It’s been twelve days since I’ve brought up the idea of a Social Media Fund Raiser. That time’s been spent trying to figure out things like how many people will come, how long the event should be, and what is going to be served. Oh, and when it will all take place.

I have some answers. But not all of them.

The Social Media Fund Raiser will take place on Thursday, October 9, starting at 6:00pm. It will take place at Radius in the Financial District. It will be a three hour cocktail reception with hors d’oeuvres. Space is limited to 50 people. The fund raiser will benefit Jane Doe, Inc., a local anti-domestic abuse organization.

Now that I have that established, there are two things I need.

The first, and most vital, is corporate sponsorship. I would like this set up so that a group of companies gets together and covers the up front expenses. Then, attendees would pay a registration fee to get into the event; all money paid by attendees would go to the charity.

The total fee for this event is just below $6,000. $500 of that is required up front to reserve the space. Without this, the event doesn’t happen. Do you own or work for a company that would be interested in paying for that? Would you be willing to help cover some of the other costs? If so, send me an email – Gradon at gradontripp dot com.

The second thing I need is a group of people that will help me work out the details – how much to charge attendees; what kind of raffles/auctions/whatnot we can do to raise money inside the event; etcetera and so on. From all the great comments on my first post, I’m sure we can get a team together. Let’s figure out a time and place to meet to work through this.

Oh, and I need everyone to get the word out! Blog about it! Tweet about it! Facebook it!

A couple weeks ago, someone presented the idea of a Tweetup at Radius, a high-end restaurant and lounge in Boston’s Financial District (I run the valet operations there.)

What a great idea, I figured. If there was ever a way to draw my social media friends from New York (hello, Matt?) up to Boston, a restaurant on par with NYC’s best would be it.

I presented the idea to the masses on Twitter, and got nearly universal approval of the idea. The question was, how to go about this? If only 10-20 people showed up, it would be best to just meet up in the lounge, have drinks and appetizers, and socialize. If I could get upwards of 40+ people to show, then the prudent idea would be to reserve the private dining room.

Just off the initial, hey-would-you-go questions, I knew that there would be good turnout. The private dining room it is! That’s gonna cost some money. Luckily, in one of those early tweets was possible help from a local social media company, should I need it.

This got me to thinking. This is going to take some real, heavy duty organizing. If I’m going to go through the effort of bringing this all together, why not do it for more than a hey-we’re-all-awesome-cuz-we’re-on-Twitter meetup?

Thus was born the idea for a social media fundraiser.

I’ve always wanted to help. Domestic violence is something that my family has faced, and ending it is something I feel particularly strongly about. I’ve contacted one anti-domestic violence organization to see about helping them. Now I’m waiting for a reply

So, everything is hypothetical right now.

I know it’s going to be held in mid- to late-September; I’m thinking a Wednesday or Thursday evening after work. I know I want it to be at Radius, but I can’t get Radius booked until I have the money to do so. I won’t have financial backing until I know how much the event will cost. I won’t know how much it will cost until I get a proper head count of committed attendees. I’m also thinking about ways to raise funds for the charity, from registration fees, to raffles and silent auctions.

Suggestions? I’d love to hear them!

One thing I’m sure about is that this will be entirely promoted through social media. I will not call or mail anybody anything. I will use my blogs, Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, and any other online social space to build attention. This is going to be a completely transparent process, so you’ll know everything I know.

I would love your support as well.

Are you part of an organization that could provide financial sponsorship to cover the costs of securing the space? Any promotional help on your blog or on social networking sites would be greatly appreciated. Any guidance or recommendations you have is welcome, too.