Virtual Fundraising Events Q+A, Part One: Effective Fundraising

As fundraising event experts, we at Swaim Strategies decided to answer the most asked questions about virtual fundraising galas or events and all the elements that come with them—auctions, sponsors, tech and more—as you prepare for your events in 2021. For the first round of questions in this two-part series, learn how to leverage virtual fundraising strategies to help you reach your goal.

 What should we be planning for 2021?

Stick with virtual events to honor safe socializing, boost attendance and secure sponsorship. Getting a sponsor or ticket commitment for an in-person event is hard because people don’t know if it will be safe to attend. If gathering is possible down the road, you may consider adding a watch party—it is much easier to add than take away.

Is there a way to add networking to my virtual event?

We have found that folks rarely attend any sort of networking event online. Virtual events show incredible success when you don’t try to replicate the party, but instead treat them like a TV show. Effective gatherings on Zoom are challenging and require that you as the host produce, curate and moderate a conversation for your guests. Skip the socializing and go right into the program content. Don’t ask your guests to do more than tune in and give.

How long should the program be?

One hour or less. We have found that virtual engagement begins to drop off around the 50-minute mark. Keeping your program short helps to achieve critical mass for the entire program, especially the fundraising.

How do you combat Zoom fatigue?

Again, keep your program short—less than one hour is ideal. Within that hour, provide really good storytelling and a live interactive format for fundraising. Don’t ask guests to do more, like participate in a social hour or a hosted discussion—it can detract from the time donors are willing to give and creates more work for you.

What benefits can we offer corporate sponsors? Should we lower levels of sponsorship?

No, do not lower levels! The only thing you aren’t offering your sponsors in a virtual event is the branded table of 10. They can still attend virtually and receive the same level of recognition. In actuality, you provide MORE recognition in this virtual gala format because you’ll have multiple landing pages—which means multiple locations where logos can live—the auction page, streaming page, event page, etc. Additionally, you can air a commercial or a word from your sponsor as a part of your event.

Should we do an auction?

Not unless you can show the return on investment. Auctions take a lot of time, so do an assessment to assure that you can yield enough benefit. If you have the infrastructure for procurement and data management, thoughtful auctions are yielding about 80% of the value. Packages should include COVID-safe consumable items, such as wine, virtual experiences (like a Zoom cooking class) or local travel to a private home. We caution against unusable items, such as a trip abroad.

Consider eliminating transactional goods altogether and instead focus your energy on donor relationships to secure matching challenges, pre-committed gifts for the appeal and new sponsors.

How do we budget for a virtual event?

Going virtual = no venue, menu and production costs. However, there are still costs to consider for virtual events:

• A streaming partner to help with your broadcast can range from $3,500 to $45,000. We recommend The AV Department because they are experts in the field and have nonprofit rates that can’t be beat.
• A giving platform with a thermometer, to give your attendees a visual of the funds as they come in and give donor real-time recognition, which we have found to be very motivating. We recommend Greater Giving or Give Lively (it’s free!).
• A video that tells a story, with professional content and graphics.
• An auctioneer to conduct your live fundraising.

For revenue sources, we’re seeing that sponsorship and appeal are both performing higher than pre-COVID levels. But you may want to plan for ticket prices and transactions like the auction to go away. 

What role can volunteers play?

Going virtual doesn’t mean you can’t engage volunteers. Volunteers could be chat cheerleaders during the event, sparking conversation and thanking donors during the broadcast in the chat window. They can also help you get the word out. Send volunteers calendar invites to share easily with their networks to boost attendance.

Do we need a celebrity guest?

No. While securing a celebrity is easier and cheaper right now because virtual participation does not require travel costs, focus most on appealing to your key stakeholders instead.

How much of the program should be entertainment?

That depends. If entertainment is a big part of your mission (i.e., an arts organization) you might want artists to take center stage. But if entertainment is simply to support the theme, open and close with a single song to help set the tone (see Virtual Fundraising Events Q+A, Part Two: Tech How-Tos to read about legal requirements for music during your event).

 

We would love to hear about your virtual event! Reach out to us to talk strategy at https://swaimstrategies.com/rfp/.

Check out our next article, Virtual Fundraising Events Q+A, Part Two: Tech How-Tos.