The Next Big Event: 6 Steps to Make Your Fundraising Event a Great Success

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1 The Next Big Event: 6 Steps to Make Your Fundraising Event a Great Success A free ebook from your friends at Network for Good

2 This ebook was written by Katya Andresen (CSO of Network for Good, blogger at nonprofitmarketingblog.com and author of Robin Hood Marketing: Stealing Corporate Savvy to Sell Just Causes), with contributions from our partners at givezooks!, Elizabeth Rose Consulting, Network for Good staff and other experts. About Network for Good The Home of Easy & Affordable Online Fundraising At Network for Good, we help you become an online fundraising and marketing superhero without superhuman effort or a big budget. Here are a few of the ways how we can help nonprofits succeed online: 7. Nonprofit911.org: Participate in our free webinar training series on nonprofit marketing and online fundraising, supported by Network for Good and our guest speakers 8. TheNetworkforGood.org: Join our online community where nonprofit professionals connect with each other 1. Easy, affordable fundraising solutions: Get donations on your website with DonateNow 2. campaign and newsletter tools: Now powered by Emma for sending and tracking mass s and telling you which messages work best 3. Online event management: EventsNow powered by givezooks! for accepting donations, registrations and ticket purchases online 4. Donor management: Store information about all of your constituents in one database and effectively manage your marketing campaigns with Common Ground powered by Network for Good 5. Free weekly fundraising and marketing tips: Sign up here for great advice delivered to your inbox each week We re biased, but we think there are many good reasons to work with us: Kinship. We understand you because we're a nonprofit, too Value. We handle the tough parts of online fundraising for you ROI. Our customers raise $25 for every dollar they spend Support. We provide lots of training and support via phone, or in our community 6. Fundraising123.org: Our free online learning center is filled with ideas and best practices on what it takes to be an online fundraising superhero network for good 6 Steps to Make Your Fundraising Event a Great Success 2

3 Hosting an Event This Year? Now Network for Good can help you bring those events online with EventsNow powered by givezooks!, DonateNow s complement (which, by the way, has no additional set-up or monthly fee!). EventsNow will help you: Sell More Tickets by offering online registration and special ticket packages and use SocialEvents for Pages to crowdsource attendance, donations and support. Receive More Donations when offering ticket sales and donations in one place. Save Time by letting us handle the ticket sales, leaving you more time to focus on your event s success. Reduce Costs by eliminating direct mail. (Plus, no merchant account is required Network for Good processes all credit card transactions.) Here s a snapshot of what features you can expect: Ready to Learn More about EventsNow? Introduce yourself to have one of our fundraising specialists reach out to you, and then take advantage of a few events-related goodies in the Learning Center (links will appear after you enter your info!): Or, Ready to Get Started with EventsNow? Already a DonateNow user? Log into your account and click on Get Started Now where it mentions EventsNow. Not a DonateNow user? Sign up for EventsNow here >> Create and publish a customized online event page. Sell tickets or offer free RSVP to any event gala, golf benefit, etc. Sell sponsorship and recognize sponsors on your page. Solicit donations from non-attendees (even your attendees can append additional donations we know that about 10-25% will!). Create, send & track invitations and reminders. Promote your event through Facebook and Twitter. Automatically generate custom thank-you and tax receipt s for ticket-buyers and donors. Track event performance in real-time. SocialEvents for Pages - use this amazing new application that allows you to sell tickets and sponsorships right from your Facebook page. network for good 6 Steps to Make Your Fundraising Event a Great Success 3

4 Table of Contents The Vision Thing Step 1: Set a Goal that Makes Sense The Main Event Step 2: Choose the Right Type of Event Taking Care of Business Step 3: Secure Corporate Sponsors That s the Ticket Step 4: Design a Dynamic Experience for Your Supporters Extra, Extra, Hear All About it Step 5: Promote the Heck Out of Your Event What s Next Step 6: Assess What Worked (and Didn t), Plan for Next Time and Keep Up Your Relationships Other Goodies from Network for Good Online Fundraising DonateNow DonateNow is an online donation processing service for nonprofits to accept credit card gifts on the Web. It is user-friendly, affordable and customizable giving your donors the best experience and your nonprofit the most bang for its buck (typical returns are $25 back for each $1 spent on DonateNow!). Outreach Now powered by Emma Now was built by marketing experts to do the tough stuff for you. It allows nonprofits to send beautiful appeals without a designer or software engineer and without worrying about HTML or CAN-SPAM laws. Online Events EventsNow powered by givezooks! EventsNow is an online events processing service to help nonprofits easily and quickly accept ticket purchases and donations online, while helping you manage invitations and registration within your account, all with no setup or monthly subscription fees! Visit to get started, or call x1 to speak with one of our fundraising specialists who would be happy to provide more information! Live Training The Learning Center, Nonprofit 911 & Tips Weekly Our programs and materials help nonprofit leaders become online fundraising and marketing superheroes. Take advantage of free strategy lessons online, on the phone and in your inbox. network for good 6 Steps to Make Your Fundraising Event a Great Success 4

