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Celebrating 2013 from Samantha Swaim Fundraising LLC on Vimeo.

Use Donor Acquisition Events Effectively

Community Action introduced their organization to a room full of new potential donors at their annual People You Should Know Breakfast.

By: Samantha Swaim

Effective use of a donor acquisition event in your development plan can lead to effective introductions to a new donor pool and a great way to spread the word about your organization. The primary purpose of this type of event is introduction. The structure is relatively simple. The event is free, the program for the event should be rich with stories and the ask should be structured as a low-level way to get new people involved.

The fundraising goals will be tailored differently than a major donor fundraising event, as it isn’t catering to your cultivated pool of donors. Instead, your development team ends up with a list of new contacts that they can then begin to cultivate by bringing them into the work of the organization and stewarding them as donors. It’s like bringing in a new crop to the first rung of the donor ladder and then helping them climb by spending time with them to get them more invested in your organization and feel compelled to give more significantly.

Community Action’s annual People You Should Know Breakfast is a great example of this type of event in action. This year 300 people came to the Oregon Zoo to hear about the work of Community Action. The cultivation of attendees started with table hosts who were targeted by Community Action because of their connection to the organization. These hosts were asked to come to the event and commit to filling a table with guests to introduce to the organization.

Table hosts filled tables with guests they wanted to introduce to the organization.

The program of the breakfast was a series of videos that showcased the stories of staff and clients of the organization, the cumulative effect of which was to paint a rich and heart-driven picture of the important work that the organization does to lead the way to eliminate conditions of poverty and create opportunities for people and communities to thrive in Washington County. It was a tight, scripted program with a focus on a dynamic introduction of the organization to new potential supporters.

The ask was one compelling story of change that Community Action had helped facilitate and instead of envelopes being pre-placed at the table settings, the envelopes were actively passed to the table hosts after the ask, and the table hosts passed them to their guests and engaged them to give. A challenge gift by a major donor helped incentivize the giving and the result was increased fundraising and acquisition of a new donor base.

How to Create an Effective Fundraising Environment

By: Samantha Swaim

More isn’t always more. Sometimes less can actually be more.

This is often true at fundraising events. Seems counterintuitive, right? The more people in the room the better, right?

It’s not the number of people in the room that will help you hit your targets, it’s who you have in the room that will help you create a great fundraising environment in which to achieve your goals. Everyone attending your event is actually costing you money. The food they’re eating, the chair they’re sitting in, the drinks they’re enjoying in some cases—those things are hard costs to your budget. The offset of that comes when the person in that seat gives back to you beyond what it cost for you to have them there.

If you have an intended focus for your fundraising program and then put too many uninvested people in that room, it can actually be distracting. Especially if those seats are filled with comp tickets. Studies have shown that there is a direct correlation between someone who has paid to be at an event and them donating. If people have paid to be there, they are more likely to give you money. If they’re not invested, it becomes easy to chat with the person next to them at their table. Or even worse, they get up and start moving around the room during your special appeal.

And when one goes, it gives permission for everyone else to follow.

Make-A-Wish of Oregon switched things up this year and held an intimate dinner, live auction and special appeal with a curated crowd of 250 before their larger and lower-ticket price Wish Ball started upstairs with silent auction, raffles, photo booth and fun for everyone.

The process of shrinking their crowd for this intimate dinner allowed them to hone in on bringing their biggest donors together and moving those who were lower level supporters up to the Wish Ball. By making this split they were able to create a more exclusive room that catered to the interests of their major donors.

It also allowed the organization to reach directly across to those major donors and create a tight, focused program for them without worrying about the distraction of a big, unruly room that they had to keep bringing to attention. It gave invested donors an environment of peers who were as committed to the organization as they were. The pay off for the change in format was that then everyone could head up to the party and socialize, dance and celebrate the amazing fundraising that was already done.

Take a look at who comes to your event, identify your major donors and then craft your event with that crowd in mind. By catering to your donor base, you will increase the investment in your major donors and increase the fundraising.

Getting to the Heart of an Organization

By: Samantha Swaim

We encourage organizations to start the program of their event with a video that we call the ‘who we are’ piece. It’s a great way to dim the lights and bring the attention of the room together. It’s also an easy way to tell the story of your organization in a condensed and engaging format so that everyone in the room is on the same page.

