There are numerous nonprofit organisations that arrange events and work hard at raising money for nonprofits with the assistance of professional event organisers. With the help of an event organising online platform, they may come up with various ways to make awesome nonprofit events and raise funds from them more successfully.
How Do Nonprofits Raise Money?
How to raise funds for a nonprofit organisation? Many small nonprofits have trouble raising money because they pursue every conceivable opportunity, which dilutes their efforts and causes them to lose sight of their mission. Fundraising at events involves all types of soliciting donations for a nonprofit agency. This includes efforts to raise money from individuals.
Planning a Non-Profit Event.
The most important thing you need to do to raise money for your nonprofit organisation is come up with a good idea. However, while planning your event, choose the objective of the event: it is not always possible to combine non-commercial and commercial event elements, marketing, appropriate hosting, etc. A lot of money will be collected if you pick activities that are appropriate for your event concept.
There are many great activities you can include for raising money for a non-profit and supporting your organisation:
- charity events
- lunches/brunches
- auctions
- exhibitions
- trade fairs
- festivals
- flea markets
- cycling and running
- carnivals
- processions
- sports competitions
- proms
- dancing lessons
Theatre performances are another great format for charity events. Garage sales and charity sales are the most simple and affordable activities that can even be held by beginners. They are a cost-free way to collect small amounts of money for a small project, which can be just as important as the larger projects.
Best Practices for Raising Money at Nonprofit Events.
From a wide variety of online non-profit event solutions, we’ve chosen the most widely used practices and other ways to raise money for a nonprofit.
Define Your Objective.
Explain to sponsors that you are hosting a fundraising event and that they will earn community goodwill by participating.
Create a Task List.
Create tasks and to-do items. It’s impossible to add tasks to a project without adding them to a task list if you use automated planning software.
Find an Event Format and Theme that Attracts Donors.
Find the best format. With the help of contest organising, event planners also elevate company reputations because organising a contest for nonprofits is hard, interesting, and rewarding, which attracts even more donors.
Prepare Your Budget.
A budget is basically a list of planned income and expenses for a given period. Make it clear and complete.
Select a Wallet-Friendly Venue.
Some venues might be willing to discount or even donate their space in order to be associated with a good cause. So, take a chance, as it never hurts to ask!
Organise Your Event Committee.
Finding contest judges who know how to judge a nonprofit contest is not always an easy task. Set the rules and criteria for judging a nonprofit contest. You can also organise an event host committee.
Find charitable event sponsors
The fastest way to earn money for charity is to arrange an event. Professional organisation of a charity fundraising campaign is a good way to attract charitable sponsors.
Sell Tickets and Registration Online.
Marketing your fundraising event is arguably one of the most important aspects of holding a fundraiser. With that in mind, secure sponsors and use merchandise to promote the event.
Boost Fundraising Benefits.
Organising a nonprofit contest is the best way to support socially-oriented nonprofit organisations in a variety of fields: business, culture, healthcare, environmental protection, animal rights, women’s organisations, and many more.
Recruit, Train, and Manage Your Volunteers.
For your event to run successfully, you need reliable event volunteers. Find out how to find, recruit, and train them in this post!
Create a Timeline.
Create an interesting timeline and infographics with the help of your event planning tools. Change icons, fonts, and colors. Customise everything in the timeline template to attract more donors.
Create an Accessible Event.
Launch a lucky draw or organise a competition for tickets. Use gamification and other entertainment methods to engage more of the public with your fundraising issues. Let them donate while playing and enjoying themselves.
Follow-Up.
Plan a fantastic follow-up strategy to keep engagement high. Invite all participants, experts, investors, partners, and even those who are not familiar with the event. Meet them and organise networking events to get the most out of your contest organisation and follow up with them accordingly.
Creating a strategy.
When ideas for raising money for nonprofits are put together and it’s time to get to work, create a solid strategy and stick to it for greater success!
- Use nonprofit contest tips
Keep events focused on the assistance of expert help.
- Use a professional event management system
The major event subjects—projects, investors, attendees, or jury members—must all align what they do to meet mutual objectives on a single platform for nonprofit fundraising events.
Resources on How Nonprofits Work.
Here are the most popular and available resources for nonprofits apart from the Gevme professional fundraising event organiser.
- Canva
- Tweetdeck
- Hootsuite
- Later
- ThunderClap
- Hashtags.org
- Grammarly
- Headline Analyzer
The most commonly used communication channels are:
- Event website, landing page or apps
- Social networks: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter
- Top online crowd-funding websites
- Email-based campaigns targeting people who are listened to in society or are potential donors.
Whether you seek free or pre-paid event management software, always look for a professional solution that completely satisfies your event management demands.
Fundraising Event Ideas for Nonprofit Organizations.
There are numerous reasons to monetise your nonprofit events: they may open up new opportunities not only for businesses but also for people in difficult situations. Event marketing helps not only to sell and earn but also to save lives. That is why raising funds for nonprofit organisations may turn out to be a good choice. The best working practice for raising money at non-profit events should definitely be implemented when organising events.
The most effective forms of nonprofit fundraising event planning are fundraising and crowdfunding.
Fundraising seeks to attract financial or information resources to achieve non-commercial goals. It is sometimes enough to talk about the experience of creating and running a fundraising project on your own without a budget to attract publicity and, consequently, some funds to your organisation.
Crowdfunding pursues the same objectives as fundraising but on the Internet via digital channels. It is the collaboration of people (contributors) who voluntarily pool their money or other resources together through the Internet to support the efforts of other people (owners, creators of a startup company, projects) or nonprofit organisations (recipients).
