COUNTRY GARDEN TOUR
SUB-COMMITTEES DESCRIPTIONS

Garden Search Team - 3 members

• Finds potential gardens, visits these gardens, and then makes a selection of six gardens (and possibly a standby garden) to be included in the tour and communicates with the owners of the gardens, both those visited and those selected. Visits are done in June of the year before the tour, with notification to garden owners and draft write-ups completed ASAP, but no later than July. It is best if garden descriptions for booklet are done by member(s) of this committee.

Sponsorship/Ad Team - Chair plus 4 members, with inputs from all members

• The team that sells Tour sponsorships is THE key to the success of this fundraiser. The team develops a list of sponsorship categories, along with benefits and price of each. Since Carlisle has such a limited business population, this will require a database of great member ideas for potential sponsors to contact, with an emphasis on our community's purchasing power, rather than our local merchant database. 
• Sponsorship chair maintains a chart of all prospects, status & sales. It is also necessary to maintain good communication among between sponsor sales, publicity, and the booklet production, so that all commitments made to sponsors are feasible and followed up.
• Sponsor sales chair also compiles a list of supporters who are eligible for free tickets; this list is supplied to Ticket Sales before the event.

Tour Publicity and Advertising - Communications Chair, Web-Editor, and member volunteers as needed (including "all hands")

• In addition to print media placements, this includes updating road signs (one volunteer is needed for this), volunteers to distribute posters and/or flyers prior to the tour (specific volunteers for different Carlisle sites and surrounding towns, including asking all members to help distribute).
  
• Publicity includes contacting area Garden Clubs, posting on websites, etc.
  
• Needs to be subdivided into easy-to-handle tasks and coordinated.
  
• Members' relatives, co- workers and friends should be invited. 

Garden Tour Booklet Team 1 - 2, plus several proofers

• Production team prepares layout dummy showing location of all sponsor names and logos, special announcements or ads, garden descriptions, and tour information, updating existing material as needed. 

Garden Managers Coordinator(s) - 1 or 2

• This includes one or two coordinators who assemble and coordinate a team of six garden managers, provide instruction on the managers' duties, supply materials needed for a successful garden visit, and address issues or questions that may come up on the days of the tour. ranging from communicating with the garden owner to dealing with over-enthusiastic garden writers who want to use the club.

Garden Managers - 6, maybe one alternate
Each manager is responsible for one garden; duties include working with the owner(s) and the garden hosts/hostesses for each shift, scheduling a pre-Tour visit for the volunteers who will serve as garden hosts/hostesses, defining traffic flow and parking needs, and ensuring all shift hosts/hostesses have all materials needed to make the garden visit a success.
Volunteer Recruiter(s) - 2 is easier than 1!
Recruit volunteers from within and outside the Garden Club to serve as hosts, ticket takers, and other needed tasks (tickets manager, sign runner, etc). Assign these hosts to individual gardens and having “substitute hosts” available in case someone is unable to do their shift.
(Note: It is important to get cell phone numbers as well as home numbers and email addresses). For the Ticket Sales table, prepare a master list of volunteers (identified as club members or non-members) who get special-price or free tickets.
Ticket Sales - 1 or 2 volunteers
The online Garden Club store will provide ticket sales information including acceptable payment methods (PayPal, checks) and ticket-pickup information.
For the Tour days:
Treasurer will provide list of the names of Tour visitors and the number of tickets purchased by each visitor.  Complementary tickets are provided to the Tour Sponsors. The Sponsorship Cmte will provide a list of Sponsors and the number of complementary tickets.  Non-Garden Club volunteers are eligible for free tickets. The Volunteer Recruiter Cmte will provide a list of volunteers.
Plant Sale at the Tour - 1 or 2 Co-chairs, plus shift volunteers
This "special edition" of the annual plant sale takes place in conjunction with the tour. Run- up activities include plant division workshops, pricing & outreach to the community in the Mosquito. Chair or co-chairs for this committee assign tasks, manage the budget, oversee the schedule and solve problems.
Treasurer Duties at the tour

• Provide a list of visitors who have bought tickets via Pay Pal to the ticket booth so workers can double-check names of those who forget their receipts!
• Supply seeded change boxes to ticket booth and plant/tag sale table at the Common by 9:30 AM on Friday and Saturday; unless other arrangements are made, pick up, count, and reseed for delivery on the second day of tour/sale.
• Provide Zettle Credit Card readers to provide same-day ticket sales by credit cards.  At least one ticket table person should be proficient in the operation of the Zettle Credit Card reader.​