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Fundraising Tuesday: In Person vs. Virtual Fundraising Events–Key Considerations

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A guest post by Roger Devine at SchoolAuction

Event-based fundraisers have evolved quite a bit in the past few years. Giving tendencies have shifted to online with 63% of donors preferring to give online with a credit or debit card. At the same time, in-person fundraisers still remain a crowd favorite for many donor audiences.Tools and techniques for virtual fundraising multiplied, to the point where now every fundraiser needs to ask the question:

“Should we go for a flexible, easy-to-pull off online event, an engaging and fun in-person gala, or some combination of the two?”

It’s not necessarily an easy choice. In this guide, we’ll review how understanding the following factors can ensure you’ve made the right decision for your event attendees:

  • Audience
  • Budget and Resources
  • Event Goals and Content
  • Timeline and Flexibility

Audience

Donors participate in fundraising events for a variety of reasons, and understanding your audience is essential to knowing which event format will help the most with your fundraising goals.

Start by identifying your target audience. If your group has been fundraising for a while, you’ll have some data on your existing donors–start there, and make sure you have a good handle on the following audience aspects:

  • Demographics: The easiest starting place for this exercise. Smaller groups will have an intuitive understanding of their donor base, but larger organizations should consult their donor database to understand the core demographics.  If you have missing information, consider obtaining a data append to fill in the gaps.
  • Interests: Many fundraising galas offer opportunities for guests to receive something in exchange for their gifts; whether that happens through a live or silent auction, raffles, or games. These can be incredibly motivating for some supporters, while others might prefer public recognition of their gifts, in front of their friends and family.
  • Schedules: School-based groups know not to hold their fundraisers in the summer, or during school vacations. Nonprofit organizations that are not school-related might not have to worry as much about Spring Break, but might want to engage donors during popular seasons like Giving Tuesday.
  • Previous engagement preferences: Your donors’ past actions are a strong signal as to how they prefer to support your organization. For example, if your donors are scattered throughout different geographic locations, you may find that virtual fundraisers are your best bet.

Budget and Resources

A fundraising event needs to deliver a sufficient ROI to make the upfront costs and planning time worth it. Often, the decision on format comes down to what resources the organization can devote to its planning and execution.

In-person events, online silent auctions, and virtual events each have costs associated with them that the others do not.  Galas need a venue, event staffing, an emcee/auctioneer, catering, and decorations. Online silent auctions require an online auction platform. Virtual events need live streaming capabilities and software features to facilitate and maintain engagement. Depending on the existing resources your organization and team have, some of these may be easier for you to acquire than others.

And although you have to keep your available budget in mind, there are a few creative strategies you can use to maximize your resources. These include:

  • Pursuing sponsorships
  • Partnering with like-minded organizations
  • Requesting in-kind donations

As an example, your in-person auction committee can save money with sponsored support such as a venue, food, or entertainment.

Event Goals and Content

Organizations host fundraising events with a variety of goals in mind.  Raising money is the primary goal; but public awareness, broadening the donor base, and increasing engagement are additional motivations behind the decision to hold many fundraising events.

Due to their atmosphere, certain events such as galas, dinners, and live auctions are more traditionally effective in-person than online. Many donors prefer to have an in-person experience of networking and supporting the cause they care about with a group of like-minded supporters.

Online auctions and virtual galas, on the other hand, can reach a much larger audience; not just because guests don’t have to get to the venue, but because there are some donors who would prefer to support from the comfort of their own homes.

General engagement may be easier to make happen in person, but online and virtual events can still incorporate ideas such as games,challenges, countdowns, and incentives to help close the gap.

Timeline and Flexibility

Similar to the budgetary constraints discussed above, the amount of time you have to plan your event may have a significant impact on the type of event you can run.

In-person events and virtual galas often depend on the availability of resources such as venues, entertainment, auctioneers, and emcees who often need to be booked months in advance. Online silent auctions can generally be planned and executed within a couple of weeks.

It’s also important to remember that many organizations don’t choose between in-person and online fundraising events—they incorporate both into the same event. For instance, an online “clean-up” auction a few weeks after your gala can help maximize revenue with little additional effort.

