Be a Fundraiser Guru

Managing fundraisers events is much more complex than organizing simple parties! An event management agency needs to focus on the purpose of an event to ensure a seamless fundraiser, with positive and concrete benefits for the host. The goal is to ensure that the total monetary investment is buoyant and truly meets the goals set. The real work is in all the micro-details to manage before, during and after the event.

If you’ve ever had the task of organizing a big family reunion, you know how much more time is spent managing and worrying about the event than enjoying it. Things to know, the challenges are only increasing with respect to the management of charity events due to their complexity and the importance of their costs and issues. It is therefore important to give them the essential attention they require to ensure their success.

An event management agency can make this process easier, less expensive and immensely more enjoyable. They do a lot more than you think and usually have service packages that fit most budgets.

At EPD, our team of audio visual technicians, project managers and coordinators can either offer a turnkey formula tailored to the needs of our clients, or take on some well-targeted aspects of an event to support and to support their guests.

Here are a few steps to help you towards successful fundraising campaign:

Define a goal
You don’t have to get carried away with setting a specific monetary goal, but it’s good to think about what you hope to achieve with your fundraiser. The main purpose of this is to give your potential donors a clear idea of where exactly their donations will be going. Setting a goal is also a good way to keep you focused and motivated in your fundraising efforts.

Know your options
The fundraising well is deep, friends. Depending on what your goal is, there are vast and varied ways to raise those necessary funds. To list just a few, there’s loans, grants, restaurant fundraisers, trust funds, nonprofit partnerships and online fundraising. It’s important to research all your options before starting your fundraiser, to be sure the method you’ve chosen is really the best way to reach your goal.

Choose a platform (or platforms)
Once you know all your options, you have to choose which platform is best suited to your needs. You can host your fundraiser either online or in person, with a whole trove of specific fundraising ideas in each category. We recommend using a combination of tactics to raise more money. Many of our most successful fundraisers combined both on- and offline efforts to maximize their reach and total money raised.

Organize your campaign
We know it seems like there are a million things to keep track of when you’re raising money. This is why we call our users “organizers” – it’s very important to stay organized when planning a fundraiser. Consider investing in a fundraising notebook to jot down ideas, keep track of donations, remind yourself of your final goal and schedule mini-goal deadlines.

Consult professional resources
The best way to get the most from your fundraising efforts is to consult a professional. GiveForward provides all our fundraising organizers with personal fundraising coaches, who have advice on anything from how to maximize views for fundraising pages to how to most securely get money to the beneficiary.

Enlist a team
Just to hammer home the benefits of collaboration, we want to stress how important it is to have help when you fundraise. By now you’ve gotten the point that fundraising is a lot of work. Building a team of co-organizers can help you smooth out the rough edges of your fundraiser. Studies have even proven that a fundraiser has better chances of success if organized by a team. For example, fundraisers with multiple organizers raises on average five times more money than one with a single organizer. There really is power in numbers.

Get word out
If a fundraiser falls in the forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound? …We think it’s probably better not to leave this one to chance. So after you’ve planned out your fundraiser, either online or in person, you have to advertise. Share your fundraising page on social media, through email and by word of mouth. Contact your local newspaper to see if you can advertise and get media coverage. Solicit help from local businesses – sometimes they’re willing to donate or help organize fundraising events. The more visible your fundraiser is, the more donations you’ll receive.

Show your appreciation
This seems apparent, but it really is very important to remember to show gratitude to your donors. The fact that people chose to give their hard-earned money to help you reach your goal, when they certainly didn’t have to, is incredible. So give back! Simple, personalized thank you letters are an easy way to show your appreciation and strengthen those relationships with your donors.

To conclude, organizing a major fundraiser requires a lot of work and it is easy to forget important components when there is no time, help or experience. Do not hesitate to call on a trusted professional to organize a smooth event!