Massage-related fundraiser ideas?

[Pompal 09.]

I am looking to do a fundraiser for my pet organization (the GLBT Historical Society) as the "Best of the Bay" massage therapist, and want to tie in massage somehow. In fact, I want to get tons of other MTs involved to help promote them too.

Now, welcome to San Francisco, where the draw for most fundraisers is alcohol, drag queens, porn stars, or a combo of those. One of my friends is a fundraiser organizer, and when he did an event for the gay rugby team for example, the draw was that the team did a full monty strip performance.

So when I sat down with him we came up with really good but really bad ideas like, "Massage demos on porn stars"... or even better, "Pay for a massage lesson ON a porn star". Yes, that's right, teach people about paying money to touch sexually titillating bodies. Fail.

I'm going to talk to the historical society to find out what they have in their archives that might relate. My coach suggested some kind of "My Queer Body" theme with historical materials related to how queer body image has changed over time, with body related things like living statues, a fashion show, etc.

A common thing to do is auction people off for dates. I've considered auctioning off packages: this massage therapist gives you a session, this person has dinner with you, this restaurant donates the dinner.

And of course having chair massage at the event.

I would love to have some kind of relaxation theme, but how do you make relaxation fun? LOL

Above all, an event has to be fun because it's competing with everything else someone could do with that evening.

So, any thoughts?

Goals:
1) Have fun
2) Raise money
3) Involve as many massage therapists from the community as possible

 

[chrissybabie]

What a great challenge you have here Josh! The first thing that comes to mind is the story of a friend/colleague of mine who gave a lecture and demo at a store called Condom World. lol. She's an MT and a Reflexologist and the topic was on incorporating Reflexology and massage into foreplay. Everything was very professional but fun and she drew over capacity with both a straight and gay audience. So, my "moral of the story" is that fun, sexy and massage can actually work together if planned right. :

Now, I'm not sure if this story is helpful in the least. But perhaps you can spin it into a fun theme for your event? If you went with the "body" theme perhaps your auction is for various professionals that will tell you everything you ever wanted to know about....fill in the blank. Your professionals could be fashion consultants, acupuncturists, doctors, massage therapists, life coaches, feng shui consultants, restaurant owners et cetera.

I'll keep rolling this around in my head and post back if I get some more ideas.

 

[Larry R]

Perhaps you could make use of the current run of the movie "Milk" - use the true GLBT history of a pioneering gay leader as an underlying theme for the event. In a way, you can make a connection with Milk, as his successful run for office paved the way for many openly GLBT leaders since then... and now you have been voted "Best of the Bay" - a local leader in the field of massage/bodywork, one of the shining stars in a larger movement towards wellness and healing.

Where Milk's life was one of stress and struggle against intolerance of GLBT as he sought to serve the greater good, you (and many others) are now free to live openly and share the gifts of compassion, mindfulness, and skillful awareness so that your clients (of all backgrounds) can feel better and live a healthier life. GLBT leaders in all walks of life are achieving recognition and respect for their service to the community as a whole.

So celebrate! Throw a giant, overdue wake in honor of Milk, and give some recognition to GLBT leaders that serve the greater good, particularly (if you can) those promoting health and wellness. You can bring in folks to teach yoga, exercise classes, dance lessons, healthy cooking, feng shui, etc... and have artisans provide music, murals, etc. reflecting personal positive turning points.

Once upon a time, a gay man touching people for money meant just one thing... and now you represent a new reality in which people see you for therapeutic value and there is no question of intent. That is just plain awesome. Be emboldened by the vastness of that change.

Hope that somehow helps!

 

[Smilecahoots]

Some great ideas there Jason E!