5 The Vision Thing Step 1: Set a Goal That Makes Sense In this step, you ll learn: How to set and measure goals for your event 4 tips to turn your awareness event into a fundraising event The first step to designing your event is to take a step that is so tempting to skip: Clearly articulate the grand plan. You need to ask yourself: Who is my audience? What venues are the best to reach them? What do I want them to do? Am I trying to educate people? Am I seeking actions supportive of my cause? Do I want to raise money? Is an event the best way to get my audience to take the action I desire? How can I streamline the process to maximize success and minimize stress? Is an event an ideal complement to my organziation s other engagement efforts? What s the key theme or message for the event that will prompt the audience to take the desired actions? What should be the stated purpose of the event? Where is the best place to stage the event given the audience and purpose? Once you ve answered these basic questions, set one overarching goal. ONE! Focus is your best bet for success. Then, define metrics and success measures for that goal. This exercise will ensure you are smart at every step of planning and execution. Depending on the purpose of your event, you may be measuring very different things for example, impact on local policy or growth of your supporter lists or dollars raised. Here is an example: SAMPLE GOAL Raise money by exposing existing donors to our impact and recruiting their friends/family/colleagues to our cause via the event and event-related outreach METRICS Dollars raised % existing donors attending % new contacts created SUCCESS MEASURES Raise $150,000 from 500 individuals and 5 corporate sponsors Get 10% of our top donors to attend Increase giving from attendees by 25% over the course of the next year Get 15% of attendees to also give an additional donation If your goal is to raise awareness, please think twice about your goal. Is awareness your top goal as an organization? Or dollars? Is awareness what you most need right now to achieve your mission? Challenge yourself to set goals and success measures that truly advance your mission and meet the most critical needs of your organization. Your event is not a free-standing, one-off endeavor it should be part of your overall strategic engagement and fundraising efforts. network for good 6 Steps to Make Your Fundraising Event a Great Success 5

6 Four Tips to Turn Your Awareness Event into a Fundraising Event by Jeff Shuck Do your events raise awareness, but no money? Are you struggling to turn participants into fundraisers? Here are four steps to move the focus of your event from attendance and awareness to fundraising. 1. Make a well-articulated ask. Any effective fundraising program starts and ends with presenting others with an opportunity to help and asking for their support. Event fundraising is no different. And yet, creating an effective request is the most neglected part of any program. Begin with a few basic exercises: Describe, in one sentence, what your organization does to improve the world. This is more challenging than it sounds. We recently asked a room of 50 team members of one of our clients to write down their answer to this phrase; we received 50 different answers! But through the discussion we were able to identify key themes and language that resonated with the group. Now, describe in one sentence how the event will help achieve that goal. Be as specific as possible. Our event helps the homeless is not nearly as compelling as your participation in our event will put 50 dinners on the table next week. Most importantly, get comfortable with asking Will you help support us by participating or donating? This is the most important step. You must ask! Create an ask that is specific, concise, tailored to a defined outcome and hard to refuse! On one recent project we were able to nearly double the number of s that participants sent to their donors simply by making sure we asked the right question. 2. Segment your participant base and tailor your efforts accordingly. Participants come in all shapes and sizes, and each person has different motives and needs. Because your participants are not the same, your communication shouldn t be! Too often in nonprofit events every participant is treated as a cardboard cutout. Moving from awareness to fundraising involves some important efforts to speak differently to different constituencies: Conduct basic analysis to understand the differences in your participant base. This should include looking at areas such as geographic dispersion, giving history, past event attendance and link to the cause, if known. Search for markers in that analysis that can be used to customize messages. For example, on a recent engagement for a New York-based nonprofit, we suggested that the organization communicate differently with their large Staten Island community than with their Manhattan participants. These two groups have different backgrounds and different needs. Past fundraising history, if it exists, can provide valuable numerical break points for segmentation. For example, as standard practice we communicate differently with participants who have raised nothing than we do with participants who have already begun to receive donations. As you build the program, think in segments! Noted marketing expert Philip Kotler once said, If you are not thinking in segments, you are not thinking marketing. Once you have identified the segments, make sure that you tailor your communication efforts accordingly. We will consider that important piece next. 3. Implement an active, customized communication plan. In many cases, the difference between events with high attendance and events with high fundraising attendance is the frequency and the quality of the communication participants receive prior to the event. Your communication plan should combine a wellarticulated ask and segmented content in a powerful, cohesive effort. Online. The rise of online fundraising tools makes participant communication much easier. Online network for good 6 Steps to Make Your Fundraising Event a Great Success 6

