Designing for Your Audience

Taking your mission into account in all aspects of event design is an important tool to show supporters how completely your organization walks its talk. Or in this case, walks and rides it.

When The Street Trust’s Alice Awards was looking for some new energy and a chance to inspire new audiences, they considered ways to keep the program light and relevant by incorporating elements of the organization’s commitment to transit options. Rather than a traditional sit-down dinner, The Street Trust served small bite street food paired with kegs in multiple locations. Rather than hosted tables, the program featured auditorium-style seating with a targeted chance to hear a legislative update, purchase transit-focused auction packages, get some new gear in a bid frenzy and honor transit advocacy with a brief awards program.

And when the organization was looking for the right venue for this refresh, they focused on a location that had commuting options for transit, cycling and walking routes, the same options The Street Trust works to advocate for. The venue they chose included an easily adjustable outside space able to accommodate robust bike parking, specialty gear and coat check and a large area for changing from commuter duds into party clothes. This brought the mission of the organization into more complete alignment with the ways people experienced the event.

Your annual fundraiser is a great chance to think about ways the event can be designed to support and reinforce the organization’s mission. Every detail from location, set-up, program structure, catering and fundraising are chances to consider your mission and design an event that will remind your audience that your mission is your focus every step of the way.