Fine Arts Show Fundraiser -- Fundraising ideas and proven fundraisers FREE for nonprofits.

Fine Arts Show

Everybody loves art to some degree.

Even small communities have artists

of one form or another. Sometimes

crafts can count as art, but try limiting

your art show to the fine arts oil or

acrylic paintings, watercolor paintings, pen and ink, charcoal drawings, clay or bronze sculptures, stone or wood busts, or even computer generated. Have a category for each.

Gathering Basic Information

First, gather some information within your association, club, or group. Ask your most dedicated members to give you suggestions on their favorite art medium. Ask them other general questions:

Would they enthusiastically support an art show?

Have they created their own works of art? If so, then would they mind displaying their work?

Have they ever been an art judge? Would they consider serving as a judge?

Do they have friends that are artists either professional or amateur.

Do they know business owners that are art enthusiasts and might consider sponsoring an art show?

Think of other questions and call or write them for their responses. Ask them to suggest a date and location for such an event. Mention that you do not want your function to coincide with events like garden shows, dog shows, music festival, museum art exhibit or other type of function that will typically draw from the same groups of people.

College Talent

Contact the nearest college art department and high school art clubs and classes and ask for their participation. Ask the art professors, teachers, and graduate assistants to act as judges. Make sure your judges ask their classes, parents, and friends to attend. Give them flyers later on to distribute.

Ask art students to submit their works of art by a certain deadline. Make sure that they are sold on the worthiness of why you are fundraising and who it will benefit. Also, ask local professional artists to participate.

Starving Artists

Sometimes a local community may have a "starving artists" club or association. Invite these individuals and ask them to sell their art where they will "donate 30% or more of the sale to your group. Many unknown professional artists will welcome the chance to exhibit their works. Ask art dealers to encourage their contacts or resident artists to participate.

Here is one company, Haocheng Oil Painting Factory, as seen on the web that paints artwork reproductions for a small price in US Dollars even though they are based in China.

Involve Art Supply Businesses

Ask some of the Art supply stores

to come and set up booths to sell

art supplies and donating the

difference of their retail price versus

wholesale price to your group. Also,

ask those experts in matting and

framing to be in attendance to help as well.

All of these businesses and individuals will gain exposure to their work. Encourage them to hand out flyers announcing their place of business, phone and specialty areas of expertise. Suggest that they offer a special coupon that will offer your attendees 20% (or some other promotion) off of their regular prices during a certain two week period.

Don't be stingy about allowing others to identify new potential customers or sell their items at a discount or donating some of their proceeds. The more happy you make your artists and suppliers, the more they will promote your event to their customers and will make it a point to attend year after year.

Marketing Your Sale

Host your event at the local mall, civic center, library, flea market, or college where you will expect a large crowd. Saturday or Sunday afternoons will be the best times for a Fine Art Show.

Ask some local TV or radio personalities to attend and conduct an art auction at specified times during the afternoon. Make sure your PA system is loud enough to generate curiosity.

Pricing and Appraisals

Have a wide selection of art and pricing structures to attract a broad range of individuals. See Artprice.com for the largest database of artwork in the world.

Announce in all printed material that if a supporter buys some of the art, they are not allowed a deduction from the Internal Revenue Service since they will receive something in return for their contribution. Unless of course they make an outright donation to your organization and receive nothing in return.

If the donor paid $500 for a painting worth and appraised value of $300, then a $200 donation would qualify. The key word with the IRS is "appraised value". Unless you have already appraised the works of art with an unbiased professional art appraiser, I would avoid any statement that would cause more grief to your group than it is worth. Keep is simple and don't announce a possible qualifying donation unless the it could be worth thousands to the buyer.

For a great online Art Appraisal Request Form go to ArtBusiness.com . They also have some great reference books, links, and articles for artists.

Conduct A Private Viewing

For the most expensive art, conduct a private viewing at a specified time during your larger event. Make the showing in an adjacent room, business location or space. Send invitations to your community's most prominent individuals and your most influential patrons sent out in advance for this special showing.

Note this special invitation should be limited to the top 100 or 50 for a smaller community. Let your invitee know that they are considered among the few suggested to attend this priviledged showing.

Mention that some light snacks will be served. If your organization does not provide alcoholic beverages, then mention that it will be a non-alcoholic gathering. Try a "Coffee" Bar and provide flavored coffees.

Make sure that you spend some money on the invitation and that it is of good paper quality. Ask for a RSVP, but state you will be calling to confirm their possible attendance.

All in all, be sure to include media coverage and provide for accepting charge cards (ask one of the suppliers to help process these if you don't have a credit card processing system).

At the end, spend some extra time thanking judges, suppliers, students, teachers, and local artists for their participation. Ask them to mark their calendars for next year at about the same time. Finally, make sure that you have contact information from visitors (have a booth with a signup for your groups newsletter), artists, volunteers, and buyers.