Planning Your Next Nonprofit Fundraising Event: 5 Tips
Events play a significant part in most nonprofits’ fundraising strategies, and for good reason. Whether you host an annual auction or weekly community BBQs, nonprofit events offer powerful opportunities for your organization to form deeper connections with your existing supporters, attract new donors, and bring the community together around your cause.
Many fundraising events also have the potential for a high return on investment (ROI), helping you bring in significant funding for your organization’s programs and projects. However, this is only the case if you plan thoroughly and strategically.
In this guide, we’ll share five tips for planning successful fundraising events and direct you to valuable tools and resources that will take your fundraisers to the next level. Let’s get started!
1. Consider Your Audience
Before you start planning the logistics of your event, you need to decide what type of event you’ll host. This decision will depend on your audience and goals. For instance, do you want to engage longtime supporters or attract new ones? Is the purpose to build up the community ahead of a major campaign? Or steward relationships with your top donors?
Reflect on your current fundraising strategy, campaign timeline, and goals to identify an audience. Then, refer to the information in your donor database, searching for any particular audience preferences or event interests.
Depending on your chosen audience and their interests, you might decide to host fundraising events like:
Galas. The formal nature of these events often appeals most to major donors and board members. Bring your lead donors together for a celebratory evening of entertainment, food, and speeches about your nonprofit’s work and future.
Auctions. Whether live or silent, auctions can engage all kinds of supporters through friendly competition and exciting prizes. If you host this event, choose auction items that align with the audience’s interests.
5Ks or walk-a-thons. 5Ks invite your more athletic supporters to gather casually and have fun challenging themselves, while walk-a-thons offer more flexibility for community members of all ages to join.
Family activities. Outdoor movie screenings, bingo nights, or holiday craft events are great for families looking for activities they can do with their children. Fundraise by charging an admission fee, selling concessions, or setting up a donation box.
If your nonprofit has hosted any of these events in the past, review the attendance data to see which ones were most popular with certain groups. You might also consider surveying supporters about which events appeal to them and if they’d rather attend an in-person, virtual, or hybrid fundraiser.
2. Invest in the Right Tools
No matter what type of event you plan, your fundraiser will go more smoothly if you have the right nonprofit software to help you manage it from the start. Consider the tools that might be helpful for your chosen fundraising event, such as:
An event management solution to track your total registrations and donations.
Marketing tools such as an email management system and social media calendar.
A specialized peer-to-peer fundraising platform to support an a-thon event.
Auction software with mobile bidding capabilities for silent auctions.
Livestreaming software for hybrid or virtual fundraising events.
Online survey tools that enable you to easily send, track, and analyze post-event surveys.
In some cases, you can find one platform that fulfills multiple functions, such as an event management solution with bidding and livestreaming capabilities. Compare the features and cost of each type of software and invest in the ones that will be most beneficial to your organization long-term.
Consider ease of use as you evaluate your options, too. You may need volunteers with limited training to use your software during the event, so the simpler and more intuitive your tools are, the better.
3. Use a Multi-Channel Marketing Strategy
As with any fundraiser your organization launches, it’s best to market your events using multiple channels. The more touchpoints you create, the greater the chance that your supporters and community members will discover your event.
To promote your fundraising events effectively, start with these common marketing channels:
Your organization’s website. Create a page with a title like “Upcoming Events” where you list the logistical details and a short description of each event you’re planning. For large-scale events like auctions or galas, you might also create full pages for each event.
Social media. Post the date and time of the event as soon as those details are finalized so supporters can mark their calendars. Then, provide additional information as it becomes available. Use social media to ramp up excitement by sharing sneak peeks, photos from past events, and reminders of registration deadlines.
Email marketing. Many nonprofit marketing tools allow you to automatically personalize the greeting and subject line of email blasts, so you can invite each supporter on your contact list to your event by name.
Fundraising flyers. Both print and digital flyers can catch supporters’ attention if they’re well-designed and informative.
Direct mail. While many nonprofits focus mostly on digital marketing, direct mail can serve as an effective supplement to your online content, especially if you’re trying to reach supporters in older demographics.
In each of your marketing materials, include a link or QR code to your event registration form. This way, supporters can take action as soon as they see your message, and you’ll likely increase your registration numbers.
Remember to consider your audience at this stage, too. For instance, say you want to reach community members who are unfamiliar with your nonprofit to expand your organization’s support base. You might post event flyers in popular community spaces like your civic center and local coffee shop and tag community groups and local businesses in your social media posts.
4. Tap into Corporate Philanthropy Opportunities
To boost your fundraising event’s reach and potential revenue, consider partnering with a business or tapping into other corporate giving opportunities at your event.
Companies everywhere prioritize corporate social responsibility (CSR) and philanthropy, thanks to more and more employees and consumers demanding that businesses take social action. While every business’s approach is different, most include several programs designed to support nonprofits that align with the company’s values. This presents plenty of opportunities for your organization to tap into.
For example, a few common CSR strategies you can leverage for fundraising events include:
Event sponsorships: If you have a positive relationship with a local business or identify a company that frequently sponsors nonprofits similar to yours, ask them about a potential event sponsorship. The business may pay for all of your marketing materials, supply a large donation, or provide a venue at no cost in exchange for promoting their brand at the event.
Matching gifts: As one of the most popular corporate giving programs, matching gifts offer incredible fundraising potential for nonprofits. These companies commit to matching all eligible donations at a 1:1 (or even 2:1!) ratio, meaning a $50 gift at your event could turn into $100. Some companies even match dollars raised by employees in peer-to-peer campaigns like walk-a-thons.
Corporate volunteering programs: To incentivize volunteering, many businesses offer special programs. These include volunteer time off, team volunteer days, and volunteer grants, which are financial contributions to nonprofits where employees regularly volunteer. Ask event volunteers to look into these opportunities and see if they can use them to increase their support.
To find opportunities that are a good fit for your organization, start with any existing business relationships you have. Ask well-connected board members and major donors if they can make introductions, or look through your database to find companies that employ large numbers of your supporters. Businesses you already have a connection with will be more likely to support your event and extend that assistance into the future.
5. Balance Donor Acquisition and Retention
Successful events should help you bring in new donor prospects and connect existing supporters more closely with your cause. While your focus may be on acquisition or stewardship for a certain event, try to balance these efforts to keep all event guests engaged.
For instance, you might take the following actions to engage both potential and existing donors at your event:
Make an announcement thanking all existing supporters and welcoming new community members.
Add new supporters to your email list so you can communicate with them about other opportunities to engage with your nonprofit, such as volunteering, after the event ends.
Send personalized thank-you messages to everyone who participated in or donated during the event.
Create a follow-up survey to gauge what guests would like to see when attending future events.
Make sure to add any valuable information from new supporters’ registration forms (for instance, their contact details and how they found out about the event) to your donor management system. That way, you’ll have the information on hand to continue building long-term relationships with these supporters well into the future.
After you host your next fundraising event using these tips, analyze the event’s success and take note of your organization’s wins and challenges. Use these insights to improve planning strategies for future events and ultimately boost your chances of reaching your long-term fundraising goals.