Latest / The Nonprofit Podcast / Ep 227| Why Your Sold-Out Event Isn’t Hitting Your Fundraising Goal

Transcript

Ep 227| Why Your Sold-Out Event Isn’t Hitting Your Fundraising Goal · The Nonprofit Podcast

• 0:00
  Speaker: A few days ago, my nonprofit held one of our biggest fundraising events ever.
• 0:04
  Speaker: We set what we felt like was a pretty ambitious fundraising goal, and we more than doubled it.
• 0:10
  Speaker: So while it's still fresh, I want to do something a little different today.
• 0:14
  Speaker: I want to tell you what we actually did.
• 0:16
  Speaker: The Nonprofit Podcast, powered by DonorBucks.
• 0:21
  Speaker: Welcome to the Nonprofit Podcast.
• 0:24
  Speaker: I'm Cara Augsperger.
• 0:25
  Speaker: I'm your Boots on the Ground podcast correspondent.
• 0:28
  Speaker: Each week we bring you practical strategies, clear insights, and inspiration to help you raise more, reach further, and take your nonprofit to the next level.
• 0:38
  Speaker: I've spent most of my career in nonprofit fundraising, and today I also lead a foundation.
• 0:44
  Speaker: So I get to sit on both sides of these conversations.
• 0:47
  Speaker: I get to talk about fundraising strategy, and then I have to go out and actually do it.
• 0:52
  Speaker: And this episode is very much from the actually doing it side.
• 0:57
  Speaker: If you listen to episode 222, Jenna and Britt talked about the fundraising moments nonprofits often miss around events.
• 1:04
  Speaker: One of my favorite ideas from that conversation was that the ticket isn't the ask.
• 1:08
  Speaker: It's the doorway to the ask.
• 1:10
  Speaker: And so I want to build on that today.
• 1:12
  Speaker: Not what I think might work.
• 1:16
  Speaker: I want to tell you what we tried, what I learned from it, what I would absolutely do again, and what I think you need to be prepared for if you're planning your own event.
• 1:26
  Speaker: And most importantly, I'm going to give you some things you can steal.
• 1:30
  Speaker: Seriously, steal them.
• 1:32
  Speaker: Take the invitation strategy I used.
• 1:34
  Speaker: You can take the questions we asked, take the way we structured the ask while people were still in the room and definitely take the follow-up.
• 1:42
  Speaker: Because I don't think we more than doubled our goal because we had more people in the room.
• 1:46
  Speaker: I think we did it because we worked really hard to get the right people in the room.
• 1:51
  Speaker: We were very, very clear about where our organization is going and when the moment came, we weren't afraid to ask them to be part of it.
• 1:59
  Speaker: So let's break down what that actually looked like.
• 2:02
  Speaker: I'll start with a little context.
• 2:04
  Speaker: We recently hosted a fundraising event built around a conversation with a well-known and highly respected leader who had recently written a book.
• 2:13
  Speaker: Having someone people wanted to hear from certainly helped us get attention.
• 2:17
  Speaker: But here's the important part the speaker was the draw.
• 2:21
  Speaker: The mission of our organization still had to be the reason people gave.
• 2:26
  Speaker: And those are two very different things.
• 2:28
  Speaker: We used the Donor Box Events platform for registration, and that gave us a really clean way to know who was coming.
• 2:35
  Speaker: It gave us a way to communicate with our guests prior to the event, and it allowed us to send reminders leading up to the event.
• 2:42
  Speaker: But the fundraising strategy started long before anyone clicked register.
• 2:47
  Speaker: We had a fundraising goal from the onset.
• 2:50
  Speaker: We had a room with very, very limited capacity.
• 2:53
  Speaker: And we knew that simply filling every chair wasn't going to get us where we wanted to go.
• 2:59
  Speaker: So we became very intentional about three things: who we wanted in the room, what we wanted them to understand once they got there, and what we were going to invite them to do.