Often organizations come back to us and tell us about their budget constraints and the idea that there isn’t resource enough for a second video if they are already using video for their special appeal. But if you have photos and a computer, you can make a video that tells the story of your organization.

We made a video for PlayWrite@10, an anniversary gala for an arts non-profit in Portland. All we used were some photos that they already had on their website, some simple text and a great song that set the emotional trajectory we were looking for.

We started with the words first. What is good for a grant, may not be the best thing for storytelling. We looked at why this organization does what it does. We looked at what was the beating heart at its core. That process was about stripping away all of the jargon and program language and cutting to what the organization does on the simplest level: it listens to stories of young writers and facilitates them telling those stories on stage.

With a very simple script in place, we matched photos of their writers to the text. We made the story about the young writers involved. Showed them thinking, writing, playing, smiling and taking a bow for their work. We told a simple story in words and images that in just over two minutes told why PlayWrite does the very important work it does. Showed the faces of the lives it impacts every day.

The video worked really well at the event. It also worked really well for staff, encouraging them to simplify how they talk about their organization and to focus on the program’s emotional impact. It put the young writers front and center.

And the video can have a long life after the event. Staff and board members can play it on a tablet when meeting with donors to quickly engage them. It can become a multi-media piece to add to appeal emails and post-event electronic recaps to attendees. It can become your elevator speech. When you turn on the screen, people pay attention.

Take it as a challenge. Grab a piece of paper and a pen and see if you can get to the beating heart of your organization in 150 words. Let go of what you usually say, let go of what the website says, let go of language you’ve inherited. Pretend your audience is someone that has never heard of you. What would you tell them?

Real Stories About Real People Make a Difference

By Samantha Swaim

Your special appeal is the largest fundraising opportunity during your event.

Not the silent auction. Not the raffle. Not the wine wall.

The special appeal.

And because it is such a large opportunity, it is important to spend significant time and energy on it to yield that return. Your special appeal should not be about facts and figures or programs. Those are important things, but as soon as they are introduced, studies show that giving decreases by as much as 50%.

Your special appeal story should be about real people. A story that makes an emotional connection between your guests and the issue your organization is addressing. It should show how their trajectory was or will be significantly impacted by the work of your organization.

Basic Rights Oregon held its biggest gala yet with this year’s Ignite event. Their special appeal broke all records for their organization. This was as a result of time and strategy.

They created an amazing video to take the audience on a journey. It is the story of one couple. One journey. It is the very human story of love, and how after 42 years, Ed and Warren want to be married in Oregon.

The video of Ed and Warren that Basic Rights Oregon used in their appeal was a very carefully crafted piece focused on making the case for support.

It doesn’t delve into marriage protections.

It doesn’t talk about law.

There are no statistics in it.

There are voices. There are pictures. It simply tells the story of Ed and Warren and the incredible life they’ve crafted together out of love. And it makes a simple request for support so that Basic Rights Oregon can make that happen for them.

And the audience responded in a huge way. When we humanize what we do and make it about people giving to people, the response and giving will follow. Take the stories you have and simplify them, distil them down to what makes them human. The special appeal is that place to have emotional impact on your audience, the place to put your heart on your sleeve. And if you’ve done it well, your audience will give theirs back to you.

Meet Avery

By Samantha Swaim

 

Meet Avery.

He’s proof that it’s never too early to start to teach the power of volunteering and philanthropy.

Avery recently attended the Raphael House Founders Dinner—solo. He got dropped off at the University Club where the event was held and volunteered to sell wild card raffle tickets before the live auction.

But when the program started, he took his dinner seat. During the special appeal, he put his paddle in the air as the lead gift on behalf of his grandfather's construction company and their support of Raphael House.

Here’s Avery, in his own words talking about the experience:

How old are you?

13 years old.

What’s your favorite book? 

One for the Money

How long have you been going to fundraisers?

This was my first fundraiser but I have been volunteering for 2 years at Raphael House.

How did that start?

I volunteer once every other week and instead of volunteering my normal day they asked me to help at the Founders Dinner. 

What have you done as a volunteer at events?

I sold raffle tickets at the dinner but I normally help do projects around Raphael House.

