How To Succeed With Fundraising Events

Here Is How To Have A Successful Fundraising Event:

• Decide what the purpose of your event is and what goals you are trying to achieve.
• Set goals for your event that makes sense.
• Select the right type of event.
• Get media and corporate sponsors.
• Design a dynamic experience for them and for event attendees.
• Invite the right people.
• Have a compelling and creative invitation that relates back to your cause.
• Create a sense of urgency with early bird prices and exclusive benefits for those who register early.
• Be green by only sending paper to those that need it.
• Sell most tickets online.
• Besides the ticket price, before the event, throughout the evening, and beyond it find creative, inspiring and motivating ways to solicit additional donations from your attendees and your non-attendees.
• Give them multiple options to donate beyond the ticket price.
• Ask ticket buyers to spread the word.
• Allow them easily share the event with Facebook buttons or tweets.
• Create a peer-to-peer fundraising campaign to complement your event.
• Make the event and the fundraising experience personal and interactive.
• Thank your donors and sponsors profusely and immediately.
• Encourage “out of the box” ideas.
• Strive to inform everyone you possibly can about the event.
• At your cocktail hour, showcase great photos & compelling stories about what you are doing.
• Use your website, social media, email and print as well as publicity to promote the heck out of your event.
• Make your event newsworthy.
• Have media sponsors and corporate sponsors heavily promote the event.
• Invite people to be champions for your event.
• Find those supporters who are the most passionate about your nonprofit and ask them to promote the event on their social media accounts.
• Once your event is over, make sure that you thank your supporters, cultivate new donors and provide event attendees with additional ways to connect to and support your nonprofit.
• Create a complete and comprehensive budget with all of the expenditures that will be required to make the event a success.
• Take into account your fundraising goal, ensuring that you raise that amount above and beyond all anticipated & unanticipated possible expenses.
• Also include a little extra room in your budget for unforeseen expenses.
• Recruit a VIP Host Committee comprised of wealthy donors, business leaders, and local celebrities.
• Select one or more chairpersons responsible for contributing substantial amounts to the event and encouraging others to do the same.
• Your event staff should plan the event logistics, arrangements and set-up well in advance.
• Develop a foolproof procedure (with backups) in place for making the actual ticket sales as well as accepting donations for the event.
• Pick the right venue.
• Pick a meal that your guests will truly enjoy.
• Limit any speeches or presentations to a very short, specified amount of time.
• Offer multiple ways to donate.
• Diversify the ways that you solicit donations, such as holding Auctions (Silent And/Or Live) or Raffles.
• Be sure to “wow” the crowd with your auction items if you decide to have an auction.
• Have an entertaining Master of Ceremonies unafraid of speaking in front of the crowd and able to create excitement.
• Ensure your registration table is fully staffed to prevent bottlenecks when your guests arrive.
• Have your check-out table also well-staffed so that your guests can quickly pay for the items they purchased.
• Assign staff members to assist your guests in retrieving their items.
• Do a full run-through of your event.
• Be sure that everyone who is working the event knows well in advance what their duties are, where they should be positioned during the event, and how the event is going to unfold.
• After the event, send thank-you notes to everyone who supported your event in any way whatsoever or was involved in any capacity.

P.S. Hire A Nonprofit Fundraising Consultant To Advise Guide & Inspire You!

P.P.S. Anything Else You Would Suggest?

The Author, Dr. John B. Charnay, CEO Of Charnay And Associates In Greater Los Angeles, Is A Top Nonprofit Special Events Expert And Fundraising Consultant Who Has Raised Over A Quarter Of A Billion Dollars During His Distinguished Career. He Has Been In Charge Of Numerous Major Fundraising Special Events And Has Frequently Lectured About Creativity In Special Events. He Often Strategically Advises Board Chairs And Facilitates Board Fundraising Retreats And Has Trained Numerous Boards And Development Directors And Their Staffs In Fundraising. He Has Extensive Experience Teaching At The Graduate And Undergraduate Levels At Leading Universities Throughout The Greater Los Angeles Area, Including USC, UCLA, CSUN, FIDM, Woodbury And Pepperdine And Others. Additionally, He Is A Top Strategic Marketing And Social Media Advisor...And An Award-Winning Public Relations Consultant And Publicist. He Has Been A Strategic PR Advisor To Many Famous Celebrities And Fortune 1000 CEOs. Additionally, He Serves As A Trusted Strategic Philanthropic Advisor To Numerous High Net Worth Individuals & Families & Family Offices. To Meet Him And Ask For His Assistance, Invite Him To Be LinkedIn (Email In Profile) And Contact Him Today!