We just got a voicemail message that made our day!

The message was from Amy Vorhees, a stay-at-home mom who leads a pretty new pro-life ministry that has only conducted two previous banquets.

This year, as Amy’s organization was gearing up for their banquet, attendance numbers were way down — and Amy decided to sign up for the Banquet Success training program in hopes that it would help boost her event’s income.

Rather than tell you about what she learned, how she implemented her new found knowledge, the incredible results she generated — and what this meant to her ministry — Amy gave us permission to let you hear her exciting three-minute message.

Listen online now by pressing the “play” arrow below:

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

To download the MP3 file to listen on your iPod or computer, right-click the link below and select “Save Target As…” to specify where you want to save the file on your hard drive:

http://banquetsuccess.com/amy_vorhees.mp3

Shawn was thrilled to hear many more success stories from other Banquet Success students who attended last week’s Heartbeat International conference in Orlando.

He was pleasantly surprised by the buzz about the Banquet Success system being given away by Gloria Leyda with Ambassador Speakers Bureau. (Ten minutes after Shawn walked into the conference, a pregnancy center director he had never met grabbed him and said, “Please draw our center for the free training, we need it!”)

Congratulations to Rachel Rosebrock, Director of Choices for Life Pregnancy Center in Easton, Maryland whose name was picked by Gloria in the free drawing.

If you want YOUR shot at winning the same Banquet Success training system that helped Amy Vorhees generate great results at her banquet — for FREE — there’s still a bit more time to get your entries in!

All you have to do is go to:
 
http://banquetsuccess.com/updates/why-you-need-it

Scroll to the bottom of that page — below the dozens of posts from other organizations — and in 150 words or less, post a reply telling us WHY your ministry needs the Banquet Success training system to help increase the results of your next banquet. (Please include your name and organization name in the post.)

The deadline for entries is next Tuesday, June 1, at midnight Pacific time. After that, we’ll choose the best response, and announce the winner on Wednesday morning.

Do it now, and maybe you’ll be the next one leaving an excited voicemail message about your banquet’s increased results!

To Your Banquet Success,

Shawn Carney & David Bereit
Banquet Success

Want to win a copy of the Banquet Success training system for FREE? Read on to find out how!

Scott Maynes, Executive Director of Life Choices in Lewiston, Idaho, joined the Banquet Success training program in February and immediately began devouring the training and rapidly putting it into action — with great results!

After going through the training on underwriting, Scott posted this comment March 2 on the discussion page for Module 2: Underwriting Success:

Yesterday I received a commitment from an underwriter that now covers the cost of our banquet ($12,500). I am very excited and so grateful for such a detailed plan of attack. I will be starting to work on the table sales now and I am hopeful for making the goal of 2X the cost of the event. Thanks so much for instilling hope!”

Two weeks later, on March 16, he posted this update:

Just passed the $25K mark with 6 weeks to go before the banquet. I am now gunning for 4x the cost of the banquet. God is good. Thanks for all your expertise and help.”

And then he posted this update on the discussion page for Module 3: Attendance Success:

I think we are going to pack out our event. I have 43 tables (8 per table) and at this time 25 tables are spoken for so far by underwriters and sponsors … I have two more weeks to sell tables so I think we stand a very good chance that we could sell all of them.”

And then, after Life Choices held its banquet on April 29, Scott sent us follow-up reports:

Wow! You guys were an awesome-sized God-send to this ministry. We had a HUGE success last night. Rebecca St. James father/manager said it was the best banquet they have been a part of. I know Rebecca St. James wrote down your info on a card to take with her. I am so humbled and so blessed by what God has done. After all the counting, the total for all the revenue streams up to this point is $101,877!! And there is still the follow up to go — still some more out there ‘on the table.’ Last year’s results were right about $50,000 for the banquet.

 It is pretty funny when people ask how I did it. I have given the name of your training to several people and I think they are taking note. You guys are doing a great work in helping people like me take their events to a new level. Thank you so much for your training. It is the best thing that could have happened for me and this ministry.

 BTW — I am happy to say that this means I won’t be getting my money back on your guarantee. Great stuff guys.”

Great job, Scott! Your banquet results serve as an inspiration to all ministries that are gearing up for banquets in the midst of this challenging economy.

And now YOU have two chances to win the exact training system — at absolutely no charge — that helped Scott achieve these results!

