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This is something I have always felt bugged by.

On one hand, it's a bloody fun way to raise money for your chosen good cause (and no, My Back Pocket is not an actual charity). But on the other, exactly how do you work out sponsorship?

A pound for point basis on what you field is one way to do it, until you consider that 2,000 points at a penny a point equates to £20. Perhaps work it out on what the player kills? That way, the best gamers, and those with access to the most stuff for the table can really let rip, at the expense of their sponsors.

I ask because I think we as a community ought to do something good with our little tin men. Whether with GW's approval or not is immaterial. Just advertise like crazy, using the Interwebs, hire a hall, setup the table, and let the carnage commence.

So, what experience do you have of such things, if any? How would you run it?

This might give you some ideas:

http://www.pacificmarauders.com/index.php?topic=3249.0

Depends what you have in mind. Privateer Press sponsors a food drive called FoodMachine. You bring in cans of food, and you can buy special events for each can. So many cans, you deploy second and go first; so many for a re-roll; etc.

Another advantage of doing a charity event is that businesses can (at least in the US) write-off any donation from their taxes. I read of one gaming group (iirc, in Atlanta) that ran a tourney in a large hall, which normally they couldn't afford to rent, but because the owner could write-off the day's rent as a charitable donation, he did it. Any stores that donate prize support can write-off the donation.

So, there's multiple ways to handle it. You can charge a flat donation at the door, or have so much to unlock special in-game bonuses, or combine the two.

Our club holds an annual charity event around Christmas for Toys for Tots. We've done a variety of events over the years:

Tourneys, all entry fees donated, club and stores contribute prizes. We've also done where the entry fee was non-perishable food contributions that go to a local food bank.
Silent Auction
Paint an Army in a Day, we built a Space Marine (Space Sharks) army (entirely donated from the local stores, to include GW stores), then spent a day at a local game store painting it as a group. Then sold it on Ebay.
We've also been lucky enough to have one of our members company that matched proceeds up to (IIRC) $1500.

All in all, just decide what you want to do and do it.

I like the idea of an nominal entrance fee and then the ability to "buy" extra in-game perks (extra points to play with, re-rolls, auto pass leadership tests, orbital strikes, or whatever else). It just needs to be left to the organizer to sort of balance out the sides a little so the kid who only has enough to get in doesn't go up against the guy with $200 that he plans on dropping for the cause.

I think if the game is set up as a big Apoc battle and you allow people to buy some things (re-rolls, auto pass leadership tests, and maybe orbital strikes) durring the game, it might be both fun and profitable.

Hmmm...with regard to buying support during the game....

Perhaps if it is tied to pledged money? That way, a Vortex Torpedo fired from an Orbiting Ship could cost, say, £5 in pledges, or possibly more.

I think that could be made to work, after a fashion.

I think that for in-game effects, having the 'cost' be a physical donation (one toy, five cans of food, etc.) works better. Or, have people buy tickets at the start of the game and then decide how they're going to use them as the games go. I think just 'selling' re-rolls at 3 pence each (or whatever you crazy British do) doesn't have the same feel and also suggests that whoever brings enough cash can win the tourney on that. At least if they have to buy tickets at the start, there's a limit to how much they can do.

Re-roll in a turn/game: 1 tickets
Second re-roll in a turn/game: 3
Third re-roll in a turn/game: 6
One-shot orbital strike: 15
Outflank with a unit without Infil or Scouts: 20
Bring on a unit from reserves, no roll: 5
Recycle a dead troops unit: 20
etc.

Sounds like buying a mulligan in charity golf!

Regarding Foodmachine: one No Quarter had suggestions as to how to do a press release for it, partner with specific charities, etc. so it's not just filling a bin with cans of food and driving it over to the shelter (though that's perfectly fine) but also generate some buzz for the host store and creating a long-term relationship with a charity which can have its advantages. I'm sure someone at the PP front desk would send you the article or even help you plan it if you asked.

There's a mostly annual Toys For Tots tournament here around the holidays, entry fee of a packaged toy.

They also did one I with a $ fee that was matched by both the store I frequent and in a rare cooperative move their evil arch nemesis store, effectively tripling your donation. I want to say that one was for 9/11, but I'm not sure.

One of the people up here is a elementary teacher, he has a deal with the school where he can host tournaments in one of their rooms, and the entry fee's for the tournament go to the school. Local game shops donate prizes. Since he's running it as a 'charity/fundraising event' the school lets him have it for free.