Bags, Bourbon & Bling

F u n d r a i s e r BAGS, BOURBON & BLING

Michelle Hansen

What started as planning for our highly successful Designer Bag Bingo 2021 event quickly turned into creating a brand-new fundraiser for the Junior League of Shreveport-Bossier. The COVID-19 pandemic forced us to consider other types of fundraising events. Because Designer Bag Bingo has been so popular and successful, we drew inspiration from it and created the League’s newest fundraiser—Bags, Bourbon & Bling. By moving to online only, this new five-night virtual raffle allowed us to broaden our audience to those who would not typically attend a live event.

The past committee had collected numerous raffle items and a few handbags from several donors for Designer Bag Bingo 2020. We were grateful that these supportive businesses allowed us to use these donations for our new 2021 event. Beyond that, our committee had to start from the ground up and create this brand new event. Shortly after a difficult decision to halt Designer Bag Bingo for a second year, we began planning Bags, Bourbon & Bling in January 2021. At that point, we hit the ground running. We collaborated with Cuban Liquor, who was a HUGE partner and helped us secure multiple rare bourbons such as: Blanton’s, Colonel E.H. Taylor, and our headliner Rip Van Winkle 10 year. We had the wonderful partnership of Clarkes Jewelers and Sid Potts, each donating multiple jewelry pieces.

With the help of Jennifer Bradford and Kirsten Shrewsberry on the Communications Council, we began the social media push. Jennifer used her skills behind the camera to capture photos of our raffle items, while Kirsten created a detailed social media plan that spanned over a month of scheduled posts.

We began ticket sales on March 18 and sold over 600 tickets, raising more than $20,000 for the League. Our $15 “Treat Yourself” raffle was the most popular, selling over 300 tickets. Next was the $50 “Bags & Bling” ticket. We sold over 200 of those tickets. Finally, we sold more than 100 of our $50 “Just Bourbon” tickets!

We conducted our first night of live raffle drawings on Sunday, April 18, at 7 PM. As we started to stream live via Facebook and Instagram, we were blown away by how many people were tuning in and watching the drawings live! It was such a whirlwind night and so much fun to be a part of! We continued the live drawings each night through Thursday and even drew a few winners’ names multiple times. These lucky winners walked away with various items and had the flexibility to come by the League office to pick up their items when it was convenient for them.

There are always risks and a learning curve when conducting a new fundraiser, but I am thrilled at the response we received. We cannot thank our wonderful donors and partners enough for their generous donations! We also want to thank the Communications Council and Management Team for their help and commitment to this event. As this unprecedented League year comes to a close, we can look back and be proud we were able to create a successful fundraiser.