“The money’s made; now we’re just going to party.”
That’s the way a client of Major Gift Solutions started our event-planning meeting today. It was a fun moment – the culmination of many months of work – and in many ways, the result of years of solid organizational habits that have paved the way for a successful fundraising gala this fall.
This blog post is for those of you who are thinking about raising funds through an event or for those of you who are knee-deep in event fundraising and wondering if you will be able to hit your goal.
Our goal for this particular project was to raise $1.2 million dollars, and with two weeks left to go, we’re $739 away.
We’re pretty confident we can do it.
Since I transitioned into full-time contracted fundraising in April of 2022, Major Gift Solutions has helped raise funds for ten different events. Each event has met or surpassed their fundraising goals, and five of the events have raised more than $1 million.
But again, this did not happen by waving a magic wand.
Fundraising is difficult. It can be convoluted, and it rarely follows a straight line. And successful fundraising depends on an organization’s ability to maintain good habits over a long period of time – many of which are only indirectly connected to the particularities of one fundraising moment or the staff who facilitate it.
On the other hand, it is possible to note a few consistent themes that accompany successful fundraising events.
I hope you’ll take a few minutes to read through them. And if you’ve observed anything similar, I hope you’ll let me know.
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Time, Repetition, and Trial and Error
Here is the gala fundraising history for the client noted above – with the 2024 total representing where we were YTD at this point last year. (We ended up raising just shy of $1.17MM – which is a good sign for how much we can raise in the last few weeks of the gala campaign this year.)
The most obvious observation is the one I want to highlight:
Fundraising success takes time.
You can see that this client started their gala fundraising journey nearly a decade ago, and there was plenty of undocumented activity leading up to the $314,580 that was raised in 2017.
Nonprofit leaders, don’t assume that simply by renting out a nice venue, having a recognized speaker or awardee, and inviting a gazillion people, you will raise a million dollars – or even a few hundred thousand.
This particular nonprofit has been utilizing a gala for their primary fundraising activity for many years; and as you can see, although there has been a trend in a positive direction (averaging about 20% revenue increase per year), there were fits and starts along the way.
The numbers demonstrate solid growth, and that is something to celebrate and aim for.
What the numbers do not demonstrate is the hard work, sweat – and, yes, tears – that went into the successful trend.
If you’re new to the event-fundraising space, and you didn’t hit your goals this year, don’t assume that you should immediately change course and ditch the gala in the future. Well-run fundraising projects will result in positive revenue if they are carried out patiently over time.
Volunteer Buy-In and Outreach
This particular client has done a particularly impressive job building a team of volunteers that assists in direct outreach to potential donors.
This won’t necessarily be the way every nonprofit runs their event-fundraising strategy. But it is noteworthy in this case and should provide a challenge for any nonprofit wanting to lean into the potential that a fundraising event has.
All told, a total of 32 volunteers took part in direct solicitations to friends, colleagues, and business peers – with each volunteer assigned anywhere from five to thirty or more sponsor prospects.
A full packet of materials was provided for each volunteer.
Major Gift Solutions provided outreach templates, email scripts, contact information for donors, while the marketing team provided a nicely designed sponsorship packet, and our event coordinator designed an interactive sponsor registration portal.
Within the group of 32 was a Host Committee of nine that met once every month between February and September and two very committed Co-Chairs who met at least once a month in addition to the Host Committee meetings.
The outreach lists, assignments, and fundraising progress were likewise maintained by Major Gift Solutions in a shared database that was used to keep us on track and quantify overall fundraising progress and next steps.
Organizational Reputation and Leadership
It is hard to overstate the importance of this factor in fundraising success.
I’ve referred to it before as simply “momentum.”
Here are some of the things that this organization has done to pave the way for a successful gala:
– Create programs that are on the cutting-edge of their industry
– Produce high-quality stewardship materials such as an annual report or impact reports that quantify the exact activity the organization is able to accomplish through the support of their donors
– Hold an annual, invitation-only Impact Summit that allows donors to see firsthand the people and programs their giving makes possible
– Send electronic newsletters with clearly reported information about the work the organization has been doing
– Remain outward facing, not only through this singular annual event but through a steady flow of high-quality social media posts and presence at local gatherings within their industry and otherwise
– Maintain a growth-oriented mindset that allows donors to see their giving is going toward an organization on the move, doing exciting things with their resources.
– Recruit committed volunteers whose resources and time the MGS team can facilitate and help guide toward future successes.
