What are the most effective days to host a restaurant fundraiser?

Asking yourself this question is an excellent step towards accomplishing your fundraising goals! The answer is a bit complex and depends on a variety of factors such as group type and restaurant location, but we've put together some stats* that should help you get a better idea of when to request your own restaurant fundraiser:

Nonprofit Organization

Best days of the week: Tuesdays and Wednesdays

While Tuesdays and Wednesdays came out on top, Thursdays and Sundays were also solid contenders. Hosting an event on one of these 4 days of the week yielded an attendance 11% higher than events held on Mondays, Fridays and Saturdays.

High School

Best days of the week: Wednesdays and Thursdays

Wednesdays and Thursdays edge ahead for high school fundraising groups, but Mondays and Tuesdays proved almost as successful. All together, these 4 days of the week had a 20% higher attendance than events hosted Friday-Sunday.

Middle School

Best days of the week: Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays

Middle school truly is the time to break the status quo--this is the only group who consistently demonstrated excellent attendance numbers on Fridays and Saturdays. In fact, middle school groups tend to fair better than most groups no matter what day they fundraise; we found a mere 8.5% overall difference in attendance between events hosted on these days compared to those hosted on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays.

Elementary School

Best days of the week: Wednesdays and Thursdays

To no one's surprise, it turns out that scheduling is crucial for elementary school groups. Like high school groups, Wednesdays and Thursdays are closely matched by Mondays and Tuesdays. The difference? Choosing one of these 4 days consistently yields a 38% higher attendance than events hosted Friday-Sunday. 

Church

Best days of the week: Monday-Thursday

While Tuesdays proved the ideal fundraising day, any day in the first half of the week seems to result in a comparable level of success for church groups. Choosing one of these 4 dates typically results in an attendance 12% higher than events hosted in the latter half of the week.

Other

Best days of the week: Thursdays

For all other group types, Thursdays come out on top as the best day to fundraise, followed by Tuesdays and Wednesdays who tie for 2nd place. If you opt for one of these 3 days you're likely to see an attendance up to 30% higher than an event hosted from Friday-Monday. Wow! 

*This data is aggregated from and reflects events organized in the years 2017 through July 2018.