What makes you passionate about Raphael House?

I feel passionate because I love helping families and would not want to be in their situation. I feel that if lots of people start helping we can find homes for all the families in need.

Have you raised a bid paddle before?

I have never raised a paddle.

How did it feel to not only raise a paddle, but to be the lead gift in the evening’s special appeal? What was that moment like? 

I felt great doing it. The moment felt great and I felt great giving to a good cause.

Were you nervous?

I was not nervous at all.

Did it change how the folks at your table looked at you?

I'm not really sure that they looked at me differently, but I'm sure people at the dinner did.

What do you hope other young folks out there get out of your story?

I hope that they see that I'm helping and go out and try to change something in the world.

When you’re not out changing the world, what’s your favorite thing to do?

I love playing soccer and hanging out with my friends. 

Event Themes Can Extend Far Beyond Centerpieces

 by Samantha Swaim

 

Sometimes planning a fundraising event can seem like stitching together seemingly disparate elements with 50 colors of thread. Your organization wants a keynote. And to give away awards. And to have some live music. And a special appeal. And the executive director has a lot to say about updates for your organization over the last year. They can all be important pieces, but getting them to create a unified whole can be a challenge.

Think about using an event theme to bring it together. Event themes can extend well beyond décor, centerpieces and what your guests wear. Theme can actually dictate content and create a coherent and effective narrative for the run of your event’s program. It can shine a spotlight on your mission and the importance of your work before the event has even started.

  

At Urban League of Portland’s Equal Opportunity Day Awards Dinner, the use of a theme brought it all together. This year they constructed their event around Cultural Relevance in Healthcare Delivery, and it gave them the unifying platform they needed to knock it out of the park.

Now this important theme wasn’t printed all over everything, or used as a tag line from the stage. Instead they focused the content of the program on equal access to healthcare. They had that be their thread. From this platform, they tied their lead sponsors, honoree and keynote speaker together, all of whom spoke to or represented this idea on stage.

 

Their President & CEO Mike Alexander spoke about African American Oregonians’ access to healthcare, they honored Dr. George Brown President and CEO of Legacy Health systems and their keynote Dr. Mark Nivet spoke about how providers in the medical system need to provide care with greater cultural competence.

This made their program compelling and rich, both of which were evidenced in the success of their special appeal. By that point in the evening the case for the vital work of Urban League of Portland and its allies had been made. They had created the programmatic momentum they needed to move into asking the room for money.

  

Great themes can be ideas and concepts, and don’t have to be relegated to what guests can dress up for. They can advance the education of your audience on the work of your organization and can generate thought, advocacy and ideas. This cohesion can create a very compelling and focused program that naturally brings all of the elements together for successful fundraising and can bring your audience right into the work that you do.

Improved Format Suits Audience Just Fine

 

Columbia Land Trust held another wildly successful event last weekend at Montgomery Park. A great portion of that success can be traced to the momentum they were able to capitalize on due to the event’s actual format, one that they started to play with three years ago.

CLT’s dedicated audience is comprised of people passionate about the mission of the organization. This means they have the ‘right’ people in the room for fundraising. That also means many of them know each other and the event is a great touch base for them to see each other and catch up. Sometimes, this can be challenging when you need the audience to be focused on fundraising during the program.

  

Columbia Land Trust got in front of this to hit both targets by reformatting their event to maximize the potential for both fundraising AND socializing. They started with a standing cocktail hour and select silent auction. This allowed for friends to greet each other, and also participate in raising money through silent auction items carefully calibrated to the outdoor, wine-loving nature of the crowd.

The audience was then moved into theatre style seating for a tight program that included a great talk by their Executive Director, a live auction of items hand-picked to match the tastes of the audience, and a compelling special appeal story followed by an ask and a collection.  

Once the money was raised, the music came on upstairs and the audience moved into the party. Seated, family-style catering and a festive music-filled room opened up to allow all the friendly connections to continue. No other fundraising was asked of the crowd, just fun, food, and friends. It was a win-win, CLT hit all of their fundraising goals due to the passionate and generous support, and then everyone got to celebrate and raise a glass to the success.

The format of a fundraising event is one of the largest tools you have to create momentum. Think about your audience, think about your goals, and find a way to bring all of them together.