7 communications are of two basic types: Automatic notifications that occur based upon actions taken by the participant: Registration thank-yous, donation acknowledgements, and so forth. These should be tailored to the segments identified above. Notifications based upon the event timeline, such as monthly newsletters and announcements. Again, these can be further tailored to the specific segment of the participant. Phone. Targeted, personal outreach via the phone can be an effective way of building rapport with your more involved participants. The key is targeted using your participant segments to identify those groups more likely to respond to the sound of your voice. 4. Change from an attendance-based culture to a fundraising-based one. Ultimately, the most powerful tool is the culture of the event itself that is, the attitude, language, and behavior used by the staff, volunteers and participants. To make a true transition to fundraising results, the entire organization has to commit to it. There are a few important pieces to this commitment. Measuring the right things. Metrics are a powerful way of communicating within an organization. Do you set an attendance goal or a fundraising goal? Do you reward the largest team or the highest fundraising team? The way success is measured sets an important tone for the entire organization. Communicating passionately about moving from awareness to fundraising. Participants need to understand if you are changing the make-up of an event. Be confident in this effort and make sure they understand that participation alone does not power your organization revenue does. Being confident about how your organization and event program helps. The foundation of successful fundraising is an authentic commitment to the cause. It is difficult to remember that you do not need to feel uncomfortable about asking for money it is not for you; it is for the organization s efforts. These cultural items may seem trivial. But while they are admittedly the least operational of the elements listed here, the cultural components are critically important. In several of our engagements, we ve met with the leadership teams of nonprofits who admit they are reluctant or even embarrassed to ask for donations. Changing this to an environment of pride and confidence is critical to real success. Jeff Shuck is President and CEO of Event 360. Over the past eight years, Jeff has led the Event 360 team to produce more than 200 fundraising events involving hundreds of thousands of participants, which have collectively raised more than $450 million for charity. The Best Event I Ever Had by Liz Glover Wilson My best event ever was not even my event at all. I know that does not make sense, but please allow me this brief explanation. After over 17 years of planning, I was just recovering from a huge fundraising event. My client (an A-list celebrity who will remain anonymous), had just sent a lovely note of gratitude and jetted off to Cannes for the Film Festival. I was relieved that I would have some peace and was looking forward to sleeping in. I got into the office around 10:00 a.m. the next day, cup of coffee in hand, looking forward to cleaning up, catching up and brushing up. network for good 6 Steps to Make Your Fundraising Event a Great Success 7