• 3:10
  Speaker: So looking back, those are the three things I would absolutely do again.
• 3:14
  Speaker: So one, we didn't fill the room, we built the room.
• 3:18
  Speaker: Here's what we did.
• 3:19
  Speaker: We had limited seats and we were really intentional about them.
• 3:23
  Speaker: Of course, we wanted a full room, but we weren't just asking how do we sell all these tickets?
• 3:28
  Speaker: We were asking who needs to know about our organization who might not yet know about us.
• 3:34
  Speaker: So we went to board members, we went to previous major donors, some of our key volunteers and friends of the organization.
• 3:42
  Speaker: And we asked them to invite people from their networks and not just anybody.
• 3:48
  Speaker: We said to them, we said, who in your circle should know about this work?
• 3:52
  Speaker: Who has heard about us, but hasn't really gotten close to our organization, maybe who has never even stepped through our doors, who might care deeply about where we're going.
• 4:03
  Speaker: And then who could become part of this organization if someone simply opened the door for them?
• 4:10
  Speaker: And importantly, we all connected it back to who can invite them.
• 4:14
  Speaker: Because an invitation from our organization is one thing, but an invitation from someone they know, someone who says, I care about this organization, I'm going, come sit with me, is something completely different.
• 4:28
  Speaker: And so here's what I learned the number of people in the room matters a lot less than who is in the room.
• 4:33
  Speaker: And I think nonprofits need to hear that because sometimes we can get completely consumed with ticket sales.
• 4:38
  Speaker: We really stew over how many tickets have we sold, how many seats are left, should we add another table?
• 4:43
  Speaker: Those numbers matter, but attendance and fundraising capacity are not the same thing.
• 4:48
  Speaker: A packed room isn't necessarily a fundraising strategy.
• 4:52
  Speaker: The goal isn't simply attendance, the goal is relationship.
• 4:56
  Speaker: We had people in our room who had never experienced our organization before.
• 5:01
  Speaker: They came because someone they trusted invited them, and that's exactly what we wanted.
• 5:06
  Speaker: So here's what you need to be prepared for.
• 5:09
  Speaker: If you're going to build a room this way, you can't start two weeks before the event, and your fundraiser can't be the only person responsible for filling it.
• 5:17
  Speaker: You need names, you need connections, you need your board involved, you need your strongest supporters involved, and somebody has to keep paying attention.
• 5:25
  Speaker: So we used donor box events for registration.
• 5:28
  Speaker: So as we got closer, we could see who was coming.
• 5:30
  Speaker: We could communicate with them and send reminders.
• 5:33
  Speaker: But that technology supported the strategy.
• 5:36
  Speaker: It didn't replace this.
• 5:37
  Speaker: So steal this from me.
• 5:39
  Speaker: Here's something you can do: open a spreadsheet, make three columns: their name, a column that says why them, and who can invite them.
• 5:48
  Speaker: Now put 10 names on it.
• 5:49
  Speaker: Go to LinkedIn, search up who are some influential people in your community who are generous and care about your cause.
• 5:56
  Speaker: Put those 10 names on it.
• 5:57
  Speaker: Not 10 people who will buy tickets, 10 people who you would love to have understand your organization better.
• 6:04
  Speaker: Then figure out who has the relationship to get them there.
• 6:07
  Speaker: You don't need a venue to do this, you don't need a speaker, you don't even need your event date yet.
• 6:12
  Speaker: You can start building the room today.
• 6:15
  Speaker: All right, next, number two, the speaker can fill the room, but your mission has to own the room.
• 6:22
  Speaker: And here's what we did: we had a guest people genuinely wanted to hear from.
• 6:27
  Speaker: And that is such a gift when you're planning an event.
• 6:30
  Speaker: But we knew from the beginning that we did not want people leaving saying, oh, hey, wasn't that speaker great?
• 6:36
  Speaker: We wanted them talking about the organization when they left.
