Do you want to raise money for charity? If you are a business, this is a good way to connect with your community, as well as give back to a charity that you really care about. It can be fun to get everyone involved and also get your business name out there.
Whatever your reason, you need to do all you can to make it into a smash hit. So from concept to conception, here 5 IDEAL tips on how to organise a successful fundraising event in your city.
Choose An Engaging Theme
Having a fabulous venue is a great foundation from which you can develop your own ideas and inject your own style into proceedings, and we’ll get onto the all important location in a minute.
However, to make sure your fundraising event goes off with the type noisy, raucous bang that attracts generosity, you must choose a fun theme.
This theme could be Christmas, or it could be cheese, it could be beer – or anything in-between. Or is your city famous for anything in particular? For example, Bath is synonymous with Jane Austin as she spent many years there and Liverpool is known for being the birthplace of four musicians with sweeping mop hair who got more than a little bit famous during the Swinging Sixties. Theme your fundraising in a unique way such as this for best results!
Or, go more traditional should your target audience be a little more pedestrian in their tastes. As the experts in mass participation events at wearemassive.co.uk tell us, some of the most effective fundraising themes are also the most straightforward, whether that’s a charity auction, marathon, community football match, or even a coffee morning. The common narrative between all four of these suggestions? A gathering of community in a convivial setting.
Location, Location, Location
For an unforgettable, and lucrative fundraising event, the location and venue are paramount; they set the scene and create the ambience, and in many ways, help shape the generosity of your guests.
Choosing a relatively central location is a must if you want enthusiastic rather than reluctant attendees. Being in the mix also means a myriad of businesses in the vicinity who could assist you if something goes wrong last minute. Indeed, as the guys at Viking Rental so sagely point out, hosting your event in an urban centre has the huge advantage of giving you easy access to all those details that you may only remember about at the last minute, whether that’s barricades, fencing or portaloos.
Equally important as accessibility is the four walls in which your event will be played out. Choosing an outstanding venue will ramp up your guest’s excitement and willingness put their hands in their pockets for a good cause, and a well-appointed one can help ensure that all your needs are catered for, as many provide staff, catering, decorations and more.
Oh, and make sure it’s easy to get to the venue via public transport – we all know that if the wine flows a little more liberally, the donations follow suit.
Of course, hosting a mirrored fundraising event online can help guests who can’t attend in person engage remotely.
Get The Right Permits
No matter where you host your event there are a few hoops you will need to go through before you can open it up to the public. For one, you will need to find a rental space and to hire it out. You will also need to get the right permits that allow you to provide food and alcohol, and so on.
If your event isn’t completely legal, then it will be promptly shut down. This applies to both public and private events, so don’t think you can avoid it. The steps you will need to take will also vary. What you need to do for a charity event, for example, will differ from a public event.
Feed The Crowds
Regardless of what type of fundraising event you are running, you will need to provide food and drink, even if it’s halftime oranges and lucozade at your charity football match, or some delicious cupcakes at your coffee morning.
Whether it be a three-course meal, a light bite or something somewhere in between, the best advice when food is concerned is to delegate. You don’t want to be sweating away at the stove yourself, you should be out there hosting and generating generosity of spirit.
Bring in the caterers and save yourself the stress and time of trying to do this yourself. And if you really want to impress guests at an event, you can’t go wrong with a street food truck which, in recent years, have taken the catering industry by storm.
Great food brings people together unlike anything else and should be considered a high priority of your event planning.
Read: 10 tips on how to throw a truly unforgettable party
Utilise Technology for Fundraising Success
In the modern era, the use of technology is crucial in organising successful fundraising events. This includes creating engaging online content, social media campaigns, and digital ticketing processes to streamline participation.
Platforms and software solutions that specialise in overseeing nonprofit operations can significantly ease the management burden, offering tools for everything from donor tracking to event planning. Leveraging these tools not only simplifies the organisational aspects but also broadens the reach of your event, allowing for virtual participation, online donations, and real-time updates for attendees.
Incorporating technology can transform a traditional fundraising event into an interactive, accessible, and efficient experience, ensuring both organisers and participants can focus on the cause at hand.
Whether it’s utilising software for ticket sales, live streaming options for remote attendees, or gamifying the fundraising process with online challenges and competitions, technology has opened up a world of possibilities for successful fundraising events.
Marketing Magic
Once you have everything organised and ready to go, it is time to market aggressively. With the right mix of marketing magic and promotional tricks, you can get your event out there in the public sphere and on the lips of those who matter.
Send a press release to your local newspaper, radio stations and any magazine’s. And remember to also contact your niche’s news agencies as well, so that you can bring people in from around the country and not just the city or neighbourhood you are located in. Oh and don’t forget to submit your event to any local diary listings online.
When it comes to invites, spread them far and wide. Invite the great and the good to your event, as every social media influencer, member of an entourage or genuine celebrity has a different story to tell and different set of followers. Encourage each and every one of them to do live coverage of the event for maximum reach, generating both goodwill and donations towards the charity of your choosing.
Oh, and every great fundraising event needs to embrace the power of social media and the easiest way to do that is via a simple, creative hashtag. Indeed, using the simplest device in the social media toolbox to promote your event is a fantastic opportunity to create brand awareness and make your event known. So, find the perfect #Hashtag for your event and incorporate it into all the branding surrounding the bash.
The Bottom Line
So, there you have it; the perfect ingredients for a triumphant fundraising event, whether hugely ambitious or something more humble. We’re certain you’ll make it a huge success!