I’ve worked in the nonprofit space essentially all my life – having served several dozen nonprofits as a volunteer, board member, and professional; and no less then twenty-five organizations as a consultant.
And I can say this with confidence:
Fundraising success follows organizational momentum.
If you want to drive good fundraising numbers, work on building a great organization.
A recognizable awardee and high-profile Vice Chairs
Here’s your second quip for the day…
Good fundraising occurs in the wake of a movement.
Organizations that create that movement – by which I mean the steadily growing involvement of a large number of energized people around a common mission – will find that their fundraising numbers will follow suit.
You’ve got to do the outreach – and I will get to that next – but you can improve the possibility of fundraising success by demonstrating that noteworthy individuals also like you.
In this particular instance – as in others I’ve been a part of – a recognized leader in the industry was chosen as an awardee. Their headshot and bio were included in all outreach materials, and they assisted in building our sponsorship portfolio.
Another noteworthy item for this particular organization was the fact that the awardee was involved rather immediately in fundraising activities. They assisted in building an ambitious portfolio of potential donors, and they were expected to perform outreach on their own. Especially in the early days of this particular campaign, the Major Gift Solutions team was meeting 1-on-1 with our awardee to go over their outreach and discuss strategy and results.
Different organizations involve their awardees in direct fundraising activity in different ways. But you will find that by including a recognized leader in your outreach materials, you will immediately enhance the reputation of your organization and the possibility that a donor will give.
This is the same principle that is used in an endorsement campaign. Peyton Manning has nothing to do with insurance. But people know and trust Peyton Mannning. So when he tells them to buy a certain insurance, they will follow his lead.
This principle was also applied in an aggressive Vice Chair strategy. Select sponsors giving $5,000 or more were given the opportunity to name a staff member as a Vice Chair who would be recognized on our website, all outreach materials, and on the night of the event itself.
We have found that this small gesture increases the buy-in of our sponsors and will periodically motivate them to be involved in fundraising as well.
A lot of hustle
Here are some numbers demonstrating the work that went into this fundraising project:
– 726 prospects engaged
– 32 fundraising volunteers
– 30 on-site volunteers
– 1,500 personalized solicitation emails
– 35 weekly fundraising updates
– 15 one-on-one strategy meetings
– 40 planning meetings
– 140 new prospects researched
– 100+ phone calls
– 1,400 staff hours managing volunteer outreach and administering fundraising activity
Our team took the time to quantify that activity because I wanted to demonstrate that fundraising success requires volume.
In many ways, fundraising is a numbers game. And I do not mean to be crass in putting it that way. That’s just the truth.
We have been able to secure 186 sponsors thus far.
We reached out to 726.
And most of those got at least three emails. Many got a phone call.
If you want the organizational momentum you’ve been building to result in fundraising success, you will need to complement administrative tasks with direct outreach – whether that’s through a third party like Major Gift Solutions, a well-run volunteer outreach campaign, or through internal staff hours.
I’ve heard it said that a good marketing campaign saturates the market with awareness of your product.
An ambitious outreach campaign does something similar.
A solid event-management team
In this particular example, Major Gift Solutions served only as the fundraising shop. We were fortunate to partner with a high-quality and reputable event planning firm that we have partnered with six times.
Knowing their team was going to handle all of the logistics, contracts, run of show, set up, decorations, food, and all the other items required to organize a successful event allowed us to focus exclusively on fundraising.
My main advice to you in this regard is that you’ve got to do both.
Plan to scale. That is, if your team is small and your resources limited, don’t plan on hosting a six-course dinner. Organize something simpler like a networking event or expert panel and use your time to organize and carry out your fundraising strategy.
If your team is larger, and if you have resources available, find a good event planning partner and free yourself up to drive fundraising activity.
Either way, avoid the pitfall that tends to give event fundraising a bad reputation – and that is to neglect your fundraising responsibilities because you are exclusively focused on logistics.
Final thoughts
Successful event fundraising does not occur by the wave of a magic wand. It is certainly not accidental. And it is not unpredictable.
It is the result of many factors which, together, create good momentum: time, volunteer buy-in, reputation and leadership, endorsements by trusted figures, trustworthy event management, and a whole lot of hustle.
I hope the above has given you a few ideas to consider as you put together your next event fundraising campaign.
Other organizations have run successful event fundraising campaigns.
We’ve hit our numbers.
And I know that if I can do it, you can do it too.