SchoolAuction.net points out other online fundraising add-ons you can explore, including:

  • Online raffles: People love games, so raffles can provide a fun and engaging way for more supporters to participate.
  • Text-to-give: Adding this feature greatly enhances convenience as well as accessibility, since your donors can contribute instantly using their cell phone.
  • Merchandise stores: Offer branded merchandise, gifts, and other items. Once the store is set up, it can continue to generate sales and funds long after the initial fundraising event has taken place.
  • Crowdfunding pages:These are often successful since they foster a sense of community involvement and people enjoy their interactive elements, from chat features to tracking the campaign’s progress in real time.

Give yourself plenty of time to flesh out the details of your fundraising plan before you jump in head first. This way you won’t miss an additional revenue-building opportunity.

 

Roger Devine head shotRoger Devine is a co-founder of Northworld, the developer and distributor of the award-winning SchoolAuction.net auction-management software. Before starting the company, Roger worked for many years in software, website development, and publishing. He’s chaired at least 30 auctions over the past 20 years (one loses count after a while), has served terms on the boards of several area non-profits, loves all dogs on the planet, and lives in Portland, OR.

Planning a Nonprofit Omnichannel Marketing Campaign: 4 Steps

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A guest post by Liz Murphy of Allegiance Group

Omnichannel marketing is a technique in which nonprofits connect with their supporters through multiple communication channels, with the goal of creating a seamless experience between the various channels. Each message should feel like part of one unified, cohesive strategy that guides supporters to take a desired action, whether that’s donating, volunteering, or registering for a virtual event.

These campaigns can be extremely effective in building awareness of your organization, inspiring more donations, and connecting more deeply with supporters. To learn more about how to plan your first omnichannel campaign, follow these four steps:

  1. Determine the campaign’s objectives.
  2. Identify a target audience.
  3. Select communication platforms.
  4. Evaluate your performance.

1. Determine the campaign’s objectives.

Marketing objectives are clearly defined goals that lay out what you want the results of your campaign to be. These goals should follow the SMART goal framework, meaning that they should be:

SMART goals

  • Specific: State what you want the campaign to do using specific numbers (e.g., raise $5,000).
  • Measurable: Identify the metrics or data targets you’ll need to track. Allegiance Group’s guide to fundraising tools recommends choosing software that offers a robust analytics dashboard to accurately track your marketing progress.
  • Achievable: Analyze past campaign performance and choose goals that are challenging yet possible for your nonprofit to accomplish.
  • Relevant: Specify why it makes sense for your nonprofit to tackle this objective at this time (e.g., it relates to your mission or benefits a key project or initiative).
  • Time-based: Lay out a timeframe for reaching the goal.

Let’s say your nonprofit is creating a campaign to promote its most lucrative fundraising event with your main focus being to increase registrations. In this case, your SMART goal might be to achieve a 20% increase in registrations within the three months prior to the event compared to the previous year by using a more efficient registration platform and leveraging targeted marketing messages.

2. Identify a target audience.

To attract potential donors, you’ll need to identify specific audiences and determine their values, communication preferences, and other key characteristics.

Take a look at your existing donors. Which qualities appear over and over? NPOInfo’s guide to donor data recommends breaking down your file into useful categories or segments based on those qualities. These segments may be based on donors’:

  • Ages
  • Locations
  • Giving behaviors (e.g., frequency and/or amount)
  • Interests or support for specific projects
  • Communication preferences (e.g., email vs. direct mail) and engagement

There are so many other categories to choose from, but it’s best to select those that will assist you in meeting your nonprofit’s needs and achieving your campaign goals.

3. Select communication platforms

Based on your findings about your target audience, choose the communication channels they are most likely to engage with on a regular basis. Nonprofits commonly use channels like email, social media, text, phone calls, direct mail, and print and digital ads.

When choosing communication platforms, keep these tips in mind:

  • Focus on quality over quantity. Avoid taking on more platforms than your nonprofit can realistically manage. Instead, prioritize creating engaging content that persuades supporters to donate or get involved in another way. Consider using tools like social media calendars and email marketing software to stay organized.
  • Connect each platform for a seamless experience. On social media, include links to your website and profiles on other platforms. Encourage email recipients to follow your accounts and check out your website. You can even add QR codes linking to online channels to your direct mail campaigns.
  • Tailor content to the audience and platform. Become familiar with the unique preferences associated with both your target audience and the platforms you use. Make sure your message aligns with the tone and value that your audience will expect as well as the expectations for each communication channel. Social media posts, for example, should be short and attention-grabbing, while blog posts can be much more detailed.

