10 Things Venues Should Know When Working with Nonprofit Event Clients

by A.J. Steinberg, CFRE, of Queen Bee Fundraising

Hospitality professionals are always striving to meet all their clients’ needs. This is especially true for banquet teams who must adapt their services and sensibilities for each particular type of event. They know weddings require polish and the most attentive service while a bar mitzvah bash can call for more creativity, flexibility and tolerance. Much has been written about working with brides and conferences, but almost nothing is out there to guide your team when it comes to nonprofit clients. 

While weddings and social events are usually one-off events, galas and fundraising events are a reliable part of your venue’s yearly banquet bookings. They can, however, take up an overly large chunk of your time and patience trying to deal with these clients. I have seen seasoned high-end hotel banquet managers roll their eyes and ball their fists in frustration after a particularly tense face off with a nonprofit client.

As a 20-year veteran nonprofit event producer, I feel your pain. I understand the frustration of year-after-year explaining BEOs to new event chairs and scrambling to figure out guest counts when gala RSVPs are still rolling in. I feel a kindred spirit to all the banquet captains who are spinning their wheels with each event as a new, inexperienced staff member is handed the task of overseeing the planning.

To make your life easier and to save you from repeatedly banging your head against the Hobart in frustration, I have compiled this list of 10 things you should know about working with nonprofits that may save your sanity.

1. Inconsistency is Consistent: Just like the hotel industry which faces an annual turnover rate hovering around 73%, the nonprofit job sector is similar dicey. Chances are that the staffer you worked with on last year’s gala has probably packed up their do-gooder beanie and moved on up to another charity. This means that all the time and effort you took to mentor that staff member last year is wasted when the newbie steps in to manage the event. 

Solution: Write up a list of protocols for your nonprofit clients which you hand out when you sign on each new fundraising event. These written protocols will outline what you expect the organization to do and provide, and will let them know what they can expect from your team as well. 

2. There are Many Cooks Stirring the Event Pot: Those staff members doing the walkthrough of your venue may seem like a capable, decisive bunch but don’t let that veneer of competency fool you. These folks are just the tip of the decision-making iceberg, with a dangerously complex mass of pseudo-governing bodies lurking beneath the placid waters just waiting to poke holes in your event-planning prow. Just be aware that there are executive boards, advisory boards, event committees and nosy donors who all want to weigh in on the content and logistics of an organization’s fundraising event. You may hear one budget number from one group only to have that corrected downward by a large percent after another group weighs in, and other frustrating complications like that.

Solution: Right at the start of the planning process identify the very tippy-top dog for decision making. Be clear that any decisions that are passed on to you must first be approved by the big cheese before they are incorporated into the event plan. For major decisions, reconfirm in writing that the choice has been approved by the top decision-maker before you include that in the BEO.

3. They Exist in a World of Scarcity: While brides live in a Pinterest universe of gorgeous excess and must-have whimsy, most non-profits exist in a hand-to-mouth world that relies on the kindness of strangers to keep their doors open. It is a scary place to be, and often the internal office chatter revolves around the desperate need for funds. This is why brides ask for floral-infused hand-crafted artisan vodka tastings and your nonprofits are asking if they can sneak in that bargain bin mystery red wine that someone unloaded – I mean donated - to them. Believe me, these organizations want candied violets floating in cotton candy nests in their drinks too, but they really can’t justify the cost when staffers are taking pay cuts just to keep the lights on.

Solution: Be a friend to these organizations by being up front about their true budgets. Educate them on ways they can wisely allocate their money and let them know where they can cut corners. Your wise counsel will save them frustration and heartache (what, no candy violets!?!) and you wasted time repeatedly updating the event order.

4. They Have No Idea What You are Talking About: You know that feeling you get when you go to the doctor and he shows you an x-ray and uses all that incomprehensible medical jargon to explain what he sees in that image? Well, that is the same feeling your nonprofit clients get when you start talking about BEOs, COIs, AV, schematics, and all the other hospitality/event planner lingo. To them “dropping the salads” is cause for alarm. Your use of acronyms and phrases that are unknown to the nonprofit staffer will make them uncomfortable and they will most likely be too embarrassed to ask questions and we all know that an uninformed, ignorant client is not a good thing.

Solution: Create a glossary of event planning terminology that you distribute to nonprofit clients when they sign the contract. Let them know you are available to clarify any of the phrases or words they don’t understand. Trust me, they will be grateful, and you will be able to communicate on a much higher level.

5. You Need to Be the Voice of Reason: As a hospitality professional you know what it takes to create efficiently-run, beautiful events. Your nonprofit clients, on the other hand, have almost no event experience and are being crushed by the enormous pressure of budget restraints, board member complaints, event committee whims, and over-arching expectations. To them the path to creating an engaging and profitable event is not clear and they are desperately attempting to make the right decisions despite the conflicting directives being thrown their way. 

Solution: If you see a nonprofit making bad decisions about their event or veering off course with their budget, please step in with polite suggestions and solutions. Your client will be grateful for the input, and hopefully will be able to get the organization’s powers-that-be to make corrections to get the event back on course for success.

