Tips for a Successful Fundraising Event

Our team completed a 2nd year of running logistics for a local nonprofit annual fundraiser and we wanted to share our success with you along with some tips!

The Planning 
Our efforts began a bit later than what I would normally recommend. We were tasked with overall management of a silent auction, ticket sales, sponsorship, and decor.

TIP #1: If you host an annual event the planning should always begin the week after your last event. So, always make sure to lock in contracts for future venues at least a year in advance.

There are so many moving parts to planning events and one of the first things that important to note are the roles and responsibilities of all parties involved. This could be staff, board members, committee and outside vendors. Depending on timeframe also you may notice that committee attendance and support can decline. When hiring a company it’s important that they are able to handle the demand of the entire event and have a team to assist! It’s OK to ask who is on your team.

Tip #2:  Have all committee members sign a form detailing out the roles, responsibilities and commitment level that is expected.

We know that time is a premium for so many these days so make it easy for them to participate. Move in person meetings to teleconference. I learned from my band director in high school- “To be on time is to be early”. It is incredibly important as well that all members of the committee and leadership are respectful of time. You’ll get more accomplished and to state the obvious (or maybe not) please make sure to always have an agenda for each meeting. It will help keep you on track.

Running a Silent Auction 
One event that we have done blended social time, silent auction, speakers and a sit down dinner. From a planner perspective the best part is seeing how you can transform the venue.

For one of our clients we increased our space for the 2017 event which allowed for a more comfortable flow.

So, how do you know how many items you need for a successful event? This will be based on your event and budget. Budget is key because those are the goals you strive for! For us our second year working on this particular event saw an overall increase of about 20-25% in each area.

Tip #3: Quality over quantity. Choose quality items for bidding versus quantity. This requires you to know your clientele. 

Are they big spenders so it would be best to work with a company to bring them big ticket items? Are they families–so add in more experiences? I typically try to have a blend and really strive to support local businesses and experiences in and around the areas the attendees to our events happen to live and work.

Silent Auction Numbers
Focusing efforts on the local businesses that we mentioned above helped us with one client see an increase of 40.5% in silent auction revenue! All but six items sold! And of those six items three of them were repeat items so some sold just not all.

Tip #4: Have items that don’t sell? Use an online fundraising site set up immediately following and push to those who couldn’t attend. There are also sites that allow you to have online bidding happening while in person bidding takes place. 

The key to the tip above is to make sure you have it in place before your event so you can make mention to those who can’t attend and you can also post it in your program that attendees can take home.

Setting the Scene
When do you outgrow space? We had a jam packed event one year for a client in which literally there were no seats available. However, other times we’ve opened space up and seen the same amount of seats taken because we had more space-only the numbers remained the same. If you have an event and have literally sold out every seat for 2 years it’s time to grow so I would recommend moving on to something else.

Tip #5: Know your potential. Let’s say you have 100 attendees one year and the next year you also have 100 well how many of those are returning versus new? The goal is to get as many new and also retain which makes it a scalable event. 

The Overall Big Picture
When you are trying to determine how the event is running overall it’s important to look at all areas. If you are doing a fundraiser make sure to take into account all income items you budgeted for which usually includes silent auction, sponsorships and one-time donations during the evening. Remember your budget is crucial to the end result.

For one client we saw a 172% increase in sponsorship revenue. When you have anomalies like that it’s important to report out why they exist. If something like this occurs it’s usually do to an increase in sponsors. What’s vital is to get them to sign-on immediately for the future year.

Tip #6: Engage all board members and executive leadership. When it comes to raising money for your organization it’s critical that the board of directors is engaged. Most have in their bylaws that the board has a fiduciary responsibility however, you need to engage them and cheer them on.

I am very clear that I am not an official fundraiser however, am happy to find someone who can assist in those efforts. I have no issues asking for money yet when you want to get the big donors in it’s always best to have the Executive team or your board be the face of the organization and making the ask.