fandomhigh | Political Campaigning (Thursday, March 23, 4th period)

"Today we're going to talk about planning a fundraising event," Josh said, pacing around the room. "The most important thing to remember is that the entire point of a fundraising event is to raise money. You might have the greatest idea for a party in the history of history, but if it costs you more than you made, it's stupid. Also, you're normally tossing these things together with at most two weeks' lead time, so they have to be realistic."

He waved his hands. "Events, done right, can generate momentum for your campaign, can be used as a reward for major donors, can help you build your list of contributors, and can give you a specific deadline for getting money into the campaign. However, they can also be a gaping black hole of a time-sucking pain in the ass."

He grinned. "They tend to fall into several basic categories: dinners, receptions, breakfast/luncheons, and home parties. Home parties are the cheapest for the campaign: someone else, normally a major donor, comps the food and forms the guest list. All you have to do is show up. Dinners can be huge catered things where you can charge ungodly amounts of money for rubber chicken dinners. The other types fall in between, and are good to spread around throughout the campaign schedule." He raised his eyebrows. "If you are going to be doing this for a living, the fundraising things start to be thought of as dinnertime. And sometimes the only time you get out of the office. But remember that campaign staff won't be paying for the food--make sure you've got some actual people there to raise some funds."

Josh sat down. "Okay. Form into pairs--I don't care with who--and plan me a party. Decide how many people you'd invite, how much you'd charge, and what kind of thing it would be. Bonus points if you don't serve chicken or chili."

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Angel thought about it. "Do they keep Kosher?"

Parker looked thoughtful. "Probably some of them do. But we can always have a chicken choice for them. We want more than one entree choice, anyway. Because otherwise it just looks like a theme dinner, and that's way passe'. So, two kinds of demons?"

"Yeah, that's what I'd go with," Angel said, writing down some species suggestions. "Because you can kill them differently too. Depending on how it's handled sometimes that qualifies."

"Do we have to get a demon chef to prepare them? Or can we just fly in Emeril or Chef Makai to do the honors?" Parker frowned. "And are we talking red or white wine? Open bar, I guess. And maybe a tiramisu."

"Could depend on who we're wooing," Angel pointed out. "Because that BAM! thing can get annoying if we're appealing to people with enhanced senses."

"Right. Emeril it is. We can always make him leave after dinner's done. The food's cheap because you're killing it, I can get Daddy's house in the Hamptons as a site for this soiree, and after we've paid our chef and the alcohol tab, we should clear...." Parker started messing with numbers, then frowned. "Do you think we could get the World Wildlife Fund to make a matching donation if we include a talk about endangered species hunting in there?"

Angel thought about it. "Are they including demons on the list? Because then they might hate the menu."

"Nahhh. Cute and fuzzy all the way, biodiversity that results in humans being the apex predator, the full survival of the biosystem as a whole and as many species as possible. Demons count as a pest species in that world view. Really."

"Wow," Angel said, admiringly. "You know, sometimes you're scary."

Parker grinned. "Only sometimes?"

"Othertimes there's an air of foreboding."

Political Campaigning (Thursday, March 23, 4th period)

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