8 As I adjusted my keyboard the phone rang. Should I let it go to voic ? I thought. Guilt took over quickly and I picked up the phone. Darling! the familiar voice rang out (sounding somewhat influenced by spirits). My heart sank. No rest for the weary. She continued on, I am in Cannes and it is fantastic! Her voice suddenly dropped to a whisper,.. but darling these planners are just a mess. Can you help me? Against my better judgment, I heard myself say of course, what do you need? Do you remember the fabulous website you put together for our event in New York? she continued on excitedly without taking a breath, I need the same website for our event here so we can collect money. Can you do that? Of course, I said hesitantly, when is the event? I picked up my coffee to take a sip; might as well try to enjoy some of it while it was still hot. Oh darling. It s tonight. In three hours. She said as I nearly spit my coffee all over my desk. Then I heard someone using my voice say something completely obscene, Done. Give me a few hours and it will be up and running. I hung up the phone and could have kicked myself. Am I just star-struck? I thought. Who says yes to this type of request? Put up and test a payment processing site in three hours??? Especially when it is not even my event? Am I nuts? Then I picked up the phone and called my friends at Network for Good, as my staff stood by paper bag in hand making sure I was breathing. I told the NFG team about my dilemma and my lack of good judgment in promising something this big in such a short amount of time. They came to my rescue and made me a shining star...in less than three hours Ms. A-list celebrity had her site and was on her way to a fabulous night. Isn t that darling? Now set a budget. You know how much you want the event to raise. What do you want to spend to bring in those dollars? Even super-sophisticated nonprofits sometimes forget to track exactly how much they are spending on an event and critically compare that figure to the donations the event generates. This exercise will ensure your event will ultimately be worth the effort and that you ll end up not only in a fancy black dress but also in the financial black. When fundraising events work, they can be a real boon to your development efforts. When they fail, however, your organization might see a significant amount of time and money go right down the drain. The best way to ensure the success of your fundraising event is to plan ahead. Joe Garecht, How to Hold Great Fundraising Events at The Fundraising Authority network for good 6 Steps to Make Your Fundraising Event a Great Success 8

9 The Main Event Step 2: Choose the Right Type of Event In this step, you ll learn: How to plan an event that meets your goals and stays within budget 3 ways to bring your mission to life at your event What type of event meets your goal and your budget? Consider your options and plan! Developing a calendar of events is a great way for your supporters (and staff!) to plan their involvement. Good candidates for an event aimed at education might be: Open House Lecturer / Seminar Book Signing For fundraising events, you might want to consider: Gala / Dance Formal or informal meals - pancake breakfast, spaghetti dinner, black-tie meal Food & Wine Tasting Car Wash Art Fair Karaoke Carnival Tournament / Contest (Poker, Chili, etc...) Sports Watch: local team event: football, baseball, basketball, hockey game Participate: golf tournament, celebrity basketball game Performing Arts, Music, Comedy Show Milestone Event or Anniversary Holiday Social Virtual Drives - holiday, Thanksgiving, Back to School A Like Event - a free online educational event on Facebook (FB). Educate old and new supporters and increase your FB presence at the same time! Remember to keep in mind the fundraising goal for the event, the people that you are inviting, and the facilities that are available when choosing the type of event you are planning to host. Choose a method that fits your audience, your budget and your fundraising goals. Joe Garecht, The Fundraising Authority When you ve come up with your final options, pick the one that best aligns with: Your audience Your brand and mission Your goal Your budget Your available time Your expertise Your staff and/or volunteer availability and competencies It s essential you achieve a fit in all of these areas especially in terms of staff time and resources. If you re short on staff to produce and promote the event, consider creating a volunteer corps to help execute your plan as well as a host committee of your top supporters, board members or other well-connected fans who will commit to helping recruit sponsors and selling a certain number of tickets. network for good 6 Steps to Make Your Fundraising Event a Great Success 9

10 Once you have determined the type of event you wish, set a time and place and get that logistical planning underway. Create a plan for the event itself from start to finish. And select the tools that will help you manage it. The advent of online event management means you can take much of the work of selling sponsorships and tickets online our recommendation is you look at tools like EventsNow to streamline your efforts and cut down on the paper pushing you have to do. Three Easy Ways to Bring Your Mission to Life at Your Event by Terry Axelrod of Benevon Do your events raise awareness, but no money? Are you struggling to turn participants into fundraisers? Here are three steps to move the focus of your event from attendance and awareness to fundraising: 1. Live Testimonial. Who has your organization touched? What lives have you changed? Who has been affected? Invite that person up to share his or her personal story! Keep in mind that this method is not reserved for human services organizations only. Say you re an eco-conscious nonprofit who s saved public lands from development: Invite a family who hikes there! And if you re a health advocacy group? Bring up a child who your legislation has affected because now she gets equal rights at her school. 2. Quick speech from leadership. Your Executive Director or CEO is the visionary leader of your organization for a reason. Where does his or her passion lie? What changes have previous supporters enabled? Where is your organization going in the next year and how will that affect those in attendance at your event? 3. An invitation to come back for seconds. (We re not talking about the buffet here.) After the seven to eight minutes taken up by ideas one and two above, take the opportunity to invite attendees to learn more. This step is your call to action for attendees! Have a Board member invite folks to take a tour of your nonprofit s facilities. Provide your URL where people can learn more about next year s plans. network for good 6 Steps to Make Your Fundraising Event a Great Success 10

