickets they give to charities have only a 20% chance of actually being used, which is much worse than a random giveaway chance, which is at 50%. Since it is vital that the studio be filled up for each show -- so that the audience at home can see and hear an enthusiastic crowd -- that means the TV shows are less inclined to hand out charity tickets that most likely won't be used and created extra work for them, when they are looking to do less administration.
Fundraiser and Charity Tickets For Broadway Shows
Giving tickets away to charity can be financially difficult. Broadway show tickets are very expensive to run and the strike of 2007 cut deep into the the Broadway producers' coffers. With the high cost of running a Broadway show, they can't easily afford to hand out free tickets. Broadway has already aligned itself with a handful of charities, most notably Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS (BC/EFA), and it simply can't accommodate the multitudes of other charities out there which are requesting donations for their causes. Frankly, given how few Broadway shows manage to attain that coveted smash-hit status, you could say that most Broadway shows are themselves charity cases. Ironically, the Broadway hits that could actually afford to give away tickets are sold out so far in advance that there are scarcely any tickets available to give away.
What's The Solution for Fundraisers?
Part of the problem is a lack of creativity and thought on the part of the fundraisers themselves. Seldom does a charity take the time to think through better solutions than just "Ask everyone we can for free stuff." A more successful approach that some charities have adopted is to actually buy Broadway tickets and then auction them off for a higher net amount, thus creating a profit for the charity. Most fundraisers will find that, in the long run, coming up with creative ideas, using personal contacts (who will be much more likely to take your plea to heart than a stranger receiving a "To Whom It May Concern" letter), and, in some cases, a willingness to spend money in order to make money, will yield better results than just blanketing the Broadway producers and TV shows of New York City with generic requests for free tickets. |
