Organizing non-profit fundraising events is an effective way of cultivating support from previous donors while also attracting a new batch of donors. However, organizing an event is such a herculean task. You will need plenty of time to plan and implement it. Besides, hard work would be useless without enough financial support. The National Center for Charitable Statistics (NCCS) reveals that in the U.S. alone, more than 1.5 million nonprofit organizations are duly registered. This goes to say that if you are to come up with a fundraising event, it has to be something that really captures the attention of your target donors. If you are among those individuals who are not yet an expert in organizing nonprofit fundraising events, do not fret. The following guide will prove to be helpful.
Encourage Mobile Giving
Sometimes, it can be hard to rely on a fundraising event when you need to hit your financial goal. This is true especially if the event that you organized only encourages cash or checks from donors. This is when the need to use a software suite for mobile giving becomes very helpful. The use of this software provides easy access to donors since they only need to text to donate once they hear about the fundraising event that you organized. The best thing about this software is that they can donate anytime and anywhere they may be. So, even when they cannot attend your fundraising event, they can still give their donations via this software.
Define Your Goal
Note that when organizing an event it is important that you have one ultimate goal. Avoid making several goals otherwise, you will find yourself not being able to hit your ultimate goal. When setting up goals, always remember that it has to be specific and measurable. You have to be clear about the very reason for organizing such an event. You have to keep it in mind all throughout the time of planning and implementation of all the reasons why you need to raise such money and who that money is for. When you have these things in mind it will now be easier to create a promotional strategy along with an effective operational plan.
Provide a Great Experience for the Supporters of the Event
The event has to be simple yet inspiring. One way to do this is to invite the right people. Your invitation also needs to be compelling and attractive and at the same time. Make it more exciting by creating early bird pricing and other benefits that are exclusive only for early registrants. Solicit additional donations not just from the attendees of the event. Do the same thing as well to non-attendees. Encourage your attendees as well to spread the word about the event by posting it on their social media accounts. You could also design a fundraising flyer with information about any referral programs or just an encouragement for them to pass the information along to their friends and family, and add these along with small branded items to their event gift bag.
With so many non-profit organizations competing for attention from qualified donors, the pressure to reach your goals and objectives is real. Nevertheless, with the tips mentioned in this article, the entire process will become less daunting.
