We are excited to be launching a new series where we interview various nonprofit organization to get insight into how they have created their most successful fundraisers! While we will do our best to interview only animal organizations, we may reach outside the community if we find an event that we think is awesome and want to bring that inspiration to our animal loving community!

So, first let’s give a BIG thank you to Bully Rescue Warriors for being the first in our interview line-up!

Why we love this case study: Bully Rescue Warriors is a new rescue – just started in the Spring of 2017. They are located in NJ and have made things happen pretty quickly making them a great case study for any group size! They are showing that no matter the length of time or size of rescue – an event fundraiser can be successful!

Event Name: Rescues Rock the Runway
Event Location: Wharton, NJ
Event Date: November 4, 2017

Interview was done with the President of the organization, Krystina Palumbo!

What was the inspiration for this event? How did your group come up with the name and concept?

Bully Rescue Warriors Vice President, Robin Hall attended the Mr. Bones & Company runway event in NYC and thought wow what a great event to bring to the suburbs and feature some of the amazing bullies available for adoption by showcasing them strutting down the runway.  Being a small rescue, exposure for our dogs is crucial so we decided to extend the invite to other small rescues that we continually network with.

What are the names, affiliations and titles of the people who helped put this event together?

Krystina Palumbo – President
Robin Hall – Vice President
Lisa Daniolowicz – Treasurer
Anna Hance – Foster Mom
++++++plus all of our donors.

Can you briefly describe the event – entertainment type, food etc.

• The event was catered by Hot Rods BBQ located in Wharton.
• Our runway was constructed, painted and stenciled by Melero Construction.
• The centerpieces were created by Gloria Sullivan.
• The desserts were donated by Lisa Albrecht.
• The main event included 11 dogs from 5 rescues which included Bully Rescue Warriors, Brick City Rescue Inc., Emerald City Rescue Inc., Forgotten Tails Inc. and The Last Resort Rescue.
• The music was provided and donated by Craig Stevens of Tunes Entertainment.
• WHDA’s Terrie Carr and staff introduced each of the dogs with a brief biography as they walked back and fourth strutting their stuff for the crowd which surrounded the runway.
• Joe Frazz donated his time to photographing and capturing all the amazing moments of our event.

Your invitation was awesome – who designed it?

One of our amazing volunteers, Kathy Aji put together our invite.

What kind of social marketing was done?

We created a Facebook Event Invite on our Rescue page and shared it weekly!

When did your planning for this event start?

The planning for this event began in July prior to our launch party.

Would you be willing to share the amount of donations this event raised?

The event consisted of a Tricky Tray that raised $1790 and a 50/50 which raised $453.

After all expenses were paid (Venue, Catering, Paper Products & Table Cloths), we raised $2,333.54 from Ticket Sales.

We also sold $1180 in Bully Rescue Warriors Merchandise.

How will these funds be used?

Funds will be used to care for the dogs that we take into our rescue.

If you could do one thing differently for this event what would it be?

The event was better than we all could have anticipated.  The attendees expressed how much they enjoyed the evening and how smoothly everything ran.  For next year I think its quite obvious we may need to scope up a bigger venue, which would only mean MORE bullies.  Bring it on!

Can you name one challenge that happened during your planning which served as a learning experience?

Identifying the dogs that would actually attend was a moving target – but we wouldn’t call that a challenge, we were over the moon to remove some of them from the line up as that meant they were adopted and no longer available.

We were adding dogs up until minutes before the show started.  Like Bruce the bulldog who was rescued by Forgotten Tails Inc, earlier that day.  He was left in a PetSmart Parking lot.  I received a phone call from Tom & Eileen who run the rescue asking if they could bring the bully to the runway.  My reply was HECK YEA.

There will always be a need for amazing bully homes so why not have an event like the runway to better expose them to potential adopters.

Can you offer any advice or tips for other organizations looking to do a similar type event?

Be organized and give yourself plenty of time to properly plan the event.  Any specific questions anyone may have, feel free to reach out to us!

Were your goals for the event met?

Absolutely, our goals were far exceeded.

Will you be holding this event again?

Have a question for Bully Rescue Warriors?

If you have a question about this event – leave a comment and either they will respond or we will make sure we get the answer for you!

Do you have an exciting event fundraiser you want to share?

Send an email to us at [email protected] with a few details and we will be in touch!