Event guests wearing masks

Nonprofit Event Fundraising: They’ll Never Forget How You Made Them Feel

Event guests wearing masks

 

In Part 1 we looked at establishing event goals and objectives; then determining if an event was the most efficient and effective way to achieve desired outcomes. In Part 2 we reviewed 4 top event planning tips. In this last article of a three-part series on event planning we’ll look specifically at how to make the event “stick” emotionally.

1. Overall, we’ve recognized most events are less about actual monetary return on investment (ROI) than they are about return on engagement (ROE). In other words, if you’re doing an event purely to raise money there are other more cost-effective fundraising strategies.

2. However, events done right are an excellent awareness-raising, branding and donor cultivation tool. You just have to go into events fully cognizant of what success will look like, both from your organization’s and your donor’s perspectives.  Only armed with this understanding can you create events that will be worth your while.

3. Today we look at ways to make events – once you’ve decided to hold them – fulfill both your and your donors’ dreams. This is where you deliver on becoming unforgettable — in a truly great way — so the next time you reach out you are warmly embraced. In other words, this is the first step to getting event attendees to stick with you over time.

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Gala event room

Top Proven Nonprofit Fundraising Event Planning Tips

Gala event room

In my last article (Part 1 of a three-part event planning series) I offered a compendium of common sense event planning advice. It centered on the wisdom offered to Alice by the Cheshire Cat when she asked which road she should take:

“Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?”
“That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,” said the Cat.
“I don’t much care where–” said Alice.
“Then it doesn’t matter which way you go,” said the Cat.

— Alice in Wonderland

When it comes to special events, your goal is important.

Once you settle on a direction, then you’re able to pick the best road to take you there.

Hopefully you read the previous article, determined an event was your best strategic option to reach your primary end goal, and now you’re ready to get to work!

4 Top Planning Tips to Invite and Ignite

1. First you want people to come. 

This means your invitation to the event should incorporate the following:

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Jar of Coins

Do you wish you had a dime for…

Jar of Coins

Awareness alone is passive.

 

Do you wish you had a dime for every time a nonprofit board or staff member told you “We’re the best kept secret in town; if people knew what we do, they’d give to support us.”

Nonprofits tell me this all the time! If I had all those dimes, I could make a nice contribution to your cause.  And I would, if…

  • You endeavored to learn a little bit about me,
  • You engaged me personally,
  • You discovered my values match yours,
  • You offered me opportunities to connect with your mission and supporters that involved something other than money,
  • You showed me you knew what most engaged my passions, and…
  • Then you gave me the opportunity to enact my passions by asking me for a gift!

You see, merely “building awareness” will not ipso facto raise more money for your cause.

Just because I care about something, and somehow learn you are involved in doing something about that thing, doesn’t mean I’m going to support you financially.

Why should I?  There are a lot of good causes out there, and making a decision to invest in you is something I need to feel emotionally and then act on.

I’m busy.  I’m overloaded with information. And inertia is just too powerful a force.

You’ve got to do better than just hope I’ll stumble upon your website, see your social media post, hear about you on the news, or even open your direct email if you want me to really sit up, pay attention, and actively engage.

Especially if you want me to engage as a philanthropist.

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Three San Francisco Heart: The Way to My Heart. Soft Light First Flight. North Beach Millefiori. Artist-created to benefit San Francisco General Hospital Foundation.

Loyalty is the New Nonprofit Donor Currency: Part 1

That’s right. Loyalty. Not wealth. Not money. Not even attention. Because merely grabbing the attention of someone with either capacity or inclination to give is no guarantee philanthropy will follow. Today I’d like to illuminate: Truths about what drives philanthropy, Challenges nonprofits have developing and implementing strategies that take these truths into account, and Suggestions…

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a cup of coffee a la heart

Why Would a Donor Give to Your Charity?

a cup of coffee a la heart

What gets donors going? The heart, not the head.

 

“People do not give to the most urgent needs, but rather they support causes that mean something to them.”

This is the finding from a report done by the Centre for Charitable Giving and Philanthropy at the University of Kent: “How Donor Choose Charities.”  They begin their study from the widely-accepted premise that charities exist primarily to help needy people and the desire to meet needs is a key criterion in the selection of charitable beneficiaries. Interviews with committed donors found this was not the reason they gave. In brief, the study concludes:

Giving and philanthropy have always been supply-led rather than demand-driven: the freedom to distribute as much as one wants, to whom one chooses, is what distinguishes giving from paying tax. Yet the methods used to encourage donations tend to assume that philanthropy depends on objective assessments of need rather than on donors’ enthusiasms. The tendency to overestimate the extent to which people act as rational agents results in fundraising literature that often focuses on the dimensions and urgency of the problem for which funding is sought. The assumption underlying this approach is that donations are distributed in relation to evidence of neediness, when in fact much giving could be described as ‘taste-based’ rather than ‘needs-based’.

If there was ever a time to commit to finding out more about the folks on your mailing list so you know what floats their boats, this report indicates that time is decidedly NOW. Otherwise, you’re just “spraying and praying” as you buy into the conceit that “if only” folks knew about the need we address, they would give.  Because they should. That’s not why folks give.

People Don’t Always Behave Rationally

The truth is people are ruled by emotion more than objective data. We’re affected by stories we’re told and emotions we feel.

The study cites four criteria that influenced donor decision making. Perhaps surprisingly, they are not based on meeting your organization’s or your beneficiaries’ needs. Of course, these things factor in. But only after you’ve captured someone’s attention with something that relates to them and resonates with them personally and met the key influencing criteria.

THE FOUR KEY INFLUENCERS ARE:

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Man yelling into phone

How NOT to Ask for a Major Gift

Man yelling into phoneTwice at the end of last calendar year I was asked for a major gift.

Pretty much out of the blue.

Without much preparation, relationship-building or making of an inspiring case for support.

It was clear to me what the charity would get out of it: my money. It was not so clear what I would get out of it. Should I not care?

  • Perhaps not.

  • Perhaps if I were the ideal, perfect donor I would give with no expectation of receiving anything in return.

  • Perhaps if I were less ego-centric, I’d just do it because it was the “right thing to do.”

  • Perhaps if I were not on a quest for personal meaning, I’d give just because the person who asked is someone I know (though, not all that well); it would give them a feeling of success, and that would bring me some happiness.

  • Perhaps if I were not searching for a community of folks who share my values, I’d give without quite understanding the depth and breadth of values enacted by these charities or without having met more of the people involved.

  • Perhaps if I were not examining what it is that sparks joy in my life, I’d give whether or not this cause was currently at the top of my list or I’d been given opportunity for reflection and consideration.

But I’m not perfect.

I’m betting most of your donors aren’t either.

Donors have expectations… egos… personal meaning they’re seeking… communities they’d like to form… and cups of joy that need filling. Otherwise they wouldn’t be human.

And even if you could find a perfect donor prospect, in the instances where I was asked the case for why this was the right thing for me to do wasn’t even made all that well. The ask was about money, not impact.

There was simply an assumption that since I’d shown interest in the past, I would welcome this opportunity to demonstrate my interest even more passionately.

Okay. That’s not a bad starting place. But… you should never assume. You know what they say about the word “assume,” right?

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