As the 2010 midterm elections draw near Members of Congress and Congressional hopefuls are fighting for their political lives.

Finding money to run a campaign is a full time job and on any given night a host of fundraisers are taking place throughout the nation.

According to fundraising expert Doug Jaraczewski, the average candidate spends approximately 42 hours a week making phone calls in an attempt to raise.

Jaraczewski, president of the Campaign Finance Group, Inc., has been working to produce fundraisers since 1994 and has worked with such heavy hitters as Bill and Hillary Clinton as well as Al Gore. 

He took a few minutes to sit down with Congress.org and explain everything you need to know about fundraisers.

How do you decide where to hold a fundraiser? 

Primarily what I tell clients is that you want an individual to host an event who actually has the capacity to raise the money for the event. The idea behind a fundraiser is to raise money. 

Many people say it's not a fun raiser, it's a fundraiser. What I tell clients is you need to find someone who has the capacity on their own to raise money, it gives them an added incentive to raise money if the event is at their home, it gives them ownership. 

Where are most fundraisers held?

The majority are at homes. I always think it's better to have it at home because it gives the host ownership — they don't want to be embarrassed by having an event in their home that doesn't raise money.

A more neutral venue is good if you have several different hosts and it's an ego thing and several different hosts have issue with going to one particular host's home.

How much do you typically spend on a fundraiser?

You want to spend very little. You don't want to take away from the actual amount of money that you're raising from the event.

Maybe your costs should be around 5 percent. You want low, low cost associated with the event

How does someone get invited to a fundraiser?

You’re invited to a fundraiser really one of two ways.

First you're either part of a network of the host of the event.

Or the campaign or finance staff has identified an individual as a donor and has been networking that donor and trying to engage that donor in the campaign and they refer that donor to the host.

What should one expect when attending a fundraiser?

You shouldn't expect much. The whole idea behind the fundraising event is to raise money and support a candidate it's not to have the finest food.

There are different levels of events. If you're at a presidential level your guests are going to expect a much higher level, they want entertainment value out of it. If it's a society event you have to have good food.

As far as your normal fundraising event for someone running for U.S. Congress you want to keep it low cost.

Can you tell me about some of the more creative events you’ve produced?

You want to get creative with events to draw more people into the event for a higher dollar amount. 

For instance, I was developing a fundraising event that was a gator hunt in Louisiana. There are some costs associated with events like that. For instance, for a $10,000 PAC check I'd say $2000 went for the cost of the event. So that was higher, but it's going to create good will with the donor, it's going to be fun for the donor. 

The cost with an incumbent is usually higher than a challenger. You try to get more creative because PACs and individual donors, there's competition out there for the money you want.

Alison McSherry writes for Roll Call.

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