• 6:40
  Speaker: So we were very intentional about the program.
• 6:42
  Speaker: Our guest could open the door for us.
• 6:45
  Speaker: And once people walked through, we had to tell our story.
• 6:48
  Speaker: And we had to do it without trying to tell every story.
• 6:52
  Speaker: We have a lot of stories.
• 6:53
  Speaker: That's hard for a lot of nonprofits.
• 6:55
  Speaker: We love our work.
• 6:56
  Speaker: We believe in our work.
• 6:57
  Speaker: We think about our work day and night.
• 6:59
  Speaker: We have programs we want to explain and so many statistics.
• 7:02
  Speaker: We have volunteers we want to thank.
• 7:05
  Speaker: We have people that must be recognized from the stage.
• 7:08
  Speaker: And before you know it, you've created a 47-minute organizational update and trapped 200 people at dinner.
• 7:14
  Speaker: So don't do that.
• 7:16
  Speaker: We worked really hard on the script.
• 7:18
  Speaker: We asked ourselves what people truly needed to understand.
• 7:21
  Speaker: So, what's the need?
• 7:22
  Speaker: What are we doing about it?
• 7:24
  Speaker: What makes our approach different?
• 7:26
  Speaker: And where are we going?
• 7:27
  Speaker: And why does their participation matter?
• 7:30
  Speaker: That's really important.
• 7:31
  Speaker: So here's what I learned: people do not need to know everything about your organization in order to care deeply about it.
• 7:38
  Speaker: They need something clear enough to remember.
• 7:41
  Speaker: And that's different.
• 7:42
  Speaker: That's a differentiation between those two.
• 7:44
  Speaker: Your job at a fundraising event isn't to download your entire nonprofit into someone's brain.
• 7:50
  Speaker: That's really overwhelming.
• 7:51
  Speaker: Your job is to help them understand enough that they want to come closer to your organization.
• 7:57
  Speaker: And I think that's particularly important if you have a well-known speaker, an athlete or an author, maybe an entertainer or a community leader involved.
• 8:06
  Speaker: They may be the reason someone says yes to the invitation.
• 8:09
  Speaker: And that's okay.
• 8:10
  Speaker: People can come because of your guest and leave knowing more about your mission.
• 8:14
  Speaker: And that's the opportunity.
• 8:16
  Speaker: So here's what you need to be prepared for.
• 8:18
  Speaker: You have to edit and then edit again.
• 8:21
  Speaker: Every person who wants five minutes gets three to speak.
• 8:25
  Speaker: Every three-minute video somehow becomes two.
• 8:28
  Speaker: You don't need seven statistics when one will do.
• 8:31
  Speaker: And you have to be willing to leave good things out.
• 8:34
  Speaker: And that's really hard.
• 8:35
  Speaker: But remember what you're trying to accomplish.
• 8:38
  Speaker: You aren't trying to prove how much your organization does.
• 8:41
  Speaker: You're trying to help someone understand why it matters.
• 8:45
  Speaker: So steal this from me.
• 8:46
  Speaker: Before you write your next event program, answer this question.
• 8:50
  Speaker: Tomorrow morning, if someone who knew almost nothing about us before tonight tells their spouse about our organization, what do I hope they say?
• 8:59
  Speaker: Write that answer in one sentence.
• 9:01
  Speaker: Then build your program backward from that sentence.
• 9:04
  Speaker: If something doesn't help people understand or remember that idea, ask whether it really needs to be in that program.
• 9:10
  Speaker: So that's your filter.
• 9:11
  Speaker: All right, number three, we asked people to stretch.
• 9:15
  Speaker: Okay, this one matters.
• 9:17
  Speaker: And here's what we did.
• 9:18
  Speaker: When it came time to ask, we asked clearly.
• 9:22
  Speaker: We had a fundraising goal.
• 9:24
  Speaker: We told people what it was, we explained what their gifts could make possible.