Fundraising events for nonprofit organisations can also serve various purposes: assistance to victims of natural disasters, support from sports fans, support for political campaigns, funding for startup companies and startup projects, small business and private business, the creation of free software and games, profit from joint investments, CSR activities, and much more.
To obtain a visible effect, it is better to use all available channels; and for greater efficiency, it is better to combine them with offline tools, such as personal offline communication with donors, holding charity events or auctions, etc.
Non-profit Event Planning.
The most important thing for organizing an event is having a good idea. However, while planning your event, choose the objective of the event carefully: it is not always possible to combine non-commercial and commercial event elements, marketing, and appropriate hosting. You should choose whether it will be street events that create the name and recognition without any media presence, or holidays, which will be covered only in the corporate press. A lot of money will be collected if you pick activities based on your event concept.
There are many great activities you can use to organise a fundraising event and support your organisation:
- charity events
- trade fairs
- festivals
- lunches/brunches
- auctions
- exhibitions
- sport competitions
- flea markets
- cycling and running
- carnivals
- processions
- proms
- dancing lessons
- lucky draw and others
Theatre performances are another great format for charity events, while garage sales and charity sales are the most simple and affordable activities. They can even be held by beginners. They are a cost-free way to collect small amounts of money for a small project, which is a great opportunity.
Tips on Raising Money at Nonprofit Events.
If you are going to make a good fundraising event for your non-profit organisation, be it a charity event or something else, follow these useful tips for organising a fundraising event.
Checklist for your event:
- event planning
- event marketing
- event hosting
- following up
Do not forget to consider all possible details before, during, and after the event. Here are some excellent tips that will help you achieve this:
- Print booklets and business cards
At any event, you will need to exchange cards and contact information. There should be as many quality business cards as you need. Let everyone take them. Hang posters on the door; it’s likely that you will be highly visible at the event.
- Take care of technical equipment
Professional sound, microphone, lottery drums, lights etc., depending on your event format, are essential for success.
- Do not forget the tickets or invitations
Print tickets and send out invitations in advance. Use highly technological registration solutions.
- Set up boxes for collecting money
These should be set up all over the hall and be easily spotted by the visitors.
- Invite a photographer
Photographers can give your event more legitimacy. Good pictures will be remembered for a long time.
- Invite guest stars
You should know in advance those who really want to participate in charity and are already engaged. You should also not be offended by those who will refuse to join you and support your foundation. Pick someone who’s associated with certain funds and fit into your industry area.
- You will need volunteers
It’s impossible to do everything, so delegate responsibilities! You will need a lot of helpers at the opening. A great number of guests demands attention. All the guests should be talking and interacting. People may be participating for the first time, so they must understand where they are and what is happening. Everyone should be greeted with smiles from well-trained assistants.
Obvious roles at nonprofit events:
- food court volunteers
- masters, assistants of masters at master-classes
- volunteers on the lottery (tickets, take-away prizes)
- volunteers in the photo studio
- volunteers on handmade gifts
Non-obvious roles:
- navigators (directing guests around the event)
- cleaning services (put the site in order during the event and, most importantly, after it)
- accountants (monitor visitors – this is necessary for further work planning)
- dressing fairies (hang up and give out clothes from the wardrobe)
- chronographs (consider how long each section of the program takes, fix time, etc.)
- “celebrity friends” (pay attention to hosts, moderators, etc.)
- make things like food, water, halls and singers free
We can ask for these services from those who have it in abundance: food from catering companies, wine from importers, singers from entrepreneurs, etc. All of these features should be available for free to the visitors. Everything that makes up a charity event should be free of charge. Therefore, however much you collect during the event, it will be a net profit.
Remember: call three hundred people if you want at least a hundred to come. Pay attention to the main events taking place around the date of your nonprofit event, as they may influence your charity event’s success.
It is necessary to build the event in such a way that there is no dissatisfaction—neither among the guests and attracted persons, nor among the volunteers and other team members. When they realize that you don’t need money but their contribution and services, they will no longer be afraid and, most likely, will help you.
Technology for Nonprofit Event Planning.
To organise events for non-commercial companies and to store pictures, text documents, and other files while making them accessible from any gadget, you can use an external drive or put everything in the Cloud. Keeping information on the web for storage is safer, but you have to choose the right tool first!
- Start with the approximate budget of the event and then make a budget for online services.
- Consider all the available tools: premises, equipment, advertising, printing, logistics, catering, team and time management features, etc.
- Also look up extra options, such as ticket purchases, accommodations, meals, transportation, and other things relevant to your particular event.
Once you understand what exactly you need, you can choose the platform, launch the event, and start collecting money. Where, who, and when will depend on the format of the nonprofit event.
GEVME is often sought after by event planners to promote nonprofit fundraising events. It acts as an abstract management system for multiple types of events and is a perfect solution for all types of awards events, contests, academic conferences, and more, including charity and other nonprofit events.
Use Tools to Automate a Fundraising Process.
Analyse, report, store, or share your data with fundraising event ideas by using the integrated event management apps.
Final Note.
Digital marketing helps not only to sell and earn but also do good things for the world. Thus, successful fundraising events should be well organised with the help of professional assistance. Charity and nonprofit organisations need broad public support. Unfortunately, most people don’t know anything about charitable activities or events. Furthermore, what they do know is usually not quite true. It is very important to convey true information to as many people as possible, and online channels are the best way to do that!
If you need reliable support and the approval of authorities, as well as timely event organisation and management, the best support at the highest level can be provided by Gevme.
Feel free to contact us and request a demo.
