The Two Faces of Fundraising Events: Part 1

The Run Walk Ride Fundraising Council's sixth annual study revealed that in 2011 the top 30 fundraising races, walks, and other athletic events took in $1.69-billion, up $40.8 million or a 2.46% increase over 2010. 11.6 million people participated in some sort of "thon fundraising" according to the study. This was an increase of over 200,000 over the previous year.  36,422 events were held by the top 30 event sponsors. (The American Heart Association held over 24,000 separate events alone in 2011.)

The top five grossing events were:

• American Cancer Society - Relay for Life - - $415,000,000
• Susan G. Komen for the Cure - Race for the Cure -  $131,315,739
• March of Dimes - March for Babies - $105,000,000
• American Heart Association - Heart Walk - $99,088,367
• The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society - Team in Training - $87,511,103

It seems as if the "fundraising event" is a favorite for every nonprofit. Looking at the numbers above it is easy to see why it is so tempting. Even a more modest event can gross significant dollars and attract many new prospective supporters.

Let's consider the "good face" or advantages of event fundraising:

• An event can attract new supporters such as hard to engage donors, government officials, corporate leaders, and local or national media personalities.
• It can often raise significant gross revenue.
• A well executed event can help burnish your brand and enhance your charity's awareness in the community.
• It can unite supporters in a sharply focused common goal.
• It can provide a compelling platform for media exposure and raise public awareness in your cause.
• It can present an opportunity for nonprofit leadership to interact with important community representatives.
• An event can be specifically tailored to leverage your charities brand.
• People like to hobnob with their peers or with the socially elevated. 
• You can obtain sponsors that might not ordinarily associate with your organization.
• Events can be a nice way to thank current supporters.
• Successful events tend to increase in effectiveness over time.

And now the disadvantages or "bad face" of event fundraising:

• They can take a year to plan and three years to reach optimum revenue returns.
• An unsuccessful event can tarnish your organization's reputation and brand.
• Events suck-up a tremendous amount of staff time managing volunteers and interacting with vendors.
• They can have high initial costs, hidden costs, and can even cost far more then revenue raised.
• Events could be the victim of unrealistic expectations ("American Cancer Society raised $415 million, why can't we raise a percentage of that?")
• Attendees may have no long-term interest in your organization and will need to be kept engaged through future events.
• They could be sensitive to outside influences such as disasters, wars, or scandals.
• There are tens of thousands of events each year with probably hundreds in your own backyard competing for the donor's attention and engagement. Many events will be run by big, national charities that could overwhelm any marketing presence you may attempt to create if you are competing with them for airtime and "share of mind".

These "good and bad" elements of events don't even tell the entire story. It really depends on how your organization looks at events. Do you consider them an important revenue generating activity or do you look at them as more of a friendraising, cultivation, and stewardship opportunity? This is a critical distinction that I will explore more in my next post.

In the meantime, consider these questions:

• How do you calculate the financial success of a major event?
• Do you rely upon gross revenue compared to direct expenses?
• Do you understand what your indirect costs are and why they should be included in your calculations?
• Are there more effective means to accomplish the same end?

Weekly Quote: Enchantment

"The greater your goals, the more you'll need to change people's hearts, minds, and actions. This is especially true if you have few resources and big competitors. If you need to enchant people, you're doing something meaningful. If you're doing something meaningful, you need enchantment.


Enchantment is the process of delighting people with a product, service, organization, or idea. Its outcome is a voluntary and long-lasting allegiance that is mutually beneficial. In other words, it's the purest form of sales and marketing."
Guy Kawasaki

(Best selling author and one of the Apple employees originally responsible for marketing the Macintosh computer. He has just released a new book called Enchantment: The Art of Changing Hearts, Minds, and Actions.)


I would add that enchantment is the purest form of sales, marketing, and fundraising. Are you delighting your donors? If not, how could you bring joy, happiness, and a "tingly glee" to their giving experience? 

They Could Have Given More

"I could have given more."


That is what was revealed in just released preliminary results from the fourth annual Cygnus Donor Survey. Close to 50% of donors surveyed agreed that they could have given more money last year but held back.


The big question is - why?


Tabulation of all the data is not yet complete so Cygnus President Penelope Burk cautions that these preliminary findings are not statistically relevant. But they do begin to hint at what donors are thinking, specifically in relation to the survey question, What could unleash your philanthropy at a whole new level?


