10 Strategic Must-Dos for Event Fundraisers in 2012

Author: Meghan Dankovich on 13 January 2012 | 1 Comments

Tags: Meghan's Strategy Lab

I know, you've given up on making New Year's resolutions. (You're just going to end up breaking them anyway, right?)

Well, I've compiled some New Year's resolutions that you can actually keep. And don't worry — none of them involve dieting. These are 10 strategic ways to improve your event fundraising in 2012.

Enjoy and Happy New Year!

1. Integrate your mission into the participant experience.
Events are a prime opportunity to strengthen participants' connection with your mission. You can do this in a variety of ways, such as:

• Featuring impact statements on route signs and elsewhere
• Having people whom your organization has helped speak at the event
• Posting an honor wall where participants can write their thoughts

2. Highlight the mission in post-event communications.
The new year is a great time to catch your breath and gauge the impact your organization has had over the past 12 months. How much progress have you made toward achieving your mission? Particularly for nonprofits that focus on research, progress can be difficult to quantify. In these cases, make sure you explain your mission-oriented accomplishments in language that participants and other supporters can understand.

3. Take part in your own events.
The best way to inspire passion in yourself and your staff is to take part in or volunteer at your organization's events. Being a bystander isn't enough. By completing the walk or working a water stand, you'll gain a deeper understanding of what your organization is doing right — and where you can improve. So put the date(s) on your calendar now!

4. Extend your thank-yous.
So many people are involved in your organization's success. Take a minute to thank them now. And I don't mean sending out another appeal under the guise of a thank-you. Call up that woman who organized a big team for this year's run. Drop a note to that loyal donor (bonus: you'll be in his head as tax season approaches). Explain to that sponsor how their logo was prominently featured and find out how you can make this a mutually beneficial partnership moving forward.

5. Clearly define what constitutes success.
Establish quantifiable goals for your events that you can measure against. What are your intentions with the event? Have you made changes to the experience, logistics or income model but haven't also implemented the metrics needed to evaluate the outcomes of those changes? Examples of metrics include dollars raised per individual, number of gifts per participant, number of emails sent by participants and overall costs. Once you have metrics in place, measure them consistently and follow them year over year, it's easier to know when you've succeeded — or where you have more work to do.

6. Nail down and communicate your strategic goals.
Be sure to define the organization's strategic goals and how you expect your events to contribute to them. This helps articulate organizational direction and demonstrate how it will be achieved. For instance, "Let's increase overall development revenue by $250,000 — x% from fundraising events, x% from major gifts, x% from the annual direct mail campaign, etc." Then, communicate this goal to your key constituents while tying it in with your mission (i.e. how will the additional funds help your organization further achieve its mission?).

7. Cut costs where you can.
Put on your accountant's hat and closely scrutinize your paid services for your events. Can you identify creative ways to reduce vendor costs? Could you offset some expenses with sponsorships?

8. Increase use of personal fundraising pages.
Event participants who actively use their personal fundraising page tend to raise more money than those who communicate via offline channels. Offer incentives or challenges to encourage participants to use the email account associated with their personal fundraising page. Send email reminders of the valuable tools available through their personal fundraising page. In short, do whatever you can to get more participants on board.

9. Go to where your audience is.
Are you incorporating a broader digital communications strategy to reach out to your participants? Think Twitter, Facebook, other social media and free advertising on websites they might visit. And if you are using those channels, do you have an integrated communications calendar to ensure the messages you send are consistent and timed appropriately?

10. Evaluate how you spend your own time.
Your organization's events deserve the best you have to offer. Are you getting distracted by the little details that prevent you from focusing on the big picture? If so, start looking for ways to delegate those countless tasks to others. Calling to recruit past team captains, running training or informational meetings, overseeing grassroots recruiting events — these are all things that staff or even volunteers can probably take off your plate.

What's on your must-do list for the year? Share with us your goals and ideas for a successful 2012.

“Meghan’s Strategy Lab” blog posts will be featured monthly. Vice President, Fundraising Strategy Meghan Dankovich serves as the lead for many of Event 360's consulting engagements striving to help nonprofits exceed their event fundraising goals. Her expertise includes strategic planning and the implementation of qualitative fundraising work, as well as developing successful quantitative approaches to collecting and analyzing event-related data.