Strategy Behind Successful Event Planning for Nonprofit Organizations

Fundraising at Your Event

If your sponsorship dollars have covered your costs of producing the event, all of the money raised at the event can go directly to the mission. This can be a selling point that we recommend incorporating into your program when thanking your sponsors.

Live Auction

This one portion of your evening can be one of your biggest income sources.

Look at what sold well last year and return to those donors to see if you can get a similar donation again.
Identify high-ticket items that will appeal to your audience. We suggest local trips and travel, wine, dining, entertainment and trips outside the local area.
Sequencing them strategically will increase the money raised.

The special appeal is your single biggest fundraising opportunity at an event. Whether you call it a special appeal, fund-a-need, direct ask or paddle-raise, this is the moment when you ask your guests to give directly to your work. No auction packages, no raffle prizes—just a cash donation that demonstrates their commitment to your mission.

Silent Auction

While guests tend to spend less money in a silent auction, it can activate bidders. Be wary of having too many items and consolidate your silent auction. Less is more.

Focus on those things that are specific to your audience.
Create a seller’s market by having no more than 1 silent auction item per every 15-20 guests.
Make sure you have enough space for people to move through the auction and to see and bid actively. Place no more than 5 auction items on each 8-foot table.
Get creative. Your silent auction is a fun opportunity to maximize your internal resources and connections.
Stay away from the swap market or garage sale feel.
NO USED ITEMS.

Special Appeal

There’s a lot of strategy in executing an effective special appeal—pre-committed gifts, challenges, timing and storytelling—but when you get each of these pieces right, your numbers will soar. The appeal should be placed at the top of your event arc after you have educated guests on the issue and have connected them emotionally to the cause. A few keys to success:

Identify a speaker who can connect to the audience emotionally. Be sure that their story directly relates to the work of your organization and the mission.
Talk to your major donors to arrange for some pre-committed giving. When you know giving levels in advance it becomes much easier for us to be strategic about your collection.
The ask should be compelling—it should be a call to action.
We recommend a special appeal video.
Set a goal and only inform the audience of the goal at a time when it will generate more giving.
Identify other ways that people can contribute if they were unable to give in the special appeal.

Pre-Committed Gifts

The key to being able to leverage giving and being strategic with your special appeal is knowing in advance what your donors are bringing to the table. The last thing you want is to tell a beautiful, emotionally-compelling story of the impact your work has had on someone, and start with an ask for gifts at the $10,000 level to see no paddles in the air. Then at $5,000, no paddles, just crickets.

Avoid the crickets with pre-committed gifts! Go into your appeal collection having already identified gifts at the top levels to drive momentum and energy in the room. This gives other donors the opportunity to join a movement of giving.

Work with your major donors to identify pre-committed gifts in the weeks leading up to your event. Identify any grants, matching gifts, foundation gifts or board gifts that can also be used during the special appeal. If a major donor is unable to attend, you can still use their gift.

Create a list of those with pre-commitments so that you can work with your benefit auctioneer to develop a strategic appeal strategy.

Challenges

During a special appeal, a challenge can be a great way to engage new donors or increase their level of giving. For example, if their funds can be matched at a specific level or if a donor throws a challenge to the room to join them, this can be a very persuasive ask.

Make it compelling. Sometimes if you don’t have a matching gift to leverage, you can leverage another opportunity such as “every donor at this level will receive tickets to a private concert.” Incentives can also be effective.

Story, Ask, Collection

Your special appeal should take place at the moment of highest engagement in your program—after some storytelling and before your audience starts thinking about getting home. There are 3 key components to executing the special appeal:

Story – Tell the story of one person or family impacted by your work to create an empathetic connection to your audience. This releases oxytocin which fuels generous giving. Video is a great way to focus your audience and tell a concise, powerful story.
Ask – Once the video ends, invite your storyteller to the stage to make a simple, quick, scripted ask: “This organization changed my life. I want that to be possible for others, so I ask you to give and give generously.”
Collection – Capture this energy and momentum by moving directly into the collection by your benefit auctioneer. Do not retell the story, do not talk about tax benefits—have the auctioneer start with your highest levels of pre-committed gifts and work their way down your appeal strategy to give everyone in the room an opportunity to join this movement.

To see an effective special appeal strategy in action, watch each of these pieces come together at the 2019 North by Northeast Community Supper gala:

Live Auction Best Practices

This portion of your evening can be one of your biggest income sources. It taps into the desire for donors to be seen giving. Also the active sell of the item by an auctioneer brings a higher donation percentage of value. Look at what sold well last year and return to those donors to see if you can get a similar donation again. Identify high-ticket items that will appeal to your audience.