Here are a few feedback snippets from this question:


Being reminded of how long I have been giving and what that has added up to over time would, in itself, be a new incentive to giving more.

...having more control over managing my giving through an online portal available on the websites of charities I support.


...knowing that the money I give is making a real difference in people's lives (not just a drop in the ocean of need).


...having the names and phone numbers of real people on not-for-profit websites so that I can contact someone if I need information. It would also be good to have the names and photos of Board members...


...seeing charities with similar goals come together in a single organization with a unified fundraising program.


...knowing that my giving produces results...providing measurable results.


...helping believe there is something I can do.


I think people are tired of hearing about big insoluble problems and interested in hearing about people who say: "Yes, but there is a way to get at this and we are going to start the ball rolling!"


...showing donors they are connected to the people who need our help.


...having the need for funds translated into personal stories.


So what does this preliminary feedback tell us about why donors could have given more last year but didn't? Here's what I believe donors want:

• Empowerment: Make the giving experience easier and give the donor some control. Retail institutions like banks, investment firms, e-vendors and others are providing the consumer with online tools to pay bills and manage their budgets, identify wish-list items, or receive purchase suggestions based upon past actions. Donors want and expect this sort of control with their philanthropic activities as well. Imagine if they could log onto your website, view their giving to date, find out exactly what your charity has done with their money, and receive suggestions of other projects they might be interested in based upon their past giving.
• Impact: There is more and more talk about "charitable fatigue". Some issues seem so overwhelming that they might never be solved. Communicate to supporters that they really are making a difference and illustrate how in a compelling, genuine way. Report back to them on a regular basis. Have the information come from field workers, program directors, or aid recipients.  Assure them that there are solutions to critical issues and they are helping to advance those solutions through your charity. 
• Transparency: Prove to them that you are using their funds in an effective and efficient way. If that means partnering with similar institutions, do it. If it comes down to justifying increased funding for infrastructure in order to serve the mission better, so be it. Respect their intelligence and tell them straightforward what you need in order to be successful. Be honest and forthright.
• Authenticity: Don't feed supporters blathering generalities. Don't ply them with self-congratulatory drivel. Provide exhilarating and bona fide tales of transformation. There is a reason why storytelling has been foundational to every civilization down through history. It makes your mission come alive. Surely, you have scores of great stories. Share them!
• Immediacy: Help establish a robust and uninfringeable connection between the donor and the beneficiary of their giving. 21st Century philanthropists want to hear directly from someone they helped, see a video of their contribution at work, or even go out into the field to experience firsthand the impact of their funding. 

Do these things and you will be less likely to hear, "You know, I could have given more."

Weekly Quote: What Fundraisers Should Give Up for Lent

Jeff Brooks shares two things he believes nonprofits should "give up for Lent" (from his excellent Future Fundraising Now blog). Here is one of them:


"Educating Donors


If your donors knew more about you and your cause, they'd give more. It doesn't follow that the way to increased giving is to bludgeon donors with facts and educate them into 'getting it'.


Giving is not a rational act. It's relational. When you try to educate donors into giving, you are at cross-purposes with this important fact. Instead, build a relationship. Some donors will seek 'education' about your cause as the relationship deepens. Others won't. But both kinds of donors will give more because of the relationship-- because you respect them and are aligned with them. Not because you filled their heads with more and better facts."


Click here and see Jeff's other Lenten recommendation. (Hint: It's not how great we are, it how great the donor is!)

Super CRM

My wife and I listen to only a few radio stations on a regular basis; national public radio, a political affairs talk station, and during the football season, a sports station. Listening takes place mostly in the car dropping the kids off at school or picking them up later in the afternoon.


We had our preferred programs and looked forward to hearing from our favorite hosts. One day, to our dismay, a favorite radio talk-joc was missing. We waited a couple of days to determine if this was just a temporary situation or to see if she was assigned to a different time-slot. Nope. She had totally vanished.


