5 Reasons Your Fundraising Events Aren’t Raising as Much as You’d Like
Fundraising events are can be one of the more visible things a nonprofit does, and are usually well-intentioned. Though many organizations quietly feel the same frustration year after year: we work incredibly hard on our events, yet the revenue doesn’t seem to grow.
What we have found though is that this doesn’t usually tend to be an effort problem, but rather an execution problem based around the strategy of both the event itself and the overall fundraising strategy. Here are some of the most common reasons fundraising events underperform, as well as what they’re really telling you about your fundraising program.
1. You’re Doing Too Many of Them
This can be a tough pill to swallow, but at some point, events stop being additive and start having diminishing returns.
When organizations run too many events, three basic things happen at once:
Staff burn out from nonstop planning and logistics
Board members disengage because every ask/event starts to run together
Donors experience event fatigue, especially when attendance is expected multiple or several times per year with the primary goal of raising money
Instead of feeling special, each event begins to feel routine or even worse: stale. Overtime this can cause attendance and revenue to plateau or even drop. So the unfortunate reality that a lot of nonprofits learn the hard way is that more events does not mean more money.
Healthy fundraising programs are selective about events. Fewer, more intentional events, or even no events, in favor of other revenue generating activities almost always outperforms a crowded event calendar.
2. Your Event Is Designed to Be Fun, Not to Raise Money
This is a tough one to admit as well, but a better party does not necessarily mean more revenue. Many events are optimized for atmosphere in terms of food, venue, entertainment, socializing, etc. All of that matters to a degree, but if there isn’t a clear revenue strategy baked into the event, the fundraising becomes secondary to the “party”.
A successful event’s primary purpose should be to create a natural and frictionless pathway for giving. So if this is put on the back-burner in favor of vanity metrics, you’re probably not raising as much as you could be.
3. You’re Measuring Gross Revenue Instead of Net Revenue
It’s so easy to celebrate a big number without looking underneath it. When you factor in staff time, vendor costs, sponsorship discounts, and opportunity cost, many events deliver surprisingly thin margins. Even worse, they often pull attention away from activities that actually grow long-term revenue, like Major Gifts and stewardship.
If your event requires months of preparation and nets roughly what a handful of well-cultivated major gifts could generate, it’s worth asking a hard question: is this the best use of our energy and time? This involves being ruthlessly honest about how much it costs to be able to put on your events.
4. Your Event Isn’t Connected to Your Major Gifts Strategy
Events are not where most major gifts are closed, but they can be powerful places where relationships are formed as well as where they can deepen. The problem is that many organizations treat events as isolated moments rather than relationship-building tools. Guests attend and leave without anyone intentionally identifying who has deeper capacity or interest.
The strongest fundraising programs use events to advance relationships, not just sell tables or auction items for the immediate cashflow.
5. You’re Not Following Up in a Meaningful Way
This may be the most common, as well as most costly mistake. After the event, the energy evaporates. And then…nothing?
We get it, you’re more than likely exhausted after the event and donor follow up is probably the last thing that you want to do after you’ve probably worked 7 days straight leading up to the event. Though this is where the real revenue lives.
Follow-up relationship building is where momentum turns into revenue that is actually transformational and sustainable. Without it, you’re basically resetting to zero every year and undoing the work you’ve already done.
If you are going to do fundraising events, the questions you should be pondering are if they are intentionally designed, right-sized, and aligned with your broader fundraising goals. When events are treated as a primary revenue engine, they often disappoint. When they’re treated as one tool within a balanced fundraising strategy, they can be effective in your strategy.
Having difficulty with a event-based fundraising model? We can help with that! Reach out to us to set up a time to talk with someone from our team if you’re interested in raising more money for your nonprofit.
