Event 360 Blog

I returned home this weekend from the annual NTEN Nonprofit Technology Conference in my usual state: Head and heart full, exhausted but invigorated.

This year's conference sparked a number of thoughts that I'll tackle in the coming weeks, but top of mind is the idea that I shared at my session yesterday (livestream archive below or here): That despite all of our innovation, invention, energy, talent, and passion, the amount of charitable giving as a percentage of overall GDP has remained flat at 2% for the last forty years. I call this percentage our "share of heart."

As you may have read recently, Event 360 is taking part in NTEN's Nonprofit Technology Conference this week. The conference's technology focus got us thinking about the tech tools we use all the time in event development and production.

Over the course of the last month, I’ve had an opportunity to talk about the role fundraising coaches play in the event fundraising space at a new client engagement and at Run Walk Ride. If you’re a faithful reader of mine, you know this is a topic I hold near and dear to my heart.

My favorite part of my job is the time I get to spend talking with clients. How their peer-to-peer event fundraising programs measure up to others is a frequent topic of conversation. While industry standards and benchmarks are always interesting, I’m a bit wary that on one end, they can lull us into complacency or worse, a false sense of security. On the other end, they can give us a reason to beat ourselves up for not meeting the standard. Maybe the most important standard is the one we set for ourselves last year, last quarter or even last month.

This week the Nonprofit Technology Network (NTEN) is not only hosting its annual Nonprofit Technology Conference (#13NTC), it is also presenting a Day of Service on April 11, 2013. We jumped at the chance to sponsor this Day of Service, which is a great opportunity to give back to the NTC's host community, Minneapolis.

Earlier today we learned that our friend and Event 360 teammate Bridget Spence died after a 9-year battle with Stage IV metastatic breast cancer.

Bridget touched so many lives; she was an amazing friend, a beloved co-worker and a tremendous source of motivation for those that knew her, and those that knew of her. She never let her diagnosis get in the way of living a life filled with passion and purpose. The entire Event 360 family feels honored to have been a witness to Bridget’s inspiration in action over the past six years. She will always remain part of the heart and soul of our company.

Today we remember Bridget as the graceful, courageous and passionate co-worker we were fortunate enough to work alongside. While we mourn this loss deeply, we celebrate Bridget’s lasting legacy and will continue to honor all that she did and all that she stood for in creating a better world.

Expressions of sympathy in Bridget's name can be made to Dana-Farber Cancer Institute via www.dana-farber.org/gift or to Susan G. Komen for the Cure via ww5.komen.org/Donate/Donate.html. We also invite you to share your memories of Bridget below.

Your story. Your case. The difference you make. Your mark on the world. In the nonprofit realm, we use terms like these all the time. They all speak to the notion of "impact." And yet, so many nonprofits struggle mightily to articulate their impact to donors and other key stakeholders.

Recruiting young event participants and volunteers should be a strategy that all event organizers consider employing. Cultivating the next generation and sparking an interest in your organization at an early age will make a difference in the long run. Hopefully the interest in your organization will grow as the kids grow into adult supporters. Jillian Schranz recently highlighted in a blog post entitled “Unlocking the Power of Young People to Volunteer”, that kids are often very excited to get involved and are effective fundraisers.

Branding agency sparks & honey is out with a new report (embedded below) highlighting the significant changes the "modern family" is going through. While the traditional model of the family is not disappearing, families are taking on highly novel configurations that have implications for how we design, target and market fundraising events.

Here are a just a few statistics about the modern family from the report:

Still buzzing after last month's Run Walk Ride Fundraising (RWR) Conference, we are equally excited to be a part of this year's Nonprofit Technology Conference (#13NTC) where our CEO Jeff Shuck will share his thoughts on the mathematics of fundraising. For those of you who attended NTC last year, you might remember Jeff's "data dive" session.