JUST GOT HANDED A GALA TO RUN?
The Blueprint That Turns "I Have No Idea What I'm Doing" Into
Your Most Profitable Fundraising Night Ever.
Paddles Up! The High-ROI Gala Roadmap for Small Nonprofits is the proven roadmap for gala chairs to plan a high-ROI event using an untaught framework that most galas never apply, focusing on the moments that actually raise money.
ENROLL TODAYYOU HAVE A REVENUE GOAL, WHAT YOU NEED NOW IS A ROADMAP
Are you staring at spreadsheets and wondering whether the decisions you're making are even the right ones for your organization?
Regardless of how you became "gala chair," you know you need to raise $X, and it's not just your organization counting on that number. Every program, service, and person your mission touches is riding on what happens in that room.
You never know how the night's going to unfold, and after all that stress and hard work, the last thing you want is to walk away short of the number you need.
But unfortunately, this is reality for so many non-profit organizations.
They pull off an incredible event. The room is full, alive, and people are genuinely having fun. But then you get home and realize how much you fell short, regardless of how much effort you put in or how fun it was.
THE GOOD NEWS? IT DOESN'T HAVE TO BE THAT WAY
You just need to know HOW to run the fundraiser beyond all the bells and whistles.
HERE'S WHAT MOST NONPROFITS GET WRONG...
They think the auction items are the most important part of the gala.
So they spend weeks, sometimes months, soliciting and coordinating donations, wrapping gift baskets, and hoping a silent auction table full of stuff will save the night. Maybe they even throw a few items into a live auction to generate some energy.
And sure, it might cover your costs. It might even feel like a win when the bidding gets a little competitive.
But here's the truth that no amount of Google searching will tell you going in: a room full of auction items may get you to break-even.
But it won't get you to your number.
ENROLL IN PADDLES UP!No matter how many amazing guests you have, or how appealing the “prizes” actually are…
It’s not enough to just cover your costs.
The small nonprofit events that go above and beyond their revenue goals are the ones that are built around two specific things that run the show:
THE PADDLE RAISE
Where people naturally give because they’re passionate about the mission and feeding on the momentum of the room.
THE GOLDEN TICKET RAFFLE
Where just one high-value prize is accessible to everyone and turns even your quietest guests into buyers.
That's it. Those are the two things that generate real, mission-changing revenue, and they take a fraction of the time and effort of building a full auction.
In over 15 years of nonprofit fundraising consulting, I’ve seen it happen in hundreds of fundraisers, and it brings me such joy to see it succeed over and over again. I can’t work every event, so I wanted to create a framework anyone can learn and execute, regardless of their staff size.
Because once you understand how to run your event like this, you’ll go into event night
confidently, knowing you’re going to succeed.
By the way, I’m Dean.
I was a full-time actor just trying to make rent.
My agent sent me out on a gig to dress up as a funny Frenchman for a Moulin Rouge–themed gala at a small school, take some photos with the guests, and help set the scene.
THEN SOMEONE HANDED ME THE MIC AND THE AUCTION TO RUN.
I had never done anything like it in my life, but since I loved the stage, I just got up there, made people laugh, and somehow, it worked. That one accidental gig turned into a career I never saw coming.
15 years and roughly 1,000 fundraising events later, I'm now a designated Benefit Auction Specialist (the first in Georgia!), a member of the National Auctioneers Association, and I've spent my career on stages across the country helping nonprofits raise more money than they ever thought possible.
Here's the thing that stuck with me: For every big organization that can afford to hire me, there are a dozen small nonprofits doing the same work, run by people who are overworked, underpaid, and handed a revenue goal with zero roadmap.
So I started asking myself: What if I could take everything I've learned on stage — all the trial and error lessons, all the moments that actually move a room to give — and turn it into something anyone could run themselves, without needing to be an actor or an auctioneer?
THAT'S WHY I CREATED THIS COURSE:
Paddles Up! The High-ROI Gala Roadmap for Small Nonprofits.
My mission is to help more organizations across the country raise the money they need to fund their programs, grow their impact, and change lives, whether they have a professional auctioneer running the show or not.
This course simplifies the strategy and framework I offer my private clients so you can run it yourself,
whether this is your first gala or your fiftieth.
HERE'S WHAT MAKES PADDLES UP DIFFERENT:
You don't have to be me.
With this roadmap, you don't need to be a licensed auctioneer. You don't need stage presence, comedic timing, or a performance background. And you don't need to hire someone like me for $10,000+ to hit your revenue goal.
This is the part almost nobody teaches. You can find generic "gala planning" checklists everywhere. You can find event planners who'll help you coordinate with your venue and vendors.
What you can't find is someone who's actually run the Paddle Raise and the Golden Ticket from the stage, hundreds of times, breaking down exactly how to run them yourself, regardless of your personality, experience level, or how your last event went.
Using my proven roadmap, you can execute it on your own.
You just need the framework that makes it work.
INTRODUCING....
Paddles Up! The High-ROI Gala Roadmap for Small Nonprofits
This is the ultimate six-module system that takes you from "I have a revenue goal and no idea where to start" to running a fundraiser built to hit it, using the framework I've refined across 15 years and 1,000+ events.
Here's exactly what you'll learn:
MODULE 1: BUILD YOUR HIGH-ROI BLUEPRINT
Before you book a single vendor, you'll define what success looks like for your organization, calculate your real net revenue target, and build your preliminary event budget, so every decision that follows is based on a plan, rather than a guess.
MODULE 2: PLAN A POLISHED GALA EVENT
You'll assemble the right team, select a venue that supports your fundraising strategy, book vendors without overspending, and choose the giving technology that makes it easy for guests to say YES.
MODULE 3: FILL THE ROOM EVERY TIME
Because a full room of the wrong guests still won't hit your number. You'll build a tiered prospect list, learn how to activate your board as fundraising partners, and put a marketing plan in place that primes donors before they ever walk in the door.
MODULE 4: THE PADDLE RAISE PLAYBOOK
Your highest-ROI moment of the night. You'll learn how to structure your giving levels, tie every level to real impact, and lead the moment with the clarity and confidence that gets paddles in the air instead of silence in the room.
MODULE 5: THE GOLDEN TICKET RAFFLE
You'll get the exact formula for choosing the right prize, setting your pricing, and marketing it so everyone wants to buy in.
MODULE 6: RUN THE SHOW LIKE A PRO
The strategic work only pays off if the night runs smoothly. You'll build your run-of-show timeline, prepare your speakers, coordinate with your team and vendors, and structure the program so energy and giving stays high from welcome to close.
You'll also get the full Course Workbook with every template and tool you need to execute each step, along with bonus interviews covering event production, mobile bidding technology, and sourcing your Golden Ticket prize.
HERE'S WHAT CHANGES ONCE YOU HAVE THE ROADMAP:
✔ You'll stop Googling "how to plan a nonprofit gala" at 10 pm and start executing a system that's already been tested across 1,000 events.
✔ You'll present your budget and revenue goal to your board with confidence because the numbers are built on a real strategy.
✔ You'll walk into every planning meeting with a real number, a real plan, and the calm confidence of someone who knows what they're doing, instead of nodding along and hoping nobody asks a question you can't answer.
✔ You'll plan your Paddle Raise and watch paddles go up in the room instead of holding your breath through an awkward silence.
✔ You'll offer a Golden Ticket Raffle that expands your reach even beyond the guests in the room.
✔ You'll close out the night knowing you didn't just throw a fun party. You ran a fundraiser that actually hit its number.
✔ You'll know, deep down, that the money in that room is going straight to the mission you care about and the cause that made you say yes in the first place.
✔ And you'll walk away with something bigger than one successful night: a repeatable system you (or someone else!) can run again next year, and the year after that, each time with less stress and more confidence than the last.
THE FRAMEWORK ANYONE CAN USE TO LEARN.
And here's what this is actually worth to you.
Hiring a consultant like me to guide you through even one event, including the meetings, strategy, and stage time, runs for $10,000 or more. And that's for a single event.
Paddles Up! gives you the entire framework, including the same strategy, two revenue engines, and a system I've refined over 15 years and 1,000+ events. Now it’s yours to keep and use for this gala, and every one after it. But you won't pay $10,000.
You’ll pay just a fraction of that cost.
Paddles Up! The High-ROI Gala Roadmap for Small Nonprofits - $997
This price won't be around much longer. Paddles Up! is going up to $1,497 on {DATE}. Grab it at $997 while you still can.
ENROLL TODAY AND YOU'LL GET
Exclusive access to these bonus resources:
THE GALA ACTION PLAN
Your complete week-by-week roadmap, with 3, 6, and 12-month timeline options built around your actual planning window. Every vendor deadline, marketing touchpoint, and board coordination task, mapped out so you always know exactly what to do next, and when. (Value: $299)
EVERY PLANNING TOOL, ALL READY BUILT
Skip the blank templates. Your Workbook comes stocked with the Budget Spreadsheet, Vendor Communication Guide, Paddle Raise Clerk Sheets, show slide templates, and more, so every step of your event has a ready-made tool behind it. (Value: $599)
BEHIND THE SCENES VENDOR INTERVIEWS
Sit in on my conversations with a meeting planner, a mobile bidding platform expert, a professional sound and production company, and a consignment company that sources Golden Ticket prizes so you get insider insight. (Value: $199)
EXCLUSIVE ACCESS TO BOOK A 1:1 AUDIT WITH DEAN:
Something I don't offer publicly, anywhere. As a Paddles Up! student, you can book (for an additional fee) an hour of my time to personally review your event plan with the same guidance my private consulting clients rely on all year long.
YOUR MISSION IS COUNTING ON THIS EVENT.
Here's why NOW matters most.
Your gala date isn't moving, and every week you wait to build your plan is a week you don't get back. The Paddle Raise, the Golden Ticket, the marketing runway--all of it works better with time on your side.
You could spend the next few months doing what most first-time chairs do: piecing together a plan from old event files and photos, vendor suggestions, and a gut feeling. Or you can spend this week building it the right way, with a framework that's already been tested across 1,000+ events.
THIS IS FOR YOU IF...
✔ You've been handed a gala as chair, ED, development director, or board member, with a revenue goal and no roadmap for hitting it.
✔ You've got a small team (or you're basically doing this alone) and no time to figure it out by trial and error.
✔ You want this event to actually fund your mission, not just break even.
THIS ISN'T FOR YOU IF...
✗ You're running a mature, established program with a dedicated events team, existing vendor relationships, and a donor database already in place. This roadmap is built to take you from zero to a working system, so if you already have one, you probably need refinement rather than a foundation.
✗ You're looking for a done-for-you service where someone else runs the event for you. This is a system you implement yourself.
