Over my (many) years in nonprofit, I've grown to have a well-earned reputation for "not liking events." And as my twins used to tell me when they were small: "I can explain, and it will all make sense." So, here we go...
I remember working on a 5K event and reviewing the brochure and poster of sponsors. Most of them were in-kind sponsorships, some from corporate headquarters and one donor who made a gift of $2,000. I was reviewing the logos and details and couldn't help thinking, "This LOOKS great, but it's not actually representative of any real money." And that's because it wasn't. Heck the printing of the brochures and posters took almost the entire $2,000 cash donation. I was left feeling so defeated. This marketing material that looked good didn't actually produce any revenue.
From that point on, I started looking at events through the lens of 1. What actual money is being made? and 2. What is this event costing our development staff in both time and sheer energy? Let's be honest - events are exhausting, development staff burnout is at an all-time high and the 2 combined are just a recipe for disaster.
Through that lens I began to approach events in 1 of 2 ways:
This event is to strategically build relationships and not to make money and we know that going in.
This event is going to take years to actually make money and if leadership is ok with that then we will proceed.
But long were the days of me being excited to tell anyone that an event "made" $50,000 when basic math and honesty would reveal that it didn't probably make a dime. And, honestly, this approach kept me sane. We worked with a few strategies to keep us focused on not exhausting our staff and keeping expectations realistic! Here are a few:
Volunteer Committees - It's impossible for a handful of development staff to do everything for events when they are also supposed to be building community leadership, submit projections, probably run another event a few months later and keep up with community relationships. By having volunteer committees for fundraising, marketing, corporate partners, teams and event day operations, the nonprofit staff can breathe a bit. Yes, it takes time and energy to manage committees, but not near the time that it takes to do all of these tasks themselves. Plus, this allows the community of help to see first-hand how much goes into pulling off an event and how often the ROI is just not there.
Ask Board Members and Influencers for HELP! - There's nothing that beats a healthy board, community influencers and high net worth individials accessing their very own network for an event at their home or at a restaurant. They often incur the cost of the evening knowing that it is an investment in the org and people who are invited and attend often know a donation to the nonprofit is anticipated. I've seen these events bring in 5-figures in one evening even after the "cost" to the host. And the development staff has a lighter lift and a new donor base to work from through introductions!
Virtual, Virtual, Virtual - Now none of this was on my mind pre-2020, but since then I've been part of a handful of successful and FUN virtual events. We do a lot virtually these days, but this is a great way to bring people together in one place and truly share resources, stories, and raise money. Most attendees are thrilled to be able to participate in their pj's, love hearing the story of your org in the comfort of their own home and being able to send over a bottle of wine to the home in advance of the evening is always a hit!
These are just a few ways that your event doesn't have to drain your staff, drain your community partnerships and drain your sanity. It wouldn't surprise me if in just a few years only the largest and actual revenue generating events survive. The smaller ones just aren't worth the work. And, at the end of the day, the "awareness" they bring just doesn't make the impact that we want it to.
I'll always defer to 1:1 conversation with donors, corporate partners and prospects. Nothing is more sustainable than relationship.
And, honestly, at the end of the day - We all have enough event t-shirts. And I haven't ever met one person who said, "Wow! That chicken and broccoli you served at your gala was the best I've ever had!"
Here's to relational fundraising, relationship development and relational philanthropy. And here's to keeping development staff around longer than 18 months!
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