Top 5 Reasons You Love to Hate Fundraising Events
I started my career as a special event fundraiser and I have a very firm belief that fundraising events serve a valuable role in the world of fundraising, but only if implemented “Wisely.” Many nonprofit professionals hate fundraising events and it is usually because of one or more of these reasons…
1. Raising Awareness as a Primary Goal
The purpose of a fundraising event is to raise money for your mission. Raising awareness is a secondary benefit. It’s easy to use the excuse that an event is beneficial for raising awareness when determining the return on investment of a popular event. If you are breaking even on revenue vs. expenses, however, you are actually losing money once you consider the value of staff and volunteer time. You can’t serve your mission with awareness unless that awareness translates to dollars. Therefore, the primary goal of every fundraising event should be to bring more resources to your agency.
2. Low Return on Investment (ROI)
Protect your organization’s resources, including the most valuable resource that you have: time. If your staff or volunteers are spending their time primarily focused on non-revenue generating activities, what money-making opportunities are falling through the cracks? Volunteer and donor energy should be leveraged for success. Every aspect of an event should contribute to the event’s overall return on investment, including games and entertainment. The maximum amount for event expenses is 25 percent of revenue, according to industry best practices. This doesn’t include staff time, which is important to consider when determining the long-term viability of any fundraising strategy. Perform a cost/benefit analysis of every aspect of the event. For example, silent auctions are fun, but if a donated $90 Instapot is handled 11 times by volunteers before it sells for $30, is this the best use of resources?
3. Your Board is Not Engaged
Board member suggestion: “ABC Nonprofit made six figures with their golf tournament. We should do one!” And yet, not a single board member secures a sponsor or recruits teams. Sound familiar? Setting expectations for board involvement and providing step-by-step guides and collateral will help board members be successful in supporting events. Consider having at least one board member on the event planning committee who will hold the other board members accountable for their support.
4. You Wait Too Long to Work on the Event
The greatest mistake that you can make with an event is waiting to start working on it. Cultivation of event sponsors is a year-round activity. The best time to begin securing sponsorships for next year’s event is immediately after this year’s event! If you recommit all of your sponsors within three months of your successful event, then you have at least six months to focus on securing new sponsors. All sponsors, corporations and individuals have annual budgets. Your goal is to be the first sponsorship that they are excited to put in their budget. If you wait until January to ask for sponsorship for an event in April, you have likely missed the fall budgeting season altogether. The ultimate event goal: Reach your sponsorship goal (better yet, sell out with sponsorship) three months out from your event, and then spend those three months focused on making it the best event possible. Waiting until the last minute equates to lost revenue and unnecessary stress and burnout.
5. You are Not Utilizing an Event Committee
We often hear that event committees are too much work to manage, and it’s just easier for staff to do everything. If managed effectively, volunteer committees can be the key to your event’s success. Consider this: You are one person with your sphere of connections and your available capacity. (Remember time is a valuable resource.) A committee of dedicated and well-led volunteers will quadruple your network and your capacity! Check out our blog post on 5 Tips on Maximizing Your Event Committee for how to get the most success out of your committee.
Wise Resource Development offers event services, which include full outsourcing of committee management, revenue-generation strategy, event planning and logistics, and sponsor activation. With over 30 years of combined special-event fundraising experience, Wise Resource Development can help you maximize your event for its greatest fundraising potential. Contact us for a consultation today.