Classic form
Gala dinner booking form
A black tie fundraising gala sells most of its room to organisations, on invoice, weeks before anybody knows who is actually coming. This form is built for that reality: it takes the booking and the money trail now, and leaves the ten guest names to a second email in October. It is a classic form, because a booking that ends in an invoice has to be read end to end before it is sent.
The form itself
A static copy of the finished form, exactly as it renders. Nothing here can be filled in or submitted, so read it as a reference and build your own from the button above.
Every field, and what it collects
The complete field list, in the order respondents meet it.
- OrganisationShort textRequired
- Organisation name for the invoice, if differentShort text
- Who is completing this form?NameRequired
- Job titleShort textRequired
- Direct phoneShort textRequired
- Email for the invoice and the confirmationShort textRequired
- Purchase order numberShort textRequired
- If your accounts team does not need one, write N/A. Leaving it blank is what holds invoices up.
- Send the invoice toAddress
- What would you like to book?Single choiceRequired
- Options: Table of ten, Foundation partner rate, $2,550 · Table of ten, standard rate, $2,950 · Half table of five, $1,550 · Individual seats, $310 each
- How many of those?NumberRequired
- Tables, half tables or seats, whichever you picked above.
- Program book advertisingSingle choice
- Options: None · Quarter page, $250 · Half page, $450 · Full page, $800 · Inside back cover, $1,200
- Would you like to be part of the fundraising on the night?Multiple choice
- All optional. The auction and the raffle are where most of the evening is actually raised.
- Options: Register a paddle for the live auction · Buy a raffle book, $50 for ten tickets · Donate an item to the auction
- Seating requestsLong text
- Seating is set by the event team, so this is a request rather than a booking. Tell us who you would like near you and we will do our best.
- Accessibility requirements for anyone at your tableLong text
- Asked now rather than with the guest names, because the room plan is drawn first and it is much harder to move later.
- How did you hear about the Gala?Single choice
- Options: We came last year · A colleague · The Foundation newsletter · Social media · A board member asked us
- List your organisation on the shared guest list?Single choice
- Circulated to attendees a week before.
- Options: Yes, list us · No, keep us off it
- Before you finishMultiple choiceRequired
- Options: I am authorised to make this booking for the organisation named above · I accept the cancellation terms · I understand the evening is black tie and that photography and filming take place throughout
- Anything else we should know?Long text
Who is booking
What you are booking
The room
Guest names come later
Terms
What makes this form work
Two names for one buyer
The organisation on the guest list and the entity on the invoice are often not the same, and finance systems reject the wrong one. Two adjacent fields, the second clearly optional, fixes that in ten seconds instead of in an email chain three weeks later.
The fundraising ask sits inside the booking
Auction paddle, raffle book, donated item. Three ticks while somebody is already committing money, rather than a separate appeal competing for the same decision a month later. The line above them says plainly that this is where the evening is actually raised.
Cancellation is written where the money changes hands
The clause names a date, a time and a reason, that catering numbers lock with the venue. Then a tick box confirms it. A gala that only puts this in the terms page ends up arguing in November with a sponsor it wants back next year.
Questions people ask
Should a gala booking form collect every guest name?
No. Tables are bought in September and filled in November, so names collected at booking are wrong by the time the place cards are printed. Take the booking now, then send one email in the month before the event asking for names and dietary needs. This form says that on the page so nobody hunts for a field that is not there.
Why ask for a purchase order number?
Because a corporate table is paid on invoice, and an invoice without the reference the buyer's finance team expects sits unpaid for a month. Making it required with a written N/A gets you an answer from everybody, where an optional field gets you a blank from the people who most needed to fill it in.
Can guests pick their own seats?
Not on this form, and stating that is kinder than implying otherwise. Seating on a round table plan is set by the event team, so the field is a request with examples of what a useful one looks like, sitting near a named table or by a door.
Where do the accessibility questions belong?
With the booking, not with the guest names. The room plan is drawn from the table list weeks in advance, and moving a table after that is far harder than reserving the right one first. Asking early is the difference between an accessible seat and an apology on the night.
Build your own in about a minute
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