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Special event thoughts for 2009

January 14, 2009 By Sandy

At my local AFP meeting today, we heard from a friend of mine who talked about special events.

Penny Behling of Dynamic Events and Management gave the group some things to think about when it comes to special events.  She said several things that stuck with me and I thought I’d share.

She said that with the economy, some corporate sponsors are not renewing.  But some are.  Don’t get scared and fail to ask.  Go ahead and make your sponsorship request.  With so many people being scared, now is a GREAT time to plow forward.  Now is the time to market your organization.

Evaluate your special events annually to see if there are some that you should discontinue.  Face it – some events are not worth the time and effort you put into them.

Always ask yourself “what can we do to make this event better?”  If you aren’t moving forward, you’re moving backward.

Penny and her business partner Wendy Witsoe run Dragon Boat racing in several cities across the Southeast.  It’s a cool event that raises big bucks for a couple of organizations.  How much?  Think $80,000+!

Want to learn more about Dragon Boat races and how your organization can benefit?  Check out the website at www.racedragonboats.com.

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Special Events have their place

April 29, 2008 By Sandy

I’m not a big fan of special events. They are labor-intensive and generally don’t bring a great return.  Too many small nonprofits spend too much time on the event treadmill and never spend time cultivating donors or doing any other kind of fundraising.

But special events have their place.

Yesterday, I spent the biggest part of the day with a client at their annual golf tournament.  I don’t know yet how much money they made, but the event was a success.  They were just shy of a full field (almost a sell-out) and everyone had a great time.  A couple of local golfers stepped up to volunteer in a big way on the planning committee and brought in lots of players and lots of prizes.  Without their help, the day wouldn’t have been nearly as good.

There were lots of opportunities for Board members to get involved and they were there helping and playing.  Media sponsors all participated in the tournament in addition to publicizing the event.  And corporate sponsor reps played too.

This was the Director of Development’s first time to run a golf tourney and she did a great job.  Of course there were a few bumps in the road, but I don’t think any of the players knew about them.  We sat in the sun in the afternoon and de-briefed about registration and lunch, and how they could be better next year.

All in all, it was a good day.  Again, I’m not a big fan of special events.  But this one provided opportunities to people to get involved that might not otherwise have participated with the organization.  And if it works the same way next year, it will be another great day without too much time on the event treadmill.

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How do you know when it's time to stop doing an event?

April 4, 2008 By Sandy

Special events have their place in a well-rounded fundraising program.  They can generate buzz about your organization, help you gain exposure to new audiences, and give you a break from other fundraising activities.

But sometimes an event starts to lose its luster.  And you have to stop doing it.  It can be a tough decision to make, but the time comes when you must decide to stop hosting a particular event.  Here are some signs that the time has come:

  • Revenue from the event is slipping.
  • Fewer people are attending.
  • Media sponsors aren’t interested anymore.
  • Corporate sponsors aren’t interested either.
  • If you included labor cost in your financial summary, you would definitely be losing money on the event.

Unless the event is accomplishing something specific that you aren’t getting through any other channel (awareness or friend-raising), it’s time to shut it down.  I remember working at the Food Bank and the time came to stop doing a 5K race that we had done for several years.  We just weren’t raising enough money to justify doing it, and we had several other events during the year that were satisfying our need for publicity.  It was a tough decision, but we made it, and stopped holding that event.  It was very freeing actually.  And we had time and energy to put into other things.

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