Congratulations to Columbia Land Trust on another great event!

Curate Your Event for the Audience You Want to Attend

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by Samantha Swaim

Well curated events where the audience, the program and the goals for the event are in line, help pave the way to success

When we start talking with non-profits about what they hope to achieve with their fundraising events they often reply, “We need big money from our big donors AND we need a bunch of new supporters, too.” Sometimes these two can go hand-in-hand, but only if very special care is taken to curate the attendance.

Throwing the dice and waiting to see about who will be attending your event is not the way to do either the friend-raising or the fundraising. We regularly encourage our non-profits to get very clear about their goals and let those guide the event development.

The purpose of acquisition events is to bring new people (who may become potential donors down the road) into your organization and introduce them to the great work you do. Major donor events are all about taking the folks who are already significant donors to your organization and getting all of them together to continue, and maybe even increase, their support.

When you are trying to do both kinds of event at the same time, can you see how the intersection is at odds with fundraising? You’re trying to take two different audiences on different journeys at the same time. For people new to your organization, there is a certain amount of cultivation and education needed to move them into being a major donor. This is the same work you have invested in your major donors, and continue to invest if you’re doing it well.

Curate your events to suit the audience you are seeking to attend them. No event can be everything to everyone. And while doing one big event for everyone seems advantageous in terms of workload, it often runs counter to the event’s maximum potential. Make your acquisition events specific to the crowd you’re targeting and more about education than fundraising. Don’t assume this audience knows who you are and what you do. Tell them your story and build the compelling case for their involvement and future financial support. Often these are smaller, very targeted events like meet and greets at your offices or a happy hour where you bring targeted staff members to talk about their work.

For the big fundraising, invite your major donors to an event that shows them what you’ve been up to, and what you hope to continue to do with their help. To celebrate the hard work you all do together. These can be large or small events depending on your fundraising goals, but if your primary focus for an event is fundraising, you must make sure you have put together a very specific room of donors. Sending out an invite and waiting to see who comes leaves too much to chance. Get strategic. Develop a targeted invite list, reach out personally and engage donors with a specific solicitation to be a sponsor, a table host or a guest.

Most often, supporters are friends of an organization before they become donors. That’s the cultivation process. Think about your events and where their purpose falls on this spectrum to help shape your event.

Keep Things Fun

A fundraising event with a fun, festive, social atmosphere focused on the positive impact of the donor's gift, increases individual giving and fosters a more successful relationship with major donors than an event with a more formal, business feel.

Community Action decided to transform their annual gala from a formal affair with a keynote speaker focused on corporate giving to a much more socially-focused evening celebrating the impact of their donors and were met with incredible success. People were there to socialize and mingle, and many came with their spouses and partners instead of just with their business associates.

It is common that, in a business formatted event, a vast majority of attendees have their tickets purchased by their company and are seated around the company table, so, in turn, attendees expect their business to write a check at the end of the night. But being there amongst friends and companions, instead of business associates, can make attendees feel more personally responsible for donating and maybe even create a bit of positive peer pressure to be generous with their giving.

This was very clearly reflected in the astounding increase of donations during Community Action’s special appeal.

This social environment appeals more to attendees’ emotions and less to their more logical sides. And appealing to the emotions is an important strategy in getting people to donate. Given too much time and opportunity to rationalize and ponder a donation, a person will quite often decide to give less. You want to create an immediate, emotional reaction in your audience through social interaction, a compelling story, and the desire to gain social approval. You never want to give them too much time to consider and weigh their decisions.

In “Rational Thought Can Override a Generous Intuition,” an article in the March/April 2013 edition of Scientific American Mind, author Michele Solis discusses a recent study of this phenomenon, saying:

“To peer into this aspect of human nature, Rand [David Rand, a psychologist at Harvard University who led this study] and his colleague gave study participants 40 cents, then asked them to decide how much to keep for themselves and how much to donate to a common pool that would later be doubled and split evenly among those who donated. Those who quickly made up their minds donated more than those who took longer, suggesting that quick decisions based on intuition were more generous than slower, deliberate decisions.”

So, keep your fundraising events fun and social, avoiding a more staid, logical business atmosphere in order to encourage your attendees to stick with their initial emotional impulse to donate generously.