Clean comedian Shaun Eli is great for your fundraising event

To find a comedian for a charity fundraiser, you should be looking for clean comedians who are experienced at performing for non-profit organizations, for example someone like Shaun Eli.

It is absolutely appropriate to have a comedian perform at a benefit. Laughing is probably exactly what your attendees need. Shaun Eli's guide How to Hire a Comedian can help you plan and structure your event.

A comedy night is a great, fun fundraising event for a PTA/PTO, youth sports leagues and other community groups. Who doesn't like to laugh?

I don't know about icebreaker, because that's different from what I do, but having a comedian perform at a non-profit gala is a great entertainment idea.

The cost of hiring a comedian for a charity event depends on where, when, for whom, and how many. Your best bet is to ask. You can probably find people to work for free, but in this case you will get what you pay for. Comedians make their living from performing. The person who mops the floor in your office gets paid. The electrician who fixes your wiring gets paid. The comedian performing at your gala does that for a living and should also be paid.

Whether hiring a comedian is worth it for a small fundraiser depends on your budget. Keep in mind what you're spending on food. Nobody's there for the food. They might show up because you're having a comedian. If you expect 100 or more attendees we should easily be able to make this work for you.

You can put on a comedy show almost anywhere people can sit down in a private space. A banquet hall or other event space, of course, a hotel conference room, a school auditorium, a local theatre or performing arts center, a community center, the back room of a restaurant or bar (as long as it's completely closed off, not just separated by room dividers), and don't forget about a local comedy club (just keep in mind that most of their business is Friday and Saturday nights, so they may drive a hard bargain on those nights. A Thursday or Sunday may be better).

I say that the secret to comedy is 100 people in a room that holds 70, so you don't need, or want, a bigger space than all your people can fit in.

If your show is within driving distance of me, I can bring a sound system. Otherwise you'll need to provide one. I can give guidance for renting or buying, or if you know musicians they may have something suitable you can borrow.

A stage and stage lighting are nice to have but they're not necessary. And we can talk about seating and room arrangements a few days before your event.

I suggest charging as much as you think you can charge for tickets to a comedy fundraiser. My thought is that attendees are less price-sensitive than most people think, when you consider what live entertainment costs (concerts, theatre tickets, etc.), and that the cost of tickets is often less than a meal out. If you double the price do you think you'd lose half the audience? If you're thinking $35, why not $50? People will know that the money's going to a cause that they support. You can offer discounts for seniors or those less fortunate, and have premium-priced tickets that include a meet-and-greet after the show.

Local businesses should want to sponsor your organization's comedy night! You can offer them free tickets and premium seats to the event, and of course they get all the promotional benefits of being a sponsor. If they cover the cost of the event then you can say that 100% of the proceeds go directly to the organization.

I majored in marketing and I've been doing this for over twenty years so I have a lot of ideas on how to sell tickets. Selling tickets to a comedy show differs from promoting music, and there are a few techniques that I can share with you to help sell tickets, and I'll give you the promotional materials you'll need. Mentioning that it's a clean show should help, because then business people can bring their customers to a fun event.

Of course having your major donors and board members buying tables and promoting the show will help.

Most comedians do offer lower rates for non-profits, compared to their corporate rate. Shaun Eli's charity rate is much below his corporate rate.

To ensure that a comedian won't offend anyone at your event, you should absolutely discuss it with them before you hire them. A comedian like Shaun Eli specifically mentions this as something you need to think about when planning your event, not five minutes before the comedian takes the stage.

They should be able to. I've lost a close relative to cancer, I'm a frequent contributor to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, and I'm sensitive to not offending people. I'm Shaun Eli, and I'm happy to answer your questions.

To brief a comedian on a sensitive topic before a fundraiser, make sure to discuss it with them. Tell them all your concerns, and ask them what questions they have. Asking what questions they have, rather than asking IF they have any questions, is more likely to have them volunteer what concerns they might have.

How long a comedian performs at a charity event depends on the event and the comedian or mix of comedians. A solo comedian? Maybe 45 minutes (I can go longer). If the comedy is the main event of the gala then consider having 2-3 comedians, and a 90 minute show. The Ivy League of Comedy is a great company to use to produce your comedy event- it's a turn-key operation that takes care of everything comedy for you. They will put together a great line-up of comedians with a variety of styles, topics and energy, so the show will flow beautifully.

Yes, I'm very experienced at virtual shows, and quite good at it. At the beginning of the pandemic, virtual shows were tough. The new format and time delay took some getting used to. I figured out exactly how to make the new medium work in my favor, so virtual shows became among my favorites. The benefits of being able to see each audience member and have them all see and hear each other created a more ideal situation for a comedy show.

And of course virtual shows are much less expensive for you, because there's no travel involved.

I will still put on a nice shirt.

A comedian can probably also host your auction or fundraiser program, but it depends on the comedian. I can. Some comics don't want to, and frankly some may not be particularly good at it. Shaun is a good event host, and while he is not a trained auctioneer, he has done a more than decent job when he's been asked to auction items at an event.

Fitting a comedian into an event with speeches and an auction takes some planning. There are a few issues here. The speeches may (sorry) bore people, so the comedian may want a short break before the performance. Or, after a comedy performance, the speeches may seem especially boring. And whether to have it before or after the auction? If you need people present for the auction, and you think they might leave after the performance, you'll have to take that into consideration. Discuss this with the comedian in advance.

Ask every single question that concerns you. Ask if they're clean. Then ask them what clean means. Ask if they understand what the event is for, and what might offend attendees. I wrote a long piece about how to hire a comedian.

I'm Shaun Eli, I'm experienced at performing for non-profit fundraising events, and I have colleagues I can bring who are also similarly-experienced. If I'm not available I can recommend some hilarious colleagues.