• 9:28
  Speaker: And we also told them that reaching the goal was going to require some stretch gifts.
• 9:33
  Speaker: Sometimes as fundraisers, we get really nervous here.
• 9:36
  Speaker: In fact, I've led fundraising events where we forgot to ask for money, and that's not good.
• 9:41
  Speaker: So we created this beautiful evening.
• 9:44
  Speaker: People are having a wonderful time.
• 9:46
  Speaker: We've told great stories, and now we're supposed to ask them for money.
• 9:51
  Speaker: Yes, yes, you are.
• 9:52
  Speaker: They came to a fundraising event.
• 9:54
  Speaker: Your invitation should have been very clear that this is a fundraising event.
• 9:58
  Speaker: You are allowed to fundraise, and clarity is actually a kindness.
• 10:03
  Speaker: So we invited people to think about one question.
• 10:06
  Speaker: And I asked this from the stage: what would a stretch gift look like for me?
• 10:10
  Speaker: And then we gave some examples, and this came at the advice of one of my board members.
• 10:15
  Speaker: So we said, maybe it's a $100 a month gift for three years, or maybe it's a commitment of $10,000 or $25,000 over three years.
• 10:24
  Speaker: Or maybe someone in the room is in a position to commit $50,000 a year for the next three years.
• 10:32
  Speaker: So obviously those numbers aren't going to be right for every organization in every room, but it was for us.
• 10:38
  Speaker: We got some $100 a month gifts for three years.
• 10:41
  Speaker: And I'm so excited.
• 10:43
  Speaker: We got a $50,000 a year gift for three years.
• 10:47
  Speaker: So please don't copy and paste my gift amounts into your event script.
• 10:52
  Speaker: Do what's right for you, but totally steal the principle.
• 10:55
  Speaker: So here's what I learned.
• 10:57
  Speaker: Don't make the donor's decision for them.
• 10:59
  Speaker: We do this all the time without realizing it.
• 11:02
  Speaker: We look around a room and make assumptions.
• 11:04
  Speaker: That's too big of an ask.
• 11:05
  Speaker: They probably wouldn't do that.
• 11:07
  Speaker: I don't want anyone to feel uncomfortable, but we don't actually know what they're thinking.
• 11:12
  Speaker: And if I had done that, I really would have limited the capacity of the gifts we raised that night.
• 11:18
  Speaker: So here's something else to think about.
• 11:20
  Speaker: If every example you give from this stage is $50 or $100, you may have unintentionally told the person who could give $25,000 what you expect from them.
• 11:31
  Speaker: So give people a picture of what generosity could look like at different levels and then let them decide.
• 11:38
  Speaker: Our job is to make the case, make the invitation, and make it clear the donor gets to decide to give the gift.
• 11:45
  Speaker: And sometimes they'll surprise you.
• 11:47
  Speaker: I know I was certainly surprised.
• 11:49
  Speaker: So here's what you need to be prepared for.
• 11:51
  Speaker: You have to get comfortable saying bigger numbers out loud.
• 11:55
  Speaker: Practice it.
• 11:56
  Speaker: Seriously.
• 11:57
  Speaker: If asking someone to consider $10,000 makes your voice change, they are going to notice.
• 12:02
  Speaker: You also have to be prepared for silence.
• 12:05
  Speaker: Make the ask and stop talking.
• 12:07
  Speaker: Give people a minute.
• 12:08
  Speaker: The room was uncomfortable.
• 12:10
  Speaker: I was uncomfortable for three to five minutes as people filled out their pledge forms.
• 12:14
  Speaker: But that's okay.
• 12:15
  Speaker: Don't rush in because the silence makes you uncomfortable.
• 12:19
  Speaker: And one more thing, be prepared to explain why a multi-year commitment matters.
• 12:24
  Speaker: For us, it wasn't just a payment option, it was part of the case.