11 Taking Care of Business Step 3: Secure Corporate Sponsors In this step, you ll learn: How to identify potential corporate sponsors How to define the role of your sponsor So how do you get corporate sponsors on board with your event? First, identify prospects. Here are some ideas to get you started: Companies that know and/or have supported your organization Companies where your board members, vendors or supporters work (or have other ties) Companies that have a philanthropic and/or business agenda well-matched to your organization Companies that can deliver on funds and promotion Companies whose employees have volunteered for your organization on a regular basis Next, answer the #1 question you need to secure a corporate sponsor: What s in it for the sponsor? If your answer is their logo on a totebag, or the good feeling of helping out my charity, that s not good enough. A corporate sponsor is looking for benefits such as new business, more customers, a halo effect with their customer base that promotes brand loyalty, or visibility. Corporate sponsors are like other donors: This isn t about what you need it s about what you can deliver for your partner. When you approach prospective sponsors, listen more than talk, asking them all about their goals and priorities. Then show how it s of big benefit to that sponsor to be in front of your audience. That s the real thing you re selling: a benefit to the sponsor. The cost of that benefit is your sponsorship package: Event Package + Promotional Package + Donation = Sponsorship Package That means you should lead with Here s what we can do for you let s make this win-win happen together, not Here s our sponsorship package please support us. We want to think beyond what it is that we re offering. We want to understand from the corporate side and the corporate perspective what it is that they re seeking, what they re looking for, and figure out how to tie into their goals and objectives. For sponsorship to be successful it has to be mutually beneficial. If it s not mutually beneficial, then the partner is going to walk away. They re going to look at it and say, I bought a table, or, I got involved in a specific event, and there was no key benefit to me. The more involved they are, and the more tied-in they are, the more they feel a kinship or a relationship with your organization. Lewis Flax, President and CEO of Flax Associates As you re working to win over your sponsor, make sure you re clear on what their role will be. It s critical to establish clear parameters that are ethical and appropriate from the start as are ethics clauses protecting your organization. Here s a sample clause you can use. If you follow this advice carefully, you ll get sponsors who will say yes. When they do, follow-up with a contract and create with your sponsor(s) a plan to make you both successful. Involve the sponsor in network for good 6 Steps to Make Your Fundraising Event a Great Success 11

12 planning and promotion so they feel like an integral part of your event and so your event feels like part of their overall outreach strategy. The deeper the thought you put into the partnership, the deeper the partnership will be. Not only are corporate sponsors great partners for funding your event, but they lend your event more reach and recognition within your network. Knowing that a well-reputed business supports your cause not only helps the sponsor, but gives your organization legitimacy in the eyes of a potenital attendee or donor. Take advantage of this strategy for the long-term with your organizationyour sponsor s for-profit savvy and business sense can be a powerful tool beyond your upcoming event. Helpful Tip: Network for Good s EventsNow product makes it easy to sell sponsorships and to display sponsors on your online event pages! network for good 6 Steps to Make Your Fundraising Event a Great Success 12

13 That s the Ticket Step 4: Design a Dynamic Experience for Your Supporters In this step, you ll learn: How to create a dynamic and rewarding experience for your event supporters Who to invite to your event (and what that invitation should include!) The most important way to ensure lots of ticket sales, happy participants in your event and achievement of your goals is this: Make your event a dynamic, engaging experience from start to finish. Do that by focusing on the experience of the invitees and putting together a full communication plan for them. It should not only include a great invitation but also cover a fun acknowledgement process, a dynamite series of interactions at the event, lots and lots of gratitude along the way and ongoing engagement after the event. In many cases, the difference between events with high attendance and events with high fundraising attendance is the frequency and the quality of the communication participants receive prior to the event. Your communication plan should combine your ask and your segments into a powerful, cohesive effort. Jeff Shuck, Events360 Ready to start inviting people? Think about going green and doing it all electronically. It s far less pricey, easier to track and kinder to the planet than print invitations. Plus you can do lots of fun interactive things online to make your event engaging from the start. Helpful Tip: Network for Good s EventsNow product is all green build a paperless invite and manage your event entirely online! So much less cost for doing invitations online! Not to mention saving time that would have been spent stuffing envelopes or dealing with a mail house. We loved the green way of electronically sending invites and handling ticketing. Shana Pearson, Women s Economic Ventures, Santa Barbara, CA Here s what makes for a great invitation: It compellingly and emotionally reminds people of why they should care about your organization (with online invites, you can convey this with photos and video very inexpensively!). It makes a clear case for why the event is worth the invitees time. It s clearly branded to the organization. It shows how much impact the event will have on something important. It s personal. It s clear: the critical elements of price, time, place, attire, etc. are easy to find. The price tiers make sense for the audience and there s incentive to buy now (early bird specials, etc.). You collect everything that s key to know from attendees (shirt size, food preference) without overwhelming them with questions. It s incredibly easy to RSVP and buy a ticket or register. There s a chance to add a donation or a way for people who can t attend the event to donate. network for good 6 Steps to Make Your Fundraising Event a Great Success 13

