Gala checklist

Tick as you go; your progress appears in My Planner. Print it for the committee binder and give a copy to the person running sponsor fulfilment.

How to use this list

The list follows the phases of the gala planning timeline. A gala has three workstreams that move at different speeds: the revenue side (sponsors, tables, the ask and the auction), the production side (venue, food, AV, entertainment, run of show) and the people side (guests, volunteers, speakers, donors). Give each workstream an owner on the committee and let the planner own the production side. When a line has a document behind it, such as the BEO, the sponsorship contract or the lottery licence, note where it lives.

The lines most often missed on a first gala are the ones under “Revenue and compliance”. Raffles and 50/50 draws need a lottery licence and are only available to charitable or religious organizations: the municipality licenses raffles with prizes under $50,000 and the AGCO licenses larger ones. Auctions need no lottery licence. The lead gift for the paddle raise should be arranged weeks before the night, not hoped for on it. And unpaid pledges need a follow-up plan before the event so they are not left for whoever has time in December.

Two more habits help. Re-check the accessibility lines at the final walk-through, because a step-and-repeat or an auction table can block the step-free route on the night even when the floor plan was right. And treat the stewardship lines as part of the event, not an afterthought; they are what the next year’s table sales depend on, so they get owners and dates like everything else.

For the Harbour Gala, the committee used this list with three owners: the development director for revenue, the planner for production, and the gala chair for guests and volunteers. They met every two weeks from six months out and weekly from six weeks out.