Annual Hearts for the Arts Benefit

The silent auction coming soon – with items on display – at our event. All bidding is online. People can bid on and win items from the event floor or from their couch: everyone can participate in our mobile-only auction! We will have a great variety of items across all price points, including things like restaurant gift certificates, fun outings, all of the artwork, student art, and other awesome one-of-a-kind items you’ve come to expect at Hearts for the Arts.

Don’t miss the chance to bid on trips, unique experiences, works of art, and more!

 

It can be extravagant or simple: a six-course, home-cooked meal or just drinks and pretzels! You can max out the guests at either 4 or 400! Anything goes. Every dollar you raise goes directly to the school!

 

Need help putting your great ideas onto a donation form? Have a question or want to brainstorm ideas? Contact us at [email protected]

Wine Raffle

Fill up your wine cellar! Enter for a chance to win a ton of wine hand-selected by the CACS community.

1000-for-100 Raffle

1000-for-100 raffle Tickets are $100 each with a limit of 100 sold and the winner gets $1,000!

Stay tuned for more fun raffle and game opportunities during the Live Auction!

We hope you can join us all night, but if you only have a few hours, check the schedule below and make sure you don’t miss out on the parts that are the most important to you.

 

Schedule:

• 5:00pm Welcome!  
  • Bar & buffet open
  • Music
  • Silent Auction open for bidding
• 5:30pm Photo Booth opens
• 7:05pm Silent Auction closing begins
  • 7:00 1st section closes
  • 7:10 2nd section closes
  • 7:20 3rd section closes
• 7:30pm Live Program begins!
  • Welcome from Fernando
  • Live Auction
  • Raffle winners announced
• 8:30pm
  • Music resumes
  • Dessert!
• 9:00pm Check-out opens
  • Dance party!
• 10:00pm Childcare closes
• 11:00pm Doors close

Grab the forms from the office (or print them from here) and carry them with you. The most successful categories for our past auctions are: wine, restaurants, travel, sports, summer camp, and entertainment.

Reach out to any business you know or would like to know!

When asking merchants to donate goods/gift certificates, remind them that you are asking on behalf of the kids! You could say, “I was wondering if you’d be interested in supporting my child’s public school with a donation to our auction.”

Don’t be shy! Many businesses rely on word-of-mouth referrals, visibility and community goodwill to help bring in customers. It’s a win/win; they are helping us, but we are helping them, too–and it’s tax deductible.

Follow up. It never hurts to check in again. Making it easy by calling in a friendly reminder and assisting with filling out or submitting forms always helps.

Host an event, raise money and deepen your connections with our community. Some Count-Me-In ideas include: “CACS Poker Night,” “Backyard Movie Night,” “Cooking Class,” “Scavenger Hunt”. You decide the event, the date, the number of people and the cost-per-person. Get more ideas for parties!

 

Perhaps you want to host a Count-Me-In, but you don’t have the bandwidth to organize it all yourself, or maybe you just can’t come up with an idea. Our committee can help to pair you up with a Co-Host from CACS, or provide creative ideas for an event or party.

Did you know that you or your company can advertise in our event program? Promote your business, an upcoming event, or celebrate a student with an ad in our event program! Please submit payment with your donation form and send 300dpi, RGB color, PDF, AI or JPG format artwork to [email protected] subject line “Program Ad”

$250/Full Page (5.5”w x 8.5”h)
$150/Half Page (5.5”w x 4.25”h)

Know anyone who’d be into supporting our auction by donating beverages or food? We’d happily promote their business in any way that works for them: on our event website, in our marketing collateral, in biweekly emails to our community of over 300 families, the program at the event, and in any signage they’d like at the event. Send any ideas our way: [email protected]

Bring in a bottle (or a few, or a case!) of your favorite wine to donate to our wine raffle. Drop them off in the office or Benefit headquarters in the back corner of the teachers’ lounge near the K/1 classrooms at the Turk Street entrance. Then, check out the great selection on the wine raffle table on Benefit night. Enter for a chance to win a ton of wine hand-selected by the CACS community.

Please submit your donations (online or via paper form) by Friday, January 31, 2026.

All physical items should be dropped to CACS by February 12, 2026.

Sign up for a volunteer shift for the event: jobs will be posted on Volunteer Tracker continually until the Benefit (including post-event jobs). We will be filling the following types of jobs – sign up early by contacting our Team at [email protected]

• Captain Positions 
• Take Home Prep
• Thursday Prep and Raffle Ticket selling
• Friday Prep and Raffle Ticket selling
• Pre-Event Jobs (Saturday 2/22)
• At Event Jobs 
• Monday 2/24 Load Out from SOMArts

Be a part of it! Become a valued member of our Benefit committee or just help out here and there (either way, you’d be so valued). We love ideas and helpers!

Come visit us at Benefit HQ (the corner of the storage room across from the Kindergarten classrooms, by the Turk St entrance), on Fridays after drop off. We always have tons of jobs, big and small, that we can use help with (entering donations, taking or finding pictures online for donations, making follow-up calls). Drop by for an hour and see what fun we are! Or, send us an email ([email protected]) and we can hook you up with jobs you can do at home (washing wine glasses and tablecloths, stuffing envelopes, proofreading auction catalog entries).

Supporting the Annual Fund and the Benfit

As you know, state funding provides for the basics of the public school education received at Creative Arts Charter School.  The margin of excellence, our wonderful arts program, comes directly from your gifts to and participation in our two biggest fundraising initiatives: the Annual Fund and the Benefit. The cost of our program above the money we receive from the state is more than $400,000.

What does the $400,000 give you?

• Our entire arts program, which is what’s at the core of what’s valuable at this school.
  • Director of Arts
  • Visual arts teacher
  • Music teacher
  • Dance teacher
  • Middle school theater teacher
  • Visiting resident artists

• What does that money include?
  • All of these teachers and everything they need to create a full and vibrant program for our kids.

Why an Annual Fund?

The Annual Fund is where our community gets to shine and show our collective spirit of generosity. The important thing about the Annual Fund is not how much you give, but that each family participates in whatever way is meaningful to them. Your involvement generates enthusiasm and encourages others to join in. Additionally, when we reach out for foundation and corporate sponsorships our community participation rate is an indicator to them that the school is strong, valued, and worthy of support.

Why a Benefit?

Because it is so much fun! Yes, the Benefit raises vital funds for our school, but the heart of it is a chance to celebrate our community and all of the hard work that we do. It’s also a wonderful chance for us to form community: during the event, we dress up, eat, drink, shop, and bond with our fellow Creative Arts families and extended families; as we prepare for the Benefit and reach out for donations, we are forming mutually supportive relationships with local businesses and professionals.

Our community is built on involvement and we thank you for all that you do.