14 It gives invitees a way to spread the word if they want to let others know about the event for example, through social networks, links, badges and buttons. Ask questions that help you tangibly make the event great for your attendee, like dinner choice, golf handicap or t-shirt size, but don t forget the intangible things that will help you better engage them now and in the future. Why are they there? How can you get them involved? How can you use your event, other attendees and resources to really impact that person? The most unexpected result has been the amazing number of donors who are choosing the do you want to make an additional donation? option. Courtney Dunleavy, St. Andrew Legal Clinic Here s who you might want to invite: Past donors Past event attendees Volunteers to your organization Program alumni Your board members People on your and other lists Family, friends, social contacts of your board members and your staff People identified by your sponsors People identified by your host committee Friends of any of the above- now made even easier with the SocialEvents for Pages app on Facebook The Incredible Missing Ingredient at Most Events by Katya Andresen We ve all been there: You re at an event, and someone gives an amazing speech. There are tears in your eyes, and right at that moment, you d do anything for that person or their cause. You sit there, rubber chicken growing cold in front of you, feeling deeply moved and inspired. Then the moment passes and there s nowhere to put that energy. When you have or host an event, if you have a great speaker, get them to issue a CALL TO ACTION that people can heed in the next five minutes. Make it something people can do right away to translate their emotion and support into tangible help. Like send a text or on their handhelds to a policymaker. Or sign a pledge to help you. Or give you their address. Or donate. So many nonprofits wonder how to build an list. How about by asking people tearing up at the great speech for their address so you can keep telling them amazing stories? People want to help. Help them help you. Help them translate inspiration into action. They want to. network for good 6 Steps to Make Your Fundraising Event a Great Success 14

15 Once you ve sent the initial invite, follow up regularly until people respond. An easy way to do this is to use a tool like EventsNow to set an automated reminder schedule with clear and progressive calls to action (e.g., Save the date!, Tickets are going fast!, Last call for tickets!, We can t wait to see you!). When people respond, send them a memorable message. Thank them lavishly if they are attending and remind them of the impact the event will have. If they can t come but gave a donation, do the same. A great thank-you is personal, timely, makes clear the impact of their gift and gives the supporter the credit for that impact. Never forget to thank people! Helpful Tip: Using a tool like EventsNow allows you to automate that process for attendees, donors, sponsors or in-kind vendors who have supported your event. Note: Examples have been modified to fit the space provided. network for good 6 Steps to Make Your Fundraising Event a Great Success 15