FIRST: As mentioned last week, if you are going to the Heartbeat International conference in Orlando, Florida, Gloria Leyda at Ambassador Speakers Bureau will be holding a drawing to give away a complete Banquet Success training system (a $697 value).

All you have to do is go by the Ambassador Speakers Bureau table #400 at the conference and enter their drawing for the complete package of 20 audio CDs and binders packed with step-by-step training materials.

SECOND: We got feedback from numerous people who are NOT going to the Heartbeat conference — but who still wanted a shot at getting the Banquet Success training system at no charge.

To be completely fair to everyone, we’ve decided to give away a second training system.

And this giveaway will not be based on random chance, but instead will be determined by YOU.

Here’s all you have to do …

At the bottom of this page, in 150 words or less, post a reply telling us WHY your ministry needs the Banquet Success training system to help increase your next banquet — like Scott did. (Be sure to include your name and organization name in the post.)

We’ll choose the best response, and the winner will get the entire Banquet Success system for FREE.

That’s it!

We can’t wait to read your answers — and then give the system away to the ministry that best articulates how Banquet Success can help them.

Maybe you’ll experience results similar to Scott’s!

To Your Banquet Success,

Shawn Carney & David Bereit
Banquet Succes

I just had the opportunity to speak on the telephone with Sue Szot, Donor Services Manager at the Community Pregnancy Center in Prescott, Arizona.

Sue’s organization followed the seven steps of the Banquet Success system, and set a number of ambitious stretch goals for their fall 2009 banquet:

• To raise $100,000.00
• To fill the banquet with 400 guests
• To get new people in the room who had never been before
• To increase the number of monthly donors
• To solicit e-mail addresses for future e-mail communications

As Sue reported to me after they raised $112,659 with 456 in attendance, “We exceeded our goals in every department!”

Sue allowed me to record our brief phone conversation so you could hear in her own words:

• What steps her pregnancy center took to generate the unprecedented growth
• How the Banquet Success system provided more practical help — and more results – than an $8,000 fundraising banquet training program

You’ll be inspired by Sue’s success report!

Listen online now by pressing the “play” arrow below:

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

To download the MP3 file to listen on your iPod or computer, right-click the link below and select “Save Target As…” to specify where you want to save the file on your hard drive:

http://banquetsuccess.s3.amazonaws.com/sue_szot.mp3

To learn more and get access to the exact
same training system that helped Sue’s
pregnancy center exceed their $100,000
banquet goal, click here.

I just got off the phone with Patty Becker, director of a pregnancy resource center in Pennsylvania that was $50,000 in the hole before deciding to go through the complete Banquet Success training program last summer.

In just 12 weeks leading up to her fundraising banquet, Patty followed our simple step-by-step instructions and applied the 7 modules of the Banquet Success system to her banquet …

… and experienced a $104,000 increase!!

Not only did the center make up for its shortfall, but the banquet results set them ahead of their budget for months to come.

I know how powerful these banquet strategies can be, yet I must admit that even I was VERY impressed!

Patty allowed me to record our brief phone conversation so you could hear in her own words:

• How they grew attendance from 381 people last year to 566 this year
• How they went from $83,000 last year to over $187,000 this year

Think about it … What would a six-figure banquet increase do for YOUR ministry?

How many more lives could be saved?

How many more women — and men — could be helped?

How much stress would that take off YOU?

This is a 10-minute “can’t miss” audio recording!

Listen online now by pressing the “play” arrow below:

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

To download the MP3 file to listen on your iPod or computer, right-click the link below and select “Save Target As…” to specify where you want to save the file on your hard drive:

http://banquetsuccess.s3.amazonaws.com/patty_becker.mp3

To learn more and get access to the exact
same training system that led to Patty’s
$104,000 increase, click here.

We were thrilled to see so many positive comments in response to the “Secrets of a $312,964 Banquet” video we sent you yesterday!

Peter Breen, Executive Director of the pro-life Thomas More Legal Society (and former pregnancy center director) said:

As someone who has been to (and run) a lot of banquets, I can honestly say that David & Shawn have the most thorough, creative, and effective system to maximize the results of your fundraising banquet. Learn their system and follow it religiously: you won’t believe the results!”

