Fyre Festival 2 and the incurable addiction of special events

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We're diving into the captivating story of the Fyre Festival and exploring how it serves as both a shining example and cautionary tale for special events in fundraising.

At their best, special events can:

1. Brings corporate partners onboard?
2. Be a physical manifestation of your mission?
3. Gather people in community, and build affinity?
4. Acquire new donors
5. Build richer context around your content?
6. Create excitement because of the date-driven event
7. Create all sorts of content and other engagement opportunities?
8. Involve volunteers in co-building a meaningful experience?

But as always, the real money is in the follow-up and the relationships built.

There are also downsides to consider:

1. A myriad of hidden costs?
2. No true accounting or attribution?
3. In many cases, terrible donor retention?
4. Gifts that aren’t meaningful; rather obligatory?
5. Can cause internal strife and stress?
6. Can distract from building actual relationships?
7. Can get you stuck on the donor acquisition hamster wheel?
8. Without a follow-up strategy, loses a lot of value?

So, where do you land? We'd love to hear your thoughts.

Have you had experiences with special events in fundraising? Share your stories and insights with us.?

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Quotes this Week

• "Promoting donors to loneliness? You might be."
• "2 things that need to change in annual fundraising: better prospecting, more community"

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ABOUT THE HOSTS

Mike Duerksen hosts?the Build Good Fundraising Podcast. ?He’s the founder and CEO of?BuildGood , a fundraising agency that helps nonprofits raise more money from individual donors.

Louis Diez advises nonprofits in annual fund development, digital fundraising, and engagement strategies. He's the host of the Donor Participation Project and founder of the Annual Fund Toolkit .