Fundraising Events: A Focus On Human Resources

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Biz Take Away - A Focus On Who

Fundraising events not only bring awareness to the community about important social, health, and economic issues, but they also often generate funds to continue carrying out service work. However, in the world of fundraising, events are one of the most time-consuming and laborious ways to raise funds so often organizations hesitate to take the first step.

We know that lack of money, human resources or time are the biggest reasons non profit organizations choose not to host or grow existing events.

In our last blog post, we focused on money often being a prohibitive factor. Equally discouraging can be a lack of resources. Even if you are ready to take the financial risk that is sometimes required, before you put all your effort into a great event, you often need to assess your resources.

Do you have not only what, but who, it takes to pull off a successful event?

The question is how do you determine what support team is needed and furthermore, ensure that they are in place in a timely manner to guarantee fundraising success?

While each organization is different, here are some quick tips on how to strengthen your resource base.

1) One Chief - So you are the Executive Director, Director of Development and Accountant for your non-profit and there is just no way you can be in charge of an event as well. Well here is good news; you want to select one person to actually be chief over all details and then report to you. This will allow you to manage and see big picture, instead of being bogged down by the details. This also will allow you to, most importantly, raise funds.

2) One More - But. . you don’t have anyone on your staff that can do this and plus, they are all way too busy. Thankfully, there are lots of wonderful event coordinators/planners whose profession is to do just what you don’t have the time to do; run around and get all the little details together. We recommend adding one more staffer to the team to be the key coordinator. This will help you and your staff focus on all the donor communications, fund raising and media outreach needed. The return on investment will be evident if roles are clearly defined and all involved are empowered to do their jobs.

3) One Team - You still don’t feel like you have enough support. There is so much to do; calls to donors, acknowledgement letters, outreach for silent auction products, working with speakers, reviewing printed materials and so on. The most financially friendly way to expand your support team is by adding a solid volunteer base to support your paid staffers and coordinators. As much as volunteer management can seem like a lot to take on, remember that volunteers are your connection to your community. Create event specific volunteer positions (i.e., “Event Committee”) that allow local community members to get involved, be given attainable goals and feel fulfilled  . . . and good about your organization. It is sure to be a “win win!“

4) One Day - Give yourself six to ten months to prepare. When the day of your event comes, experience tells us you will be only as good as you have prepared to be. With adequate time for all parties to cross T’s and dot I’s, you should be able to walk into your event feeling confident that you have done all you can to make it a success. That one day event can have a great impact on your organization for a very long time, so make it count.

TIP: Events evolve. . so don’t expect perfection, but instead embrace the journey, learn from experiences, surround yourself with professionals, get advice and keep moving forward.

Liz Glover Wilson, CMP, CSEP
Elizabeth Rose Consulting
www.elizabethroseconsulting.com

Fundraising Events: A Focus On Money

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Many non-profit organizations love events and so do I! 

Fundraising events bring awareness to your cause; attracting new donors, volunteers and press coverage. The end goal is to build a stronger pool of contributors and ultimately secure more funds to keep your programs active within your community.

Lack of money, resources or time are the biggest reasons non profit organizations choose not to host an event.

Let’s first focus on money. How many times have you heard, “We don’t have the money to host an event!”?

While some start-up money is needed for most events to cover the costs of deposits, support services and other misc. items, a well-planned fundraising event should be self-sustaining; paying for itself in full through all revenue collected. Really? Yes!

So how do you determine how much you need to a) pay for your event and b) meet fundraising (net) goals?

Here is a brief overview of the steps that will help you gain a clear picture. For a new event, this due diligence period can take 30 to 60 days.

1) Set your fundraising goal. Tip: When first starting out, keep your fundraising goal reasonable and focused. Identify what you are raising funds for. This will help you get the maximum level of "buy-in" from the most amount of supporters. Remember that people want to be part of something that makes them feel important.

2) Choose the type of event you would like to hold. Should it be a gala, auction, golf tournament, gallery showing, walk-a-thon or a night of entertainment? Tip: Choose what you feel best reflects your organization and will best attract constituents. Also, consider whether the type of event you choose has potential to bring in the revenue you are looking to generate. For example, you would not want to host a car wash if you wanted to net $50,000.

3) Draft a budget. First write out all the expenses associated with your ideal event. You can find samples of comprehensive budgets templates on-line. We know budget building is not always a barrel of laughs, but we encourage you to put together a very detailed budget and consider ALL areas of cost. This will help you avoid many of those surprise expenses that sometime come up later. This portion of planning will take the longest, as we advise you get actual proposals from venues and vendors to get a true sense of cost.  

I also recommend putting out feelers in the community for possible in-kind donations to get a sense of what type of community partners may be interested. While the ideal for all non-profit organizations is to have everything donated, it is important in this phase to put in writing the true cost of all line items to help you understand the value of your project. Tip: Know what the IRS expects for reporting your special event. Click here for a great blog entry on this from Non Profit After Hours. <http://nonprofitafterhours.blogspot.com/2010/05/special-events-reporting.html>

4) Identify and solidify revenue sources. Tickets, tables, raffles, journal advertisements, sponsorship packages and more; determine what your revenue sources will be. Create several options/levels of involvement in order to include a broader scope of participants at different economic status. Tip: Create a projection chart that allows you to review different configurations of sales that will help you meet your goal. Review this with board members, committee and existing donors to test the strength of your ticket levels. Make sure it is not prohibitive to local participation. Be sure to have something for individuals (possibly also young professionals), local business, corporations and other organizations.

5) Three tier final review. You have just reviewed your revenue strength, now I highly recommend this last (important) step. . .GO BACK to your budget with a magnifying glass and tighten it up. When reviewing your budget again, there are three categories expenses fall into;

           

1) YOU MUST HAVE - You must have a venue. You must have food. You must have a bathroom facility. You must have invitations. You must have a microphone and speaker system. You get the point. These are items that are critical to the functionality of your event.

Tip: Look for new venues or venues that are heavily marketing themselves and create a cross-marketing benefits package. This will reduce your cost and increase       their local visibility.

2) YOU WOULD LIKE TO HAVE - You would like to have centerpieces. You would like to have a video. You would like to have an upgraded stage lighting package. You would like a full-color program. These are the items that will give your event a more professional touch.

Tip: Create sponsorship packages for local business to participate in supplying these items.

3) YOU CAN LIVE WITHOUT - You can live without your event volunteers having matching t-shirts. You can live without personalized menu’s. You can live without plasma screens. These are the extra special touches that are the first to go when reviewing and tightening up your budget.

Tip: If revenue is exceeding expectations, you can always add back the extra special touches. However, we advise that you only do if it is crucial. You want to have a professional and inspirational event, but you also do not want to look like your spending your donors money on too many “bells and whistles.”

Remember - Balance is everything.  

Liz Glover Wilson, CMP, CSEP
Elizabeth Rose Consulting
www.elizabethroseconsulting.com