6. They need help with AV: Seasoned event professionals know the importance of working closely with the audio-visual team. We know that the AV crew makes sure the lighting in the room is beautiful, the sound quality is crisp, and the graphics and videos make an impact. Most nonprofits, however, don’t even know what the A and the V in audio-visual stands for! There is nothing sadder than an otherwise well-run event being a dud because the guests can’t see or hear what is going on up on the stage. Beware of organizations that have their AV “donated” as this most likely means they are bringing in an unfamiliar, often unqualified, company who will stumble through the setup and muck up the run of show. Please help your nonprofit clients make informed decisions and grasp the importance of working with qualified AV professionals!

Solution: If you have an in-house AV team or a reliable AV company familiar with your venue, have them contact the client to discuss what a typical nonprofit event requires for AV success. Ask your AV company to create a handout that outlines typical nonprofit event AV needs and the cost for each element. You might ask them to throw in some definitions of AV lingo, so the organizations are up to speed on what is being offered them. 

7. Give them a break when you can: Harkening back to the scarcity mentality that exists in most nonprofits, there are places in their event budget that organizations will try to cut corners which can negatively impact the overall quality of their event. As an event producer I know there are little extras which a venue or AV team can toss in to enhance a fundraising event. If you know that some extra pipe and drape is needed to finish off the décor behind the stage, it really costs you next to nothing to add it to the order, and corkage fees can be lowered to make it feasible for that donated wine to be served at dinner, and maybe that extra WiFi charge can be negotiated downward. It isn’t that these nonprofits want to nickel and dime you, but nickels and dimes make a huge difference to a nonprofit’s budget. And take note – if you help an organization succeed with their event this year, they will be eternally grateful and will become a repeat customer year after year. A little help goes a long way to cultivating a long-term relationship.

Solution: Know in advance the places you can help with a nonprofit event’s budget and offer to discount or donate these small items. Also, consider asking for a sponsorship position for the event, and investigate if any concessions you make with their budget can be considered an “in kind” donation which can be a tax write off for your venue.

8. Give them as much time as possible to set up: When working with wedding clients, the vendors are usually professionals who have seasoned staff to deliver and set up for an event. This is definitely not the case for most nonprofit events. The organization’s staff is usually tasked with lugging all their registration equipment, auction items, and collateral materials to your venue. There are also many details unique to a fundraiser that are time consuming for set up such as silent auctions, volunteer centerpiece assembly, and cashiering. Therefore, it benefits both you and the nonprofit client to carve out time and space for them to bring their event items to your venue as much in advance as possible. Most nonprofits don’t realize how long it takes to set up for an event and they often fail to complete the setup on time. For you, it is frustrating to watch the volunteers fumbling and unprepared as guests arrive to check in. For a nonprofit, that is downright terrifying.

Solution: If possible, find a room that can be offered to the client for storage the day before their event. Even if they can’t set up in the ballroom, they can at least get all their stuff onsite so they can get a jump on setting up early the morning of the event. If they want to assemble their centerpieces at the venue, try to find a place where they can work with the floral that is out of direct sunlight and has access to water close by. 

9. Make sure they arrange for break down and clean up: Many organizations are so focused on setting up and running their event that they drop the ball when it comes to post-event duties. There is nothing sadder than watching exhausted nonprofit folk in formal attire lugging cartloads of leftover centerpieces, unsold auction items, unread collateral material, and registration equipment after an event is over. You knew these items would need to be removed immediately following an event, and they knew it too. They just seem to always forget to assign volunteers for clean up after the event is finished.

Solution: Inquire well in advance of the event as to who will be the point person for the post-event walkthrough and final sign-off. At that time, also ask who will be responsible for removing centerpieces from dining area, auction items, and other materials that must be removed and transported to the organization’s offices. Ask if carts will be needed to move the items, and if they had a list of folks whose cars will be used for transporting these. Your inquiry will alert the client that these items need to be considered and a plan in place prior to the event.

10. Give them a little love: No matter how organized event preparation is, some things just don’t go according to plan. It is stressful, but as professionals we know how to be flexible and quickly pivot to find acceptable options in the blink of an eye. This, however, is not the case with the typical nonprofit staffer tasked with overseeing an event. They are paralyzed with fears – fear tickets won’t sell, fear volunteers won’t show up, fear setup will be a mess, fear the event will lose money. They need some emotional support, a metaphorical high-five to let them know they are doing a great job and it will all turn out ok. Be a pal, give them some encouragement that things will work themselves out.

Solution: Stop by during the event setup to see how things are going. Talk to the person overseeing the operation and find out if there are any spots they are struggling with or behind on. If you can lend a hand or staff to get things back on track that is great. Even if you can only offer them reassurance that most event setups are chaotic and the end result will be great, that is a big help as well. Remember, your kindness can do a world of good for the morale of the entire event team and have a huge positive impact on the event itself. Your thoughtfulness will definitely be remembered when it is time for the nonprofit to choose a venue for next year’s event.

About A.J. Steinberg, CFRE, founder of Queen Bee Fundraising: A.J. Steinberg has created outstanding fundraising events since 1999 with her Los Angeles-based event planning company Masquerade Events and has helped raise millions of dollars for nonprofit organizations. In 2015, A.J. launched Queen Bee Fundraising to teach the art of nonprofit event planning to organizations worldwide through webinars, workshops, and consulting.