16 Extra, Extra, Hear All About it Step 5: Promote the Heck Out of Your Event In this step, you ll learn: Which channels you should be using to promote your event How to use SocialEvents app on Facebook and the Event widget To whom should you market your event? What channels will be most effective in spreading the word and increasing registrations? Make sure you have all of these basics covered: Outreach to local media (especially if you have something mediagenic to offer!) Calls to influential supporters Flyers or posters in key places Everywhere online Your website (you can use a widget or a button) Your Your sponsors websites Your e-newsletters Your social media outposts (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn) Your corporate sponsors work with them on ways to engage their employees Your biggest fans ask your most loyal supporters to spread the word to their networks on your behalf about your event One of the easiest ways to let people know about your event is via . You ll be using to secure sponsors, to send save-the-dates once your logistics are nailed down, to send personal invitations to your VIPs and to remind individuals to RSVP. And make you send the most important a thank you to your attendees. Use your website (make it easy by adding a widget) Not only does EventsNow provide a way to integrate your event page into Facebook, but there is a widget available for your website as well. For many organizations a button on your website or other web presences may be more than enough to drive ticket sales. However, if your organization has a little tech savvy and is interested in a more branded look, the website widget is for you. Visit Network for Good s online community to learn how to add a widget to your website. Blog about it If you have a blog on your website, make sure that you re posting about your event in the months leading up to it and after. Include a sneak peek of what s happening behind the event planning curtain and a recap post about the event. Tweet about your event Twitter has grown in popularity as a way that people keep up to date and interact. Specifically, its use has been incorporated into promotion and updates regarding events due to the broadcast nature. Tweet when you initially announce the event Ask your follower to retweet (RT) about the event (and RT messages they post about your event) Tweet when you get new sponsors to thank them Tweet to let people know how much time is left to register (3 weeks, 2 weeks, 1 week, 3 days, etc.) Tweet to let people know that there are only X tickets left Tweet any changes to the Event Tweet at after the event to thank attendees. network for good 6 Steps to Make Your Fundraising Event a Great Success 16

17 You also might want to consider creating a Twitter hashtag and promote it to your colleagues and registrants. Ideally, the hashtag should be unique to the event (#AcmeForum11), but it s OK to use your organization s hashtag if your main goal is to build your brand (#AcmeForums). Use the hashtag in all your communications. Visit Net work for Good s online community to learn how to add the SocialEvents application to your Facebook page. Schedule Twitter promotions to go out at different times of the day, including on weekends. Free clients like Tweetdeck, Seesmic and HootSuite make this easy. If you re trying to attract an international audience, don t forget to schedule some promos to go out during the local work day in those areas. If you can customize to the local language, that s even better. Post the event to your Facebook wall Posting to your Facebook wall is the easiest way to broadcast an update all of your fans. It s a good idea to post at various times leading up to the event. Here are some ideas about when to post to Facebook. Post when you initially announce the event Post asking your fans to post the event on their Facebook wall Post when you get new sponsors to thank them Upload photos from previous events and invite fans to the current event Post to let people know how much time is left to register (3 weeks, 2 weeks, 1 week, 3 days, etc.) Post to let people know that there are only X tickets left Post any changes to the event Post at after the event to thank attendees SocialEvents on Facebook A great way to go viral with your event is to add the SocialEvents application to your Facebook page. This application will add an integrated version of your EventsNow page to your Facebook page, allowing you to sell tickets directly from Facebook. network for good 6 Steps to Make Your Fundraising Event a Great Success 17

18 What s Next? Step 6: Assess What Worked (and What Didn t), Plan for Next Time and Keep Up Your Relationships In this step, you ll learn: 5 critical event follow-up steps How to solidify your organization s relationship with event attendees Whew. The event is over. You re finished. Except you re not! The actual event may take place on a single day, but that s not the end of it. The good news and the bad news is the engagement with your supporters never ends. The week after the event is a great time to solidify or clarify relationship with these donors and prospects. Don t forget these critical steps AFTER the event. 1. Use your reporting tools from your event management systems and feedback from staff, sponsors and attendees to assess what worked and what didn t. Record and share this information within your organization so you can follow up on any loose ends, smooth any ruffled feathers, celebrate any successes and define what to repeat or change next time. 2. Re-engage with everyone who participated from sponsors to volunteers to attendees to staff and donors. Share photos or results and give them the credit for the impact you had. c. Listen and identify their hot buttons. d. Ask if there s any way they could see themselves becoming involved with your organization in the future. e. Find out if there s anyone else they think might be interested in getting involved or attending a future event. Notice that none of these steps involve asking for money this part is about trying to develop a relationship with a person, not an ATM! 4. Now reach out to the new people who became part of your prospect list as part of the event or the postevent calls and share photos or results from the event and invite them to the next one (or to be on the list for the next one). 5. In a few months, report back to everyone the impact of the event on your key issue and goal. If a shelter was built or a life was saved, they need to know about it! Now it s time to go put these tips into action! Go make your own fundraising event a great success, and be sure to share your stories of success with us at Network for Good. 3. Call every attendee and start a dialogue using these 5 tips from Terry Axelrod of Benevon : a. Thank them genuinely for attending. b. Ask them what they thought of the event and be quiet and let them talk. network for good 6 Steps to Make Your Fundraising Event a Great Success 18