The Misconception of Event Fundraising:

Many nonprofits fall into the trap of seeing the event as the endpoint of their fundraising efforts. They pour resources, time, and energy into creating a spectacular night, hoping the event will generate enough revenue to justify the investment.

Acquiring desirable items for a charity auction isn't just about making a few calls. It can involve months of planning, negotiations, and relationship building. This exhaustive process may include:

Outreach Efforts - Reaching out to numerous potential donors or businesses can be very time consuming.

First, let's look at the costs associated with a typical fundraising event. There's the venue, the food, the entertainment, and a whole list of other expenses that can quickly add up no matter the size or scope of your event. According to a study by the Nonprofit Research Collaborative, the average cost to raise a dollar through a special event is 50 cents. That's a 2:1 return on investment.

1.Stay Ahead of Industry Trends:

The Tides of Change conference will provide invaluable insights into the latest trends, strategies, and best practices in fundraising and philanthropy. Our expert speakers will share their knowledge on topics like digital fundraising, donor engagement, and emerging technologies, ensuring that you stay ahead of the game in 2023 and beyond. Some aspects aspects of fundraising have not changed much in years past, but others are changing faster than you could imagine.

Plan and prepare - For hosting events, thorough planning is crucial. Create an event timeline, budget, and promotional strategy. Once all of these are created, stick to them. You would be surprised at how many events can get out of control with how much time and money is being put towards them, all for the sake of a better “party” that doesn’t generate revenue…

If you've been following PRIDE for any amount of time, you probably know we don't love fundraising events as a primary fundraising strategy. The data suggest they are simply not as effective as other methods, BUT that doesn't mean we should not try to optimize them as best we can.

If you’re like most fundraisers, you quickly realize that events are a LOT of time and work. When you look at time spent and event expenses, a majority of events don’t yield enough revenue to make much of an impact at all.

I want to let you in on a little secret – minimizing the number of fundraiser events you host will not only free up precious time for you to do other tasks, but it will actually enable you to build a robust fundraising program that yields the financial results needed to make a much bigger impact.

Inevitably someone is tasked with being a first-time “fundraiser”, and with no experience or idea where to start, searches on Google some variation of “Fundraising Ideas” only to find pages and pages of blogs/articles that say “Easy fundraising ideas!” “Cheap fundraising ideas” “The 70 best fundraising ideas for nonprofits!”

Fundraising events have been on the decline for years as a result of their low ROI compared to direct solicitation, mailings, and capital campaigns. It's no secret that the top performing organizations in the country hold only one or even zero "fundraising" events per year and focus on only recognition/stewardship for their in-person events.