For most nonprofits, annual galas and peer-to-peer (P2P) fundraising events are mainstays.
These types of events provide an opportunity to strengthen a donor’s sense of loyalty and involvement in the organization while offering additional channels to generate funding for the charity. A nonprofit can receive a significant amount of funding in just 24-hours at a gala or P2P event.
However, putting these events together can take up a lot of resources – both from a financial and time standpoint – for both development teams and individual fundraisers alike.
In order to maximize your organization’s return on investment for these types of events, it is important to review industry best practices and challenges, as well as how boodleAI can help improve your fundraising efforts.
1.P2P
Industry Best Practices (for Individual Fundraisers):
- Choose your charity of choice
- Choose a platform (there are hundreds nowadays!)
- Set a clear fundraising goal and a deadline
- Craft your story and ask — use personal pictures and videos
- Use ready-made resources from your charity of choice (usually found on the nonprofit’s website as a toolkit)
- Share your campaign — email, social media
- Update your personal fundraiser
- Thank your supporters
Challenges:
- P2P can seem intimidating — “How do I select a charity when there are millions of well-meaning and deserving charities?” “I do not like asking people for money. How can I share my reason for raising money for charity in a compelling way?” “I do not know enough about this charity to make a compelling case to get people to give.”
- P2P can be time-consuming (especially if you have never done it before, you do not have a staff contact, or do not have the right resources from the charity).
How boodleAI Can Help:
BoodleAI can safely and securely analyze your contacts and then identify the best donor prospects in your networks. Then, boodleAI provides you with custom email templates that allow you to send personalized, relevant messages with a click of a button. With the help of an AI assistant from boodleAI, you can engage and activate new donors with confidence and ease.
Two Things You Can Start Working On Now:
- Make sure you are using basic industry best practices before getting started on your next P2P fundraiser.
- Check out boodleAI’s fundraising assistant to boost funds for your next P2P fundraiser.
2. Galas
Industry Best Practices (for development teams):
- Select the foundational elements: theme, goal, budget, date, venue, etc.
- Create sub-committees: finance and budget, venue, food and beverage, sponsorships, speakers and entertainment, ticket sales and registration at the event, drawing or raffle, silent auction, live auction, and other donations and follow-up.
- Get the fundamentals right: ensure that everything from the parking, check-in, food and beverages to the décor and entertainment run smoothly and are in harmony with the theme.
- Surprise and delight guests: remind them in tangible and emotionally effective ways that they believe in your cause for important reasons.
- Strengthen their commitments: celebrate what your donor’s support has done, re-inspire your donors with a moving story of impact before you make your clear “ask”.
- Acknowledge and steward: do not forget to thank your donors and show them the impact that their support will make through your stewardship.
Challenges:
- It can be all-encompassing when you have to manage your board, development staff, volunteer committees, major donors, sponsors, and vendors at a sprint-like-speed for 6-months (or more).
- It can be difficult to decide what you keep and what you change year after year to recruit, engage, and retain more donors.
How boodleAI Can Help:
boodleAI can identify what your best donors look like by analyzing your donor data. Using the likely donor profiles created through AI analysis, boodleAI recommends who your board and event committee members should reach out to in their networks as potential new donors and supporters. boodleAI provides your fundraisers with custom email templates that allow them to send customized, engaging messages. With the help of an AI assistant, you can acquire and retain donors for far less time and money than any human fundraiser could do alone.
Two Things You Can Start Working On Now:
- Review your overall gala strategy, face your challenges head-on as a team, and brainstorm creative ways to keep what works and omit what does not work based on feedback from your previous attendees and donor data.
- Check out boodleAI to get a jump start on boosting funds for your next gala.
Bottom Line?
P2P and galas are tried and true fundraising strategies for nonprofits. But, when you run these events without intentional reflection and innovation, you run the risk of burning out your staff. Keep the fundamentals, of course, but beyond that, remember to create events and utilize tools that can deepen your donor relationships and ultimately make a greater impact for your cause.
Get started now with boodleAI.