• 12:28
  Speaker: Multi-year donors give nonprofit leaders the confidence to plan, to invest and build rather than wondering every year whether the resources will be there.
• 12:37
  Speaker: And so that's a very different invitation from help us pay for tonight.
• 12:41
  Speaker: It's come help us build what's next.
• 12:45
  Speaker: So you can steal this from me.
• 12:46
  Speaker: Pull out your event script.
• 12:48
  Speaker: Look at your ask.
• 12:50
  Speaker: Do you actually ask?
• 12:51
  Speaker: Do you name a goal?
• 12:52
  Speaker: Do you give people examples of generosity at different levels?
• 12:56
  Speaker: Do you connect those numbers to what their generosity can accomplish?
• 13:00
  Speaker: And is there at least one number in there that makes you a little nervous to say?
• 13:04
  Speaker: If not, I would take another look.
• 13:06
  Speaker: And then practice that ask out loud, not in your head, out loud.
• 13:10
  Speaker: Say the numbers until they sound completely normal coming out of your mouth.
• 13:14
  Speaker: I do that while I'm driving my car alone.
• 13:17
  Speaker: Because if you're not comfortable making the invitation, it's really difficult for your donors to be comfortable responding to it.
• 13:24
  Speaker: All right, I have a bonus tip today.
• 13:26
  Speaker: And this is something I did after the event.
• 13:28
  Speaker: Send the imperfect thank you.
• 13:31
  Speaker: So here's one more thing I would absolutely do again.
• 13:33
  Speaker: And it might be the easiest thing in this entire episode.
• 13:36
  Speaker: Here's what I did.
• 13:37
  Speaker: The morning after the event, we did not have everything wrapped up.
• 13:41
  Speaker: We didn't have every final fundraising number.
• 13:43
  Speaker: We didn't have the professional photos back.
• 13:46
  Speaker: We didn't have some beautifully designed event recap ready to go.
• 13:50
  Speaker: But I knew one thing.
• 13:51
  Speaker: I didn't want the weekend to come without saying thank you.
• 13:54
  Speaker: So we sent an email.
• 13:56
  Speaker: It was super simple.
• 13:57
  Speaker: Essentially, I said, thank you.
• 13:59
  Speaker: Wow, we'll have more information to share next week.
• 14:02
  Speaker: But I didn't want the weekend to come without telling you how grateful we are.
• 14:06
  Speaker: I shared with them that their time mattered, their generosity mattered, and thanked them for being part of all of this with us.
• 14:13
  Speaker: And that was it.
• 14:14
  Speaker: So here's what I learned.
• 14:15
  Speaker: Timely beats perfect every time, especially with gratitude.
• 14:20
  Speaker: Your donor doesn't need to know your final event report 12 hours later.
• 14:24
  Speaker: They just need to know that you noticed that they showed up.
• 14:28
  Speaker: They gave you an evening.
• 14:30
  Speaker: They invited a friend.
• 14:31
  Speaker: They made a gift.
• 14:32
  Speaker: They raised their hand.
• 14:33
  Speaker: Whatever they did, acknowledge it while the experience is still fresh.
• 14:37
  Speaker: That polished recap can come later.
• 14:40
  Speaker: So here's what you need to be prepared for.
• 14:42
  Speaker: The day after your event, you're going to be tired.
• 14:45
  Speaker: Your team is going to be tired.
• 14:47
  Speaker: There will be numbers to reconcile and boxes to unpack, and somebody will be looking for the missing extension cord.
• 14:54
  Speaker: I still am living in boxes right now.
• 14:56
  Speaker: But that's not the moment you want to begin debating the wording of a lengthy thank you email.
• 15:02
  Speaker: So don't steal this from me.
• 15:04
  Speaker: Write the thank you before the event.
• 15:06
  Speaker: Seriously, write 80% of it right now.
• 15:08
  Speaker: Leave a couple of blanks for anything you want to add afterward.
