Cost Effectively Increase Donations At Your Next Fundraising Event!
Significantly increase donations at your next fundraising event by creating a competitive environment and feeding real time data to your MC or auctioneer, the combination of these two elements will play a key role in helping you hit your fundraising target!
Do your research
According to Harry Santa-Ollala, MC and Fundraising Consultant, typically 75% of attendees haven’t paid to be at your event. Therefore, its paramount to analyse your guest demographic, if you understand who they are, it will be easier to pinpoint what’s going to motivate them to donate. For instance, if the majority of your demographic are young professionals, source auction items and experiences that will directly appeal to them.
If you’ve hosted similar events in the past, take the time to analyse data from those events and discover where in the fundraising narrative there were spikes in donations. This will give you a strong indication of when to strategically ask for donations during the evening as well as highlighting lulls which you could potentially eliminate with the advice below!
Hire an effective MC
Here are a few qualities you should look for in an MC:
– Willingness to invest time in understanding what makes your particular guest demographic tick and create activities/initiatives to suit them
– A bubbly yet sharp persona to captivate and engage guests
– A willingness to stick to the plan
– Familiar with the silent auction and pledging technology being utilized
Make your ask tangible
If the majority of your guests are middle aged couples, ask them to donate the amount they would typically spend on a meal in a nice restaurant, this strategy has been proven over and over again to increase participation.
In addition, If 90% of your guests have donated, announce this fact and thank your donors for their participation, this announcement is likely to influence the remaining 10% to donate too.
Display a goal and challenge guests to reach it
Make the goal realistic and encourage each table to work together as a team, this will provoke those who haven’t parted with any money to get involved. You can motivate tables to work together by launching a competition “the table who pledge the most as a team will win a bottle of champagne”.
Would you like further details on the advice above? Watch the webinar recording below or contact us, we’d love to hear from you!
Ben Crook
Chief Operating Officer
Ben is at the forefront of every project in Givergy, listing and actioning constant improvements across the business. With over a decade of experience in the charity and events sector he brings a deep understanding of what the fundraising industry needs to operate effectively and efficiently.
5 Top Tips for City Fundraising Success
October 30, 2024
6 Proven Ways to Optimize Donations for Maximum Fundraising Success
September 17, 2024
6 Powerful Features to Boost Engagement at Your Next Fundraising Auction
September 2, 2024
5 Top Tips for Increasing Ticket Sales and Engaging Donors
August 9, 2024
Empowering Communities in Election Years: Top 10 Engagement Strategies
July 2, 2024