Similar to goal-tracking, it’s important to measure your campaign’s performance on each platform. Make sure to identify which metrics determine success for each—for example, the clickthrough rate is crucial for email marketing whereas likes and shares are important for social media.

4. Evaluate your performance.

After your campaign ends, you still have work to do. It’s essential to take the time to analyze your findings, determine whether you met your goals, and plan for future campaigns.

If you met or exceeded your goals for the campaign, pinpoint the strategies that you think pushed your campaign over the finish line. For example, maybe you tried using a new campaign for the first time or sent targeted messages using your demographic-focused donor segments. Once you understand what resonates with your audience, you can replicate and refine those tactics in the future.

If you fell short of your goal, use it as a learning opportunity. Refer back to your initial goal and ask yourself if it was too ambitious for your nonprofit to achieve at this point. Additionally, make sure to identify the wins and losses from the campaign so you know which strategies to keep, which to tweak, and which to remove altogether.

As a result of your hard work, you’ll be able to create a nonprofit omnichannel marketing campaign that feels consistent and connected to your audience. This will deepen their relationship with your organization and inspire them to donate, volunteer, and share about your mission to further the work you do.

Liz Murphy, Allegiance GroupAuthor: Liz Murphy

Liz Murphy is an EVP at Allegiance+Pursuant Group, a direct response fundraising agency and technology company. Liz has more than 30 years of experience growing digital and integrated fundraising and communications programs for social justice, health, and international relief nonprofit organizations.

Liz is an award-winning copywriter and is a frequent speaker at industry conferences, including ANA, DMAW, Bridge, and NTC. She is also a member of the Board of Directors of the Direct Marketing Association of Washington Educational Foundation.

Fundraising Tuesday: P.S., QR Code, and More Money for Your Nonprofit

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In nonprofit fundraising, everything old is new again.

One of the best appeal letters I received at the end of 2023 was from Second Chances Inc., a local nonprofit that “reuses and recycles clothing, shoes, and accessories so that homeless and lower-income people feel confident and valued as they take their first steps toward brighter futures.”

Second Chances appeal letter frontSecond Chances did all the things you have to do to send out the ideal appeal letter.

  • They called my wife and me by name, not “Dear Friends.”
  • They told the story of one person in trouble.
  • They used a photo, quotes, bold and underlined text to break up the dreaded wall of text.
  • They said you many times more than they said we.

These are all classic ingredients of a fundraising appeal that works.

Something old, something new

One other thing Second Chances did right, which regular readers of this blog will recognize: they used a P.S. The postscript (along with the salutation, photos, and bold text) is one of the first things that most potential donors will read when they receive your mail.

A postscript is not an afterthought. Actually, I suggest that writing the P.S. should be one of the earliest things you do when drafting your fundraising appeal! So, it’s vital to use that highly desirable space in your letter to make it more likely that the person reading it will donate.

How do you spur donations? One way is to drive home the message that you were telling in the main body of the letter. For instance, Second Chances could have referred back to Alyssa, the person who received the bag of winter clothing, whom they tell about earlier in the letter. They could have said something like, “There is someone else just like Alyssa who is shivering in the cold right now, and you can help her. Please make your donation today!” And that would have worked.

Second Chances chose a different way to make donations more likely. They made donating easy.

Second Chances appeal letter back with QR CodeIf you look at the back of their letter, your eye will immediately get drawn to two things, the signature, and the little black box that looks a bit like a maze. Yes, that’s a QR code!

QR codes have been around since the 1990’s but were never in widespread use until the outbreak of Covid in 2020.

Suddenly, the entire world sought quick and easy ways function without physical contact. QR codes were the perfect solution. The codes are free, easy to make, and easy to maintain. Almost everyone carries a phone with QR scanning capabilities. You could dine at restaurants and bars without touching a menu that’s been touched by other people, reducing the spread of germs. You could pay for items without touching cash or pushing buttons on a card reader. (from A brief history of QR codes)

Second Chances did not add a QR code just to look trendy! I am sure they thought it was a great way to make their paper fundraising appeal more interactive. For the donor, making that gift doesn’t have to mean typing the Second Chances URL into their web browser, navigating to the Donate page, and then going to PayPal. Just pull out your phone, and the next steps are automatic.

What is your nonprofit doing to use both time-tested techniques and new technology to help your donors decide to give, on the spot? Share on X

 

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