–Peter

Anne Hennessey, Executive Director of the Right to Life League of Southern California posted this reply:

Your training has been invaluable and resulted in the most successful benefit The League has ever had. I’m interested in all you have to say and I look forward to your next video. Thank you so much for your faithfulness to your mission of saving lives and helping others to more successfully fulfill their mission.”

–Anne

Well, Anne — and everyone else — we just posted the second Banquet Success video online revealing our “Banquet Success Formula” that helps maximize every aspect of the funding for a banquet.

This information is HUGE. The first time we used this formula, our banquet income DOUBLED, propelling us into the six-figures.

The video is chock-full of high value content as it walks you through every step of the formula that can help boost the results of your next banquet.

Watch it now:

(If you have any trouble playing this video, you may need to install the latest version of the free Adobe Flash player, which is a small download found at: http://get.adobe.com/flashplayer )

Stay tuned for a BIG ANNOUNCEMENT tomorrow about another great, free training resource!

To Your Banquet Success,

David Bereit & Shawn Carney
Banquet Success

Wow!

In yesterday’s blog post, we just mentioned in passing that our own organization had experienced an increase in banquet income from $24,350 to $312,964.

We didn’t expect to get bombarded with e-mail questions in response, asking:

“How did you do THAT?”

Well, here is a 9-minute video case study to answer your questions and reveal EXACTLY how that explosive increase occurred.

Watch the video here:

(If you have any trouble playing this video, you may need to install the latest version of the free Adobe Flash player, which is a small download found at: http://get.adobe.com/flashplayer )

As you watch the video, try to think about what your ministry would look like if you were raising 12 TIMES your current banquet income …

… Or even if you just increased your banquet income by 25% … 50% … or DOUBLED your income — think about how many more lives you could save and how many more women and men you could help.

It can happen for you — just like it did for us — if you follow the same simple steps we did.

After watching the video, let us know what you think by posting your comments as a reply at the bottom of this page!

To Your Banquet Success,

Shawn Carney & David Bereit
Banquet Success

It’s a new year, and fundraising banquet season is about to kick off once again.

With all the doom and gloom in the media about the economy, many pregnancy centers and pro-life organizations are worried about what this will mean for your banquet — and for your vital ministry work.

Well, we have some GREAT NEWS for you today!

While traveling coast-to-coast speaking at banquets over the last few months, we’ve been able to implement a few of the proven Banquet Success strategies we used to grow our own fundraising banquet from $24,350 to $312,964.

As a result, we’ve seen many groups experience amazing fundraising results — even in the midst of this challenging economy.

Here are just a few of the many recent examples:

This was our first banquet even though we have been in this ministry for 25 years. We set a goal of raising $45,000 based on the number of people who were attending our event. To date the banquet has raised $90,000! We thank God for His goodness!”

    — Pregnancy Resource Center, Louisville, KY

Donations were increased nearly $30,000 over last year, primarily through many pledges. We are very grateful for this windfall.”

    — Right to Life of Greater Cincinnati, OH

I have never seen so many people have the ‘light’ come on concerning this issue. I have never seen any of our banquets stir up the attendees like that night. We had a 35% increase over last year in funds (last year at this time the economy tanked, and had just been announced a few days prior!) So we are praising God, that in the middle of a hard economy He continues to show His faithfulness and provision.”

    — Pregnancy Support Center, Lebanon, MO

We saw an increase of almost $10,000 from previous years’ banquets. The two-tiered appeal process increased our gifts tremendously.”

    — Cecil County Pregnancy Center, Elkton, MD

But it’s not just the places where we’re going to speak that are seeing growth. Far from it!

Many organizations that implemented our simple 7-step Banquet Success system last fall have been shattering fundraising records.

Here’s just one of the many examples…

Pat Stonestreet, Executive Director of AbbaCare in Winchester, Virginia went through the Banquet Success training with her team, and — with a fall banquet and just a few weeks to implement what she learned — was only able to incorporate a FEW of the strategies we taught.

She sent us an e-mail reporting:

I just wanted to let you know that we reached approximately $95,000 in income, pledges and underwriting… I just looked and we had budgeted $73,666 at the beginning of the year as income. After your first teleconference, I set a goal of $90,000. We followed as many suggestions as we felt we could get in this year and hope to include many more in 2010. We would like to thank you for your input and hope you are as encouraged as we are.”

Yes, Pat, we are VERY encouraged!

