FUNDRAISING EVENTS
WHERE DOES THE MONEY COME FROM?
Today I have a guest poster named Kristin here to tell us how to create fundraising events on a budget! As people who are looking to live frugally, why wouldn’t we carry that over into our work space and school space as well? Fundraising events can have a great impact on these amazing programs, but can be costly if you don’t know how to do them right. Let’s see what Kristin has to teach us!
Fundraising events are important to so many causes, from charities, to sports teams, to schools, and to various other effective programs. But the fact is that pretty much every one of these events is done on an extremely small budget. As fundraisers grow, it becomes easier to spend a little more money to make a bit more, but that typically does not happen until an event is well-established with a committed audience and tons of support – and it can take years to get to this point.
How can you maximize money raised at your fundraising event? I’m here today to outline all the ways you can look to bring in much-needed dollars at your event. Read on to find out where the money comes from!
Sponsorship
If you’ve ever planned a fundraising event before, you’ve probably thought about sponsorship. But were you able to bring any in? There are a few things you can do to increase the probability of landing sponsorship deals.
Consider Your Audience – Think hard about who your event audience is. Now consider what companies would want to be put in front of this audience, and make a list of those to contact. If you’ve matched the potential sponsor with the event well, these companies should be relatively easy to sell event a small sponsorship to.
Think About Your Benefits – Think about what can your event provide to potential sponsors. Is it social media promotion? A chance to present in front of an audience? A visual presence at the event? And can you throw in any extras such as event tickets, or giveaway items? Ask all of these questions and figure out which opportunities will matter the most to your potential sponsors.
Make a Sponsorship Package – Now that you’ve thought about what all your benefits are, draw up an official and professional sponsorship package that shows your options. It doesn’t need to be fancy, but the advantages of sponsoring your event need to be clear. Pair this document with a cover letter on company/event/charity letterhead introducing yourself, and this will increase the perception of professionalism when it comes to your event.
Getting a sponsorship can be one of the most lucrative methods to maximize funds raised, so some time should definitely be spent on preparing, pursuing, and following up on any proposals submitted. Not to mention, once a company has signed on to do it once, there is a high possibility they’ll be a sponsor for years to come.
Discounts
Don’t be afraid to ask for discounts while you are booking venues or vendors for your event. The worst thing any company can say is no, and even if they won’t give you a straight-up discount, you may realize that the company you are speaking to is a potential event sponsor. Either way, discounts end up being money back into the cause’s bank account, and usually can amp up the experience of an event, since a vendor is willing to provide a bit extra if they really buy into what you are doing. If you explain why your cause is important, local companies are often open to supporting in any way they can.
Tickets
Ticket sales are perhaps one of the most obvious methods to make money at your event. Typically I try to budget so that the ticket sales alone will cover the costs of the event, meaning that the rest of these methods would end up as pure fundraising profit. It is also sometimes possible to build a mandatory donation right into your ticket price – check on guidelines in your area to figure out whether this might work for you.
Raffles
Raffles are a fun way to both add to the program and experience of an event while raising extra money for your cause. Unfortunately, raffles are not allowed to happen everywhere, and even if they are, they usually require proper licensing. Look into gambling laws in your area before deciding to run any raffles.
There are many different types of raffle that you can consider for your event. A 50/50 is often an easy one to run because no prize is needed – half of the money raised goes back to the cause and half goes to the person with the winning ticket. If you are able to get a large prize donated or purchased that people are excited, you can run a very successful raffle by leveraging that item alone and selling tickets to win it.
Merchandise Sales
This won’t work for every event, but if you have some cool merchandise that your guests may be interested in, this could be a way to raise a bit of extra money. For example, a car & music festival I have worked with over the past several years sells t-shirts and hats. They create a new t-shirt design each year, and it is exciting for the attendees to see the unveiling of the new design and to be able to collect the new version year after year.
Another example of this idea is selling something that might be useful at the event. I am currently working on a concert, which takes place next month, and the charity involved in the event has ordered some branded glow-sticks to sell on-site. They can price these a little higher than you may expect, because they’ll let everyone know that the proceeds are going back to support their valuable research.
Merchandise sales can also be a good opportunity to get your branding in front of people, so that is just an added bonus with this revenue stream.
Activities
Is there a possibility to hold a special activity at your event, for a fee or donation? If guests have the chance to participate in something exciting, they often won’t hesitate to open their wallets to do so. I recommend finding an activity that fits in with your event theme and would be fun to do, such as a game or competition. You could even provide a (preferably donated) prize for extra incentive to participate!
Auction Items
Holding a live or silent auction is a way to leverage items purchased or donated to raise money for your cause. This is similar to asking companies for discounts – perhaps instead they would be interested in donating something to your event that you can sell to the highest bidder. The best way to maximize your fundraising dollars through this income stream is to have as many items as possible donated. Even if you are selling items for more than you paid for them, you are actually taking a ton of money out of the room that might have been spent in other ways, including on cash appeals, which you can read about below.
Cash Appeals
Cash appeals are one of the most important income streams for fundraising events, but it is actually often ignored. When raising money for a cause, you should provide an option for guests to just give a donation. This can be done just with donation forms carefully placed on tables, or by asking people to raise their hands to donate.
Regardless of how you choose to do this, it’s necessary to put together the story of your cause in front of the audience to prime them. This can be done with a video, a demonstration, a guest speaker, a slide show, or in any other way you can possibly present your tale. Make sure the information you are providing is real, and that it highlights exactly why your cause is important. This strategy will get your audience ready to give, and might make them want to give even more than they would have otherwise.
Maximizing fundraising dollars at an event is all about creatively planning ways to engage your audience and to make them buy in to the cause you are raising money for. And when it comes to events, sometimes it’s worth just trying things to see whether the donations pour in or trickle. Planning an annual fundraising event means that you can learn about your audience from year to year and find out which revenue streams are most important for your project.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
If you need some help planning your fundraising event and maximizing the money raised, contact me today. I offer event planning packages to fit your needs, from event consultation, to strategy sessions, all the way up to full coordination. In every one of these packages, I work to make your event a wild success. You can find me online at Kristin Glass Events (link to www.kristinglassevents.com). I’d love to chat with you!
Website: www.KristinGlassEvents.com
E-Mail: info@kristinglassevents.com
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