• 15:12
  Speaker: Then the morning after the event, fill in the blanks, read it once, and hit send.
• 15:18
  Speaker: It does not need to be perfect.
• 15:20
  Speaker: It needs to be sincere from your inbox to theirs if that's possible for you.
• 15:26
  Speaker: And it needs to arrive while people still remember how they felt in the room.
• 15:30
  Speaker: So what actually happened?
• 15:32
  Speaker: Well, our event ultimately raised more than twice of what we had set out to raise.
• 15:37
  Speaker: And believe me, I am incredibly grateful for that.
• 15:40
  Speaker: On my knees, grateful for that.
• 15:42
  Speaker: But the number isn't actually the biggest thing I took away from the night.
• 15:46
  Speaker: We didn't double our goal because we doubled the number of people in the room.
• 15:50
  Speaker: We were intentional about who was in the room.
• 15:52
  Speaker: We gave them a clear picture of where we were going.
• 15:55
  Speaker: We invited them to think about what a stretch gift might look like for them.
• 15:59
  Speaker: And then we asked.
• 16:01
  Speaker: That's the part I don't want nonprofit leaders to miss.
• 16:04
  Speaker: Your event doesn't necessarily have to be bigger to raise more.
• 16:08
  Speaker: You may not need twice as many people.
• 16:10
  Speaker: You may just need the right people, a clear story, a strong case for where you're going, and the courage to make the invitation when they're sitting right in front of you.
• 16:20
  Speaker: Because here's what I believe.
• 16:22
  Speaker: The event doesn't raise the money, the relationships do.
• 16:25
  Speaker: The event gives those relationships a moment.
• 16:28
  Speaker: So here's your practical action for today.
• 16:30
  Speaker: If you do one thing after listening to this episode, don't start rewriting your entire event plan.
• 16:36
  Speaker: Do this.
• 16:37
  Speaker: Take out a piece of paper and answer three questions.
• 16:39
  Speaker: Who needs to be in the room?
• 16:41
  Speaker: What do I want them to understand?
• 16:43
  Speaker: What am I going to invite them to do?
• 16:46
  Speaker: That's your event strategy.
• 16:47
  Speaker: The venue, the menu, the centerpieces, the run of show, the AV, the parking, the name tags, all of that matters, but it comes after those three questions.
• 16:57
  Speaker: And if your event is still a few months away, even better.
• 17:00
  Speaker: Start now.
• 17:01
  Speaker: Build your list of 10 people.
• 17:03
  Speaker: Identify who can invite them.
• 17:05
  Speaker: Write the one sentence you want guests to remember.
• 17:08
  Speaker: Look at your ask.
• 17:09
  Speaker: Make sure you're giving people permission to stretch.
• 17:12
  Speaker: And go ahead and write that thank you email while you're at it.
• 17:15
  Speaker: You can steal all of that from me, and I certainly hope you do.
• 17:18
  Speaker: If you're working on an upcoming event, DonorBox events can help with registration, guest information, and communication leading up to the event.
• 17:26
  Speaker: We used it for ours, including those important reminders as the date got closer.
• 17:31
  Speaker: You can head to donorbox.org to learn more, and we'll put information in the show notes for you.
• 17:36
  Speaker: So thank you for being part of the nonprofit podcast community.
• 17:40
  Speaker: If you know another nonprofit founder, leader, or fundraiser who's already losing sleep over their next event, send this episode their way.
• 17:49
  Speaker: So maybe we can get them to stop thinking about those centerpieces and start thinking about who's going to be sitting down around them.
• 17:56
  Speaker: So until next time, stay inspired.
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: That warm feeling when you help someone, it's not just happiness, it's fulfillment.
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: And we believe it should be available to everyone.
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: From frontline heroes to first time fundraisers.
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: Our tools empower you to help others.
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: This is our mission.
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: This is Donorbox.
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: Helping you help others.