So much so, that we called Pat and asked if we could record a short interview to ask about what led to the $22,000 increase beyond their budget. She agreed, and you’ve got to hear what she said in her own words!

Listen online now by pressing the “play” arrow below:

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

To download the MP3 file to listen on your iPod or computer, right-click the link below and select “Save Target As…” to specify where you want to save the file on your hard drive:

http://www.banquetsuccess.com/members/audio/results1.mp3

This is just one of the many inspiring reports we’ve received since first revealing our Banquet Success strategies to a handful of ministries last summer.

With so many lives dependent on your ministry work — and with many groups gearing up for spring banquets and fall fundraisers — we’ve decided to disclose our most successful fundraising banquet strategies to you over the next few weeks while the two of us have a narrow window of availability.

We’ll also share several case studies of exactly what is leading to the record-breaking fundraising results that groups are experiencing — even in the midst of the down economy.

Our prayer is that this information will help make YOUR organization’s 2010 banquet the most successful yet!

To Your Banquet Success,

Shawn Carney & David Bereit
Banquet Success

First of all, congratulations on taking the first step toward growing your own fundraising banquet!

This report might be the most important and valuable free information you can find ANYWHERE on how to increase the income of your next fundraising banquet.

We go over, in great detail, the entire psychology and process we have used to grow our own banquet from $24,350 to $312,964 – and to help pro-life groups raise in excess of $21 MILLION.

In just 40 pages, you will learn how to:

• Plan for a successful banquet
• Exceed your banquet expenses through advanced underwriting
• Maximize your banquet attendance
• Lead attendees through a step-by-step program that gets results
• Cast the vision and instill the mission of your organization
• Raise record amounts by delivering a winning financial appeal
• Follow-through to generate donations after your banquet

And much, much more!

Download the report here (PDF document, 2 MB in size; right-click and select “save target as” to save the file to your computer):

Direct link: http://banquetsuccess.s3.amazonaws.com/7secrets.pdf

Coming Soon

This report is just the beginning! Over the coming days, we will be releasing several other fundraising banquet tools — also for FREE — including videos, case studies, and a teleseminar training class.

The innovative concepts we’ll be revealing are simple, effective and proven to work, year after year.

Be sure you are signed up to receive updates (using the “Free Banquet Tools” box in the top right corner of this page, if aren’t already signed up) and watch your e-mail inbox for more great information!

Spread the Word

The knowledge of how to conduct a highly successful fundraising banquet has richly blessed our pro-life ministry work and we have seen it bless the efforts of numerous other organizations that have utilized these same strategies.

The seven strategies discussed in this report can substantially increase your banquet income – which will ultimately result in saving the lives of innocent children in the womb, and protecting women and men from the pain of abortion. With everything that’s at stake, these can’t remain secrets any longer.

This special report has been provided to you at no charge as our way of saying thank you for the noble, life-saving work you do on a daily basis. We only have one simple request.

If this information blesses for your ministry, we simply ask that you let other organizations know – so they can also experience greater blessings. Fair enough?

Simply encourage them to download this report for free at: http://www.BanquetSuccess.com/freereport

What Do You Think?

What did you like best about this information? What more would you like to learn? Why do you feel that other ministries need to get their hands on this report?

Tell the world what you think of “The 7 Secrets of Highly Effective Fundraising Banquets” by posting your comments as a reply at the bottom of this post.

DAVID BEREIT is the national director of 40 Days for Life, a groundbreaking pro-life initiative that has mobilized more than 300,000 people in 262 cities across all 50 states and seven other countries over the last two years.

David helped to start and build a local coalition in his hometown that rallied 60 churches and thousands of people together for life and slashed abortions in the area by more than 40%. Planned Parenthood recognized the effectiveness of David’s efforts when it labeled his community “the most anti-choice place in the nation.”

SHAWN CARNEY is one of the youngest and most inspirational pro-life leaders in America today.

At 28 years of age, Shawn serves as executive director of the Coalition for Life, a local pro-life advocacy organization in Texas. He is a member of the board of directors and serves as campaign director for 40 Days for Life, and is executive producer and host of the new pro-life television series, “Being Human,” which airs in 128 million homes via the EWTN global television network.

TOGETHER they have raised in excess of $21 million for pregnancy centers and pro-life groups through speaking at banquets coast to coast, advising organizations, and leading their own non-profit ministries. Their work has been featured in the media hundreds of times, including coverage on: