Culver's of Muskegon · A community fundraising program
The scope of work that turns one dinner night into a donation — and a room full of new friends for your cause.
Your organization books a Share Night — a Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday evening, 5 to 8 PM, at Culver's of Muskegon. You promote the night to your own people. Your adult volunteers put on aprons and work the room alongside the Culver's team. Culver's donates a percentage of the night's sales to your organization — 10% to start, climbing to 15% and 20% as the night's volume grows. Guests can also give directly through the donation QR at the event.
The restaurant brings the kitchen, the crew, and the dining room. You bring the crowd. This booklet is your half of the bargain, spelled out — everything your organization needs to do, in order, to make the night pay.
One person owns the night: the booking, the volunteer roster, the promotion calendar, and the count afterward. Every successful Share Night has a captain. Name yours first.
Collect the names and numbers of your supporters — members, families, alumni, donors, friends. A personal invitation fills more seats than any poster. This list is also your calculator's starting number.
Post it on your social channels, send it to your email list, and pitch it to your local press and club newsletters. We provide the announcement kit — you put it in front of your world.
Share the digital flyer everywhere your people scroll, and put paper flyers where your people gather. Every flyer carries the date, the hours, and the one message that matters: dine with us that night.
Ask your members to invite their friends and families directly — a text, a call, a word after church or practice. People come because someone they know asked them.
Once the week of the night, once the day of. Plans change; reminders are what turn "we should go" into a car in the parking lot.
Your volunteers arrive early, dress alike, and work the night in aprons — greeting, running food, clearing tables, telling your story. Section 5 gives every role.
After the night: thank your guests publicly, thank the restaurant, and share the result with your supporters. A reported result is the seed of the next night.
The one message that fills the room
"If you're going to dine out, dine out with us on this night." Dinner in the dining room, through the drive-thru, or ordered ahead — every purchase that night counts, and every purchase benefits your cause. Your supporters were going to eat dinner anyway. This playbook simply moves that dinner to your night, at your restaurant, for your mission.
Your earnings are arithmetic, not luck: guests × average check = the night's sales; your percentage of those sales is your donation. Two hundred invitations at a strong turnout can mean seventy or more guests before the restaurant's regular evening traffic is counted — and the restaurant counts the whole night's sales during your hours. Promotion is the only lever, and it is entirely yours: every additional household you move raises the sales, and volume is what climbs the ladder from 10% toward 15% and 20%. Use the Share Night Calculator to set your goal before you book, and again the week of the night.
This booklet does not travel alone. It comes with a short video walk-through of a Share Night from booking to thank-yous, a readiness quiz your night captain takes the week before the night, and the post-night survey that closes the loop. Read the booklet, watch the walk-through, pass the quiz, run the night, report the count — the same learn-it, prove-it rhythm we build into every program we run. (Teaching pieces in production — they arrive with your booking kit.)
Culver's of Muskegon · 1776 Independence Drive · (231) 246-2593. Ask about Share Nights, pick your Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday, and bring this booklet — your runway starts the day you book.