What to Solicit

When getting donations, it’s helpful to know what kinds of items routinely sell well across the board. The top selling items are:

Alcohol + wine collections
Trips + travel
Unique experiences
Dining + entertainment

Avoid things that are subjective like:

Clothing
High-end jewelry
Furniture
Art—unless your event is an art auction with an audience of art collectors

For more help with how and what to solicit, see our posts on suggested Auction Items and our Auction Procurement worksheet.

Balancing Your Giving

Less is more. Don’t go beyond 10-13 live auction items because it’s difficult to keep an audience attentive if you go too long with this part of your program. Figure each item will take approximately 5 minutes to introduce and sell. With a well-designed strategy, your audience will get behind your special appeal with more giving if there is less to consider in the live auction. Sequencing your items in a way to build momentum is key.

Benefit Auctioneer

Not all auctioneers are a fit when it comes to nonprofit fundraising events. You want to hire a professional benefit auctioneer with a BAS certification. These auctioneers have gone through special training to understand that they are selling your mission rather than stuff. This is critical because they will work with you in advance on key pieces of your fundraising:

They will advise you on your appeal and auction, including how to use pre-commits as well as how to sequence your items for maximum return
They will help you to increase your fundraising by using the momentum of donors in the room to dictate their pace instead of a clocked approach to the item
They will help create fun, entertainment and momentum during your auction and will be able to speak about your work and mission
They will signal to your audience that you are serious about fundraising, and if they are in your market, will often know some of the major donors in the room

Descriptions

One of the tightest deadlines for any event is the print program deadline because of the turn-around times necessary for printing. For this reason, the more complete and timely your auction data, the better. Do your best to add all the relevant information into the description, including any restrictions or additional details.

There are a few rules of the road for descriptions that make for the most successful sales experience:

Title the auction package something that clearly spells out what it is, this allows donors to quickly scan and know what they’re bidding on
Add the number of people who can partake of the package in the title especially if the package includes travel
Use numerals rather than written numbers throughout the package description for easy scanning
Try to provide and convey as many specific and special details about each package as possible so that they feel like premium experiences
It is essential to include restrictions and expiration dates

Live auction descriptions function together in 3 formats, which is why what gets written for each format is different:

Print program: This should include the full description with the most complete and robust information. This is the resource for buyers to know all the fine print.
Script: This should include fewer details, should be generally shorter and should be modified for the spoken word. Any words that are difficult to pronounce should be given phonetic spellings. For ease of reading, if written numbers have been used in other versions of the package, convert to numerals for the script.
Power Point: This should be just a few of the most compelling details about the package and allow people to grasp quickly what is being sold. It should also include a few pictures and be formatted in a visually engaging way.

Other Auction Ideas

Vacation homes and local trips
Air miles and tickets
Kid and family services: house, sitting, cleaning
Wine, alcohol, beer, wine cellar
Unique tastings or tours
Theme related experiences
Private chef
Shopping experiences
Celebrity experiences
Tickets: awards, concerts, special events
Vendors: donate an auction package

West Coast Trips

Palm Springs
San Francisco
Seattle
Vancouver

Destinations

Beaches
Europe
Mexico
Hawaii

Creative Auction Items – No Procurement

VIP table at the event
Round of cocktails: unique to theme or crowd
After party or backyard BBQ
Unique experience: you’re the expert, tour with staff
Swap with other organizations or national affiliates
Meal or party prepared by the board or staff
Student art projects
Service projects (painting, cleaning, landscaping) for the bidder’s home or office
Sponsor a gift for clients of the organization for example: adopt-a-bear, books, toys, blankets
Party at unique venue
Use of property
Opportunity to spend time with internal celebrities or people who guests would find interesting and a rare chance: executive director, board member, a musician that supports the organization, etc.
Flower delivery for a year
Dessert delivery for a year

Creative Combinations

Date nights for a year
Neighborhood specific packages
Dining out for a year
Spend or put together donated gift cards to create unique packages around a specific theme like a BBQ package, beach package, etc.
Sports fan – Timbers, Thorns, Blazers, Ducks, Mariners, Seahawks, Beavers, Pilots, Thunder, Winterhawks, Roller Derby, Hillsboro Hops, Huskies, Cougars
Distillery tour
Wine tour
Progressive dinner

Available for Purchase (Consignment)