Episode 41: Are you ready to host your first fundraising event?

Planning

May 6

If you are a relatively new nonprofit or new to events, you might be wondering when it's a good time to host your first fundraising event. I’ll outline what you need organizationally and personally to be ready to host your first fundraising event.

AUDIENCE

The number one thing your organization needs before you can host a fundraising event is an audience. If you’ve listened to Ep. 1 or many other episodes of my podcast, you've heard me preach about the fact that you should always determine who your target audience is and build an event around that audience.

To be ready to host your first event, you need a database of supporters. You need to be able to communicate with that audience about your event. Having a large following on social media is great. But you shouldn't rely on communicating with your supporters through social media.

Ideally you want a relatively large database of email addresses of your potential attendees.

VOLUNTEERS

You can't do this on your own. You'll need the help of a planning team and volunteers to help on the day of the event. If you want more information about volunteers, go to Ep 20_Event volunteer basics.

BOARD SUPPORT

Organizationally your board needs to be on board with the idea of hosting a fundraising event. And most importantly, they need to understand their role in making the event successful. Each organization needs to determine what that board support looks like. But for first time events, it's especially important for board members to be heavily involved. If you need ideas for utilizing board support, listen to Ep 5_Utilizing board members.

CORPORATE CONTACTS

The next thing your organization needs is a list of corporate or business contacts for potential event sponsors. This is where board support becomes crucial. Contacts to potential sponsors is an important way for your board to help with the success of your event.

With every event, the goal is to get enough sponsorship dollars to cover the costs of the event. I suggest that the executive director gets a warm lead from board members and then begins forming relationships with those contacts. If board members has a relationship with the sponsor and then leaves the organization, there goes your sponsor.

WEBSITE

A website is a hub for your event. It can provide a place for organizational and event info, event registration, a place to donate and to recruit volunteers. Many small nonprofits try to rely on just having a Facebook page to eliminate purchasing a domain name and the cost of website hosting. Not having a website looks unprofessional and can bring your credibility into question.

GOALS

Lastly, you need to think about your organizational goals for an event before you start planning an event. If your goal is to make money fast and event is probably not the best idea for your organization.

Return on Investment (ROI) on events, especially in the beginning, is pretty low. Most often the early years of fundraising events are as much about building awareness and building your community as they are about raising funds. You have to be in it for the long haul for your events to pay off. It's very much like growing a business.

Coming up in episode 42, I'll be talking more about ROI and measuring event success. Stay tuned for that…

Now let's talk about what you personally need to be ready to host your first fundraising event, assuming you are the executive director or leader of the event.

#1 - Patience. Success doesn't happen overnight. You must be willing and able to put in the time and effort to build and grow your event. A huge part of future success is setting up the right systems from the beginning. Listen to episode 40_ Seven systems for nonprofit event success.

#2 - Organizational and project management skills. If you're going to be the lead on planning the event, you need to be highly organized and have project management skills. If you don't, you should seek outside help. If you have the budget. Or try to find a volunteer that can lead the event for you.

Things can easily go off the rails if things aren't organized and managed well.

#3 - Board support. Not only does the organization need the board's buy-in and support for hosting an event, but you also personally need their support. You want a board that has your back and will support you throughout the process.

#4 - A plan. The thing that I hear most with fundraising events is, “I don't know where to start.” I'm launching a live workshop and fall 2024 that will answer that very question of where to start.

Not only will you know where to start, you will leave that workshop with a well-thought-out plan for your entire event. You'll start each day and each week knowing exactly what you need to do and when. You'll have tasks that you can assign to team members. And you'll easily be able to stay on top of who's doing what.

I will walk you through the entire process that I use for creating a fundraising event timeline. Sign up to receive for more info about the workshop here.

Those are the six things you need organizationally. And the four things you need personally to be ready to host your first fundraising event.

Listener Action Item

Pick the area where you need the most work and get to work on it. If you're stuck at number one, maybe you don't have a large database of supporters, start there. Or maybe need to work on building your volunteer base. Focus on the area that needs the most work.

As I said, this is the long game. When you're in it for the long haul, you want to make sure you're starting off on the right foot. Events aren't easy and success doesn't happen overnight. Make sure your organization and whoever's leading the event is ready before you decide to host your first fundraising event.

Now that sounds like a plan.