UK WHO
The Royal Scottish National Orchestra is one of Europe’s leading orchestras, with a history stretching over 125 years. It is one of Scotland’s leading cultural institutions and an orchestra with various works, including charitable support to bring a free national school programme to young students. They also offer musical delights for people of all ages outside of schools, with several programmes ranging from the baby box scheme to care home visits dementia-friendly. They aim to engage with as many people as possible through the power of music.
Prior Fundraising Challenges
The RSNO notes that their ageing demographic of supporters and donors is the main fundraising challenge, as efforts also need to be made simultaneously to attract a new generation of donors. As with many other organisations, the cost-of-living crisis is also making things harder as people have less to give.
Being part of the arts and entertainment sector also brings challenges as government funding within the area is under lots of pressure and subject to reduced support. To ensure money could be raised through a dynamic fundraising campaign, the RSNO used Givergy Unlimited to use as many different tools as possible from our award-winning platform.
Event Highlights
2023 was the 50th Gala Ball for The Royal Scottish National Orchestra, which meant the occasion had to stand out. It had also been 10 years since the last event was held in Glasgow, so the magnificent Grand Central Hotel was chosen as the stunning location.
A silent auction and pledge drive drive were selected as it was deemed these were the best options for engaging people in the room whilst still letting them enjoy the event. To ensure bids and donations came in, 30 tablets were situated around the room on tables so guests had the bidding tool close to hand. The charity also had some amazing prizes, with art from Gerard Burns being the showstopper as he is a much-acclaimed Scottish artist. Thanks to the silent auction platform, the team could showcase these prizes in the best possible way and include enticing information, which meant that bidders, quite simply,
could not resist.
Guests also commented how smooth the system was to use and found that the follow-up payment process was stress-free, which we like to hear!
Top Feature
The team at RSNO appreciated the reporting element of the Givergy platform as it could be used on the night to see what needed to be promoted live. This meant the team could interact with guests purposefully and that all items had good activity levels.
How Much Was Raised?
£41,866 was raised in total with £33,316 coming from the silent auction and £14,850 from the pledge.
TOP TIP
- Have all listing information ready before you upload it so that you are not having to revisit items to make tweaks.
- Communicate as much as you want with the Givergy team as on the night, it is teamwork that helps this run smoothly.
“Givergy has been fantastic. On the night, the team knew where to set up without prompting, and they helped out a lot with ensuring things ran smoothly.”
