PEPS Luncheon Table Captain E-News
14th Annual
PEPS Benefit Luncheon
Tuesday, March 6, 2012
Seattle Center Fisher Pavilion
Dates to remember!
- Feb 1 Your guest list is due
- Mar 4 Last day to add new guests online
- Mar 4 Last day to substitute new guests for any registered ones who have canceled by emailing PEPS at luncheon@peps.org.
Helpful links and tools!
- Link for table captains to register their guests - at this point our online registration is closed. Please email luncheon@peps.org with your changes.
- Guest invitation, regrets gift, reminder sample text templates
- Table captain information sheet
- List of Luncheon Table Captains and Event Sponsors
- Event Childcare FAQ
- Online Event Childcare Registration
- Luncheon event website
- Ideas for Luncheon Party Favors
Newsletter Content
Luncheon Challenge - and other ideas to encourage stretch gifts
Create your own 'virtual table' campaign!
PEPS Luncheon Challenge…
Our Luncheon Challenge is a great way to encourage our guests to stretch their giving and think BIG! This year we have 2 challenges for our Luncheon guests:
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Every gift of $300 or more made at the Luncheon will be matched up to a total of $18,000 by some generous Luncheon Challenge Donors.
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The PEPS Board has raised $10,000 and will match each Sustainer Circle membership made at the Luncheon with $1,000. Sustainer Circle Members pledge $1,000 per year for 3 years.
Please note and communicate to your guests, that gifts made at the Luncheon can be paid in monthly, quarterly and semi-annually installments.
In addition to explaining to your guests how the Luncheon Challenge works, you might consider some of the following ideas to encourage your guests to give generously:
- Set a fundraising goal for your table and inform your guests of your goal (just FYI: our overall goal is to raise $125,000 for PEPS’ critical services);
- Remind your guests of the value that PEPS has brought to their lives (how about a donation of $5 for every time their PEPS Group met last year/since they’ve started?);
- If you are up for the Luncheon Challenge, tell your guests that if they give at the Luncheon Challenge Level, you will too OR you will match their Challenge contribution (a double match!).
- Remind your guests that a pledge of $300 can be made in monthly payments of $25/month; and/or
- Remind your guests that some of the companies that they work for – Microsoft, Starbucks and many others – may also match their donations and that they should bring their matching gift forms to the Luncheon.
- Explain to your guests how their generous gift will help PEPS: provide scholarships for parents to attend our Newborn, Second Time Around, Little Peppers or Baby Peppers Groups; recruit and train our fabulous group leaders; develop new programming for parents such as our new group for dads who are the primary care takers and our PEPS Workplace Groups; support parents beyond their group sessions with the PEPS lecture series; provide referrals to community resources for parents who need extra support.
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Guest Reminders
Let's be honest- we've all blown it once or twice and pulled a no-show for something- oops! PEPS has sent all registered guests an e-reminder including parking info and will send one more on March 1 and March 5.
But it is always helpful to be reminded from various places and you do have the relationship! Click here for a sample email reminder. Some Table Captains use the email reminder to virtually “introduce” their guests to each other so that everybody knows who to expect and to look forward to. In addition, we encourage you to call your guests one or two days before the Luncheon.
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Party Favors
Although not required, some table captains choose to give their guests a little party favor at the Luncheon. We have been asked to put together a list of ideas for such favors and have gathered some pictures from previous year luncheons on a special webpage for you. Take a look here and get inspired!
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Regrets Gifts:
What to say when your guests say 'thanks, but no thanks'?
Just because your guests can’t join you at the Luncheon, doesn't mean that they can't or don't want to support PEPS or you in reaching your table goal! But people need to be reminded.
On our Tools for Table Captains Webpage you will find a template invitation for regrets gifts that you can tailor and use.
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Create your own 'virtual table' campaign!
In fact, you could create your own virtual giving campaign inviting all the people you know, but who you haven't invited to the Luncheon, to support PEPS with a donation.
Set a 'virtual table' goal and ask your friends to help you get there. You could pick out a few prizes to give away if you reach certain milestones (like the $99, $150, $555 milestone!).
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Persistency pays off!
Most likely most of the guests you are inviting, are parents of younger children and it is probably not their priority to respond to your email right away. While that might be disappointing, it is understandable and we advise you to NOT take that personal. Gently send them another reminder or give them another call/ leave a message. It is our experience that it can take a while until people respond. But it is also our experience that gentle persistency pays off in the end.
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How to register your guests?
Even though there is no advance ticket purchase, pre-registration of guests IS REQUIRED and table captains are responsible to register their guests. As guests RSVP with you, please register them online. All guest registrations are due on February 1, 2012.
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Click here to access our online registration form.
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Fill out each info field and submit form for EACH guest. Don't forget to include your name in the provided field 'Table Captain Name'.
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You can only add one guest at a time and you will not be able to see the entire list of your registered guests after you submit a registration. That's why we recommend that you keep your own tracking sheet on your computer or fridge, tracking who you've registered and when
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PEPS will email your guestlist to you 2 weeks and a few days prior to the Luncheon to make sure we have everything right.
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You can only add/register guests using this online link. If you need to remove a guest from your table, please email luncheon@peps.org with the name of that guest.
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You can continue to add new guests to your table up to March 4 online.
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Substitute Guests. You may substitute guests for those who cancel any time up to the day before the event. Please register these guests online through March 4, and email us any guest cancellations to luncheon@peps.org.
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Please email luncheon@peps.org with any questions.
VERY important note: Even if you have registered all your guests by February 1 and you have reached your guest goal, don’t stop inviting and recruiting more guests! There always will be last minute changes and one or more of your guests have sick children or other things come up. And if your guests should be a reliable bunch, we always can upgrade your table to a full, one and a half or even two tables. So never stop spreading the word about the Luncheon!
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Event Childcare
A Nanny For U and Seattle Children’s Theatre are generously providing child care staffing, activities and space for the children of our 2012 PEPS Benefit Luncheon guests, ages 6 months - 5 years. Thanks to their generosity, the event childcare is FREE!
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Please let your guests know that every guest is responsible to register their own child(ren) for the event childcare with A Nanny for U.
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Click here for the online event childcare registration link
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Click here for our childcare FAQ's
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Who to invite?
Put together a list of people, you’d like to invite and think about their giving capacity since the PEPS Luncheon is ultimately a fundraising event.
Think of all your circles -- your (former) PEPS Group; your family; your neighbors; your co-workers; your clients; members of your professional association; your dentist, doctor, your children’s dentist and doctor, members of your neighborhood parenting group or pre-school co-op/ daycare.
- TIP: If you were in a PEPS Group, but have lost touch with one or more members, we can provide contact information to help you reconnect – a great way to build your table! Contact luncheon@peps.org for help.
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When and How to invite?
NOW is the time to start sending out invitations and making connections, as your guest list is due on February 1.
Feel free to use any media you feel comfortable with to invite your table guests. Some Table Hosts send out emails, do phone calls or even use Facebook. Obviously a combination of these would work great! Some Table Hosts send out an E-vite - super easy, saves time and can be pretty cute. It takes just minutes to create your own invitation at www.evite.com. Or how about the good old handwritten ‘New Year Card’? It’s not too late for that one!
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What to say in the invitation?
Whether you're recruiting 4 guests or 9, PEPS wants the process to be as easy as possible for you. That's why we have put together some sample text, that you might copy, paste and tailor as you see fit. Please click here to get to the tools page on our website where you can find three invitation text samples.
