Using a murder mystery party as a fundraiser

by jackie
(flin flon manitoba canada)

Would it be possible to do a murder mystery as a community fundraiser?

My response:

Goodness yes!

I've written an article on that topic - click here to read Fund raiser ideas.

Setting up an appropriate mystery

by Luke

I'm looking at possible fund raising ideas for our local charity and thought that perhaps a Murder Mystery event would be a lot of fun. I've never done one before and really have very little idea about the various types and ways they can work.

What I'm wondering is how much effort it is to make one from scratch and where I might find the best information on doing so, or whether it would be a whole lot easier to simply purchase one. I guess ideally we would be looking at 20 plus guests, hopefully a whole load more, and I would like something fairly challenging for an adult audience. I don't think too many people would be up for so much 'acting' as such but I do have a few people in mind who would love that aspect. Can I have a plot/theme where the majority of the guests simply have to solve the case, and a small crew in amongst them as 'actors' for the mystery?

I'd like to do it myself as it's a potential fund raising event, spending out on an organiser may contradict that point, if indeed I could find one.

We're based in a Scottish country mansion type location if that helps with any potential advice you may have. Indeed any advice at all would be utterly fabulous!

My response:

It's far, far easier just to buy a game than to write one yourself. Writing can take many, many hours - and even then you may find that you've missed something. The games for sale have been tested before going on sale.

The kind of game you suggest is the kind of game that Mysteries on the Net do - click here for more information.

And here I've written a number of general tips for hosting murder mystery games.

Charity Event

I want to run a murder mystery event in Spain to raise money for a charity called the 'Lions'. This is a world wide charity and I am involved with the charter that is in Mazarron Spain.

Obviously we would like to charge for entrance to the event and so raise money for the funds of the charity, is this acceptable or not?

My response:

Whether it's acceptable or not depends entirely on the publisher. You need to contact the publisher direct of the game that you're interested in to find out if they will give you permission.

I've also written an article on running murder mystery games for charity. Click here to read Fund Raiser Ideas.

a themed night held at our village pub - charity

Are we allowed to purchase one of these games to play at our pub? We would be charging to play the game as a charity raising event.

Also would you recommend St Cakes?

My response:

Hi - I'm afraid the short answer is "it depends".

The longer answer is that the rights to the games are held by the publishers (not me!). If you want to charge admission (even for charity) then you need to get their permission directly.

Having said that, there shouldn't be any problem if you're doing it for charity - particularly if you give the publisher a bit of free publicity when you're promoting the event.

(I've written an article on using games to raise money for charity - read "Fund Raiser Ideas" here.)

As for St Cakes, unless you have a very large room or hall, I don't think I'd recommend it. You'd probably be better off with something like The Auction.

Click here to read more about The Auction.

Who might donate a Murder Mystery to my non-profit fundraiser?

by Kathy Dalton
(Davis, CA)

We are a small non-profit school and, as auction coordinator, I am looking for great things to offer at the silent and live auction.

I think a murder mystery dinner package would do fantastic. Do you know anyone who would be willing to donate such a package? For 10-15 people is about right, but smaller or larger is ok - its a donation!

I can send all the info for our nonprofit status to anyone who need its. Thank you for your help on this.

My response

You'll need to contact the individual publishers themselves for that - it's not something I can arrange.

If you are planning on running a murder mystery game for charity (ie, holding the game and charging admission which will go to your good cause), I've written some advice here.

Fundraising

by Kendra
(Canada)

I was wondering if you had any idea of how much people usually charge per person when they are hosting a party for a fundraiser?

Any advice would be great.

Fabulous site by the way. Very informative!

My response:

Thanks for the kind words about my site.

To be honest, I'm not entirely sure how much people are charging. I know that I attended a few some years ago that charged £25/head - but that included a slap-up meal (but not wine or beer) as well.

Certainly if I was going to charge that amount I would expect to feed my guests as well!

I'm sorry that's not more help - but I think the price you charge has to reflect what you're delivering and what else you are doing to raise money.

Good luck with your fundraiser!

steve