My wife fired off an email inquiry to the station with little expectation of receiving a reply. Low and behold, within three minutes she received this reply:

Thanks for the note (my wife's name),

It was very  tough to part with (radio personality).  She is a personal friend and has been part of the station for almost 10 years.  But, we have been asked consistently by the listeners for more live and local coverage.  This does that.  Also, (replacement personality) has a national profile and we will be increasing the amount of national guests on her show.  Also, (another personality) will be doing more issues based content, especially in the 3pm hour. Things won't be the same without (radio personality) for sure, but we hope they are better over time. 

Thanks for listening, I really appreciate it.

Jeff
Program Director


Wow! Great customer relationship management (CRM).


Following are some of the outstanding aspects of this reply:

• My wife's email received a response in three minutes!
• It was personal. Note the phrase "She (the radio personality) is a personal friend..." The Program Director recognizes that this radio personality was important to the us and wants us to know that she was important to him as well. This establishes a nice "bridge" of empathy.
• He provided a cogent rationale for the change and attempted to relate it as a benefit to the listener.
• He concludes with another personal comment - "Thanks for listening, I really appreciate it." This seems genuine, sincere.

Strive to be timely, personal, genuine and empathetic in your communications with supporters. You're likely to get a wow response too!

Generosity Day: A Valentine Reboot

Last year, a couple of days before Valentine's Day, Sasha Dichter, Chief Innovation Officer for Acumen Fund launched an effort to completely change the nature the 14th of February. He and his friend Katya Andresen, of Network for Good, came up with the idea of turning Valentine's Day into Generosity Day. As Dichter stated, "We wanted to reconnect (the day) to the core ideas of love and human connection."

Sasha says it started as an idea with him when he decided to spend the month of December saying "yes" to everyone who asked him for money -- a homeless person, a street musician, a nonprofit. Soon he posted on his blog that "I want all my readers to hear first. This Monday (Valentine's Day in 2011), is going to be rebooted as Generosity Day: one day of sharing love with everyone, of being generous to everyone, to see how it feels and to practice saying "Yes." Let's make the day about love, action and human connection -- because we can do better than smarmy greeting cards, overpriced roses, and stressed-out couples trying to create romantic meals on the fly."

The results were heartening. "We reached a few million people last year through blogs, Facebook, Twitter. Our hunch was spot on: People are hungering for something more in their lives -- more connection and more meaning", said Dichter.

What are you doing for Generosity Day? Have you thanked your donors, staff, friends?  Have you thought about the transformative nature of gratitude? Are you so focused on need -- your need,  that you have overlooked the power of reciprocity? 

I have included two videos below. One describes the concept behind Generosity Day, the other was created by the Jubilee Project and poses the question "What is love?" to a variety of people met on the street. (The Jubilee Project was born out of the Haiti earthquake in 2010 and creates videos for good causes.)

Give it  a try. Let's reclaim Valentine's Day. 

Old Charity. New Technology.

According to the Associated Press, the Salvation Army set a record for donations generated by their ubiquitous "Red Kettle" fundraising efforts this past holiday season. Bell ringers attracted $147.6-million dollars eclipsing the $142-million dollar record set in 2010. More than $41-million dollars were collected outside Wal-Mart and Sam's Club stores alone!

The Salvation Army has been collecting donations with their red kettles since 1891, but don't think they are stuck in the past. Recently, they have launched two "virtual kettle" programs. Now, individuals, teams, or corporations can host their own Online Red Kettles. Using Salvation Army web-tools, supporters can build a personal Online Red Kettle page, upload an address book, and send email invitations that encourage friends and family to support the cause.

Additionally, the charity introduced an option to make credit card donations on-the-spot using mobile payment technology through a Salvation Army representative's smartphone. The Salvation Army is the biggest nonprofit to adopt mobile payment technology offered by Square Inc. 

There are a couple of interesting lessons that can be learned from these initiatives:

• A 147 year old organization can learn "new tricks", particularly if they focus on the needs of the donor.  Major George Hood, the charity's spokesman stated, “A lot of people just don’t carry cash any more. We’re basically trying to make sure we’re keeping up with our donors and embrace the new technologies they’re embracing.”  Three cheers to the Major and his associates!

• A lot of small donations sure add up! Don't underestimate the impact of volume. Considering that the average kettle gift is less than $2.00, amassing $147.6 -million is an achievement that might understandably be considered totally unrealistic if a charity hadn't just gone out and done it. 

I look forward to seeing what the Salvation Army does next.