Center for Civic Partnerships

Fundraisers and Special Events

Tribute dinners, fun runs, auctions, or tournaments – these kind of special events can help your organization to raise funds, increase visibility of your group’s mission and services and introduce potential new members or supporters to your work. Special events can be fun to plan and a welcome break from the usual routine. However, be aware that special events are one of the most expensive and time-consuming forms of fundraising and therefore should not be relied upon as the sole source of funding. Rather, special events should compliment an organization’s other fundraising efforts. The most successful special events are well planned and profitable – that is, the event should net at least 70 percent profit after expenses (including staff time).

Top Tips

Determine a specific monetary goal for the special event to give people a concrete target to work toward.

Research different options in order to select a special event appropriate for your organization. Talk to other nonprofit organizations to discover what worked for them.

Design a budget and be prepared for many upfront costs. Keep good records of expenses as well as contributions.

Form a committee of well-connected people and begin planning at least 6 months in advance. Make sure that board members are committed along with plenty of volunteers – there will be many tasks and committee members can invite their friends to the event.

Schedule frequent, periodic meetings to ensure communication between staff, volunteers, board members, and others involved in planning the special event.

Recruit a well-known, prominent person to participate in your special event. Their presence will help draw others.

Consider potential conflicts and create a backup plan to handle crises such as inclement weather, a competing event scheduled on the same day, or cancellation of your keynote speaker.

Publicize your event beginning several months in advance. Keep a steady flow of information going out to the public in newsletters, press releases, e-mails, etc.

Follow-up with event attendees in order to further build relationships, solicit major gifts, or recruit new board members or volunteers.

Evaluate your results when the event is over. Convene the lead planners as soon as possible after the event, before important details fade. Begin with asking the group what worked, what didn’t work and how to improve the next time you host a special event.

Thank sponsors, donors, volunteers, staff and other participants for their support and work.

Online Resources and Tools

BizBash.com Idea Center
www.bizbash.com
A resource center for special event planners. You can search for ideas on event planning by event topic (e.g., catering, invitations, venues), event type (e.g., cocktail party, benefit, press conference) and industry (e.g., nonprofit, government). “Event Bloopers & Blunders” gives readers examples of mistakes to avoid in event planning.

Charity Village
www.charityvillage.com
This mega site has more than 3000 pages of resources related to nonprofits in Canada. Visit the library section and click on Fundraising Marketing/Special Events and Promotions (http://www.charityvillage.com/cv/research/revnt.html ) for special event ideas, tips, checklists and articles.

EcoSpeakers
www.ecospeakers.com
This site includes an extensive portal of online event planning and management resources, and is useful in finding keynote or plenary speakers for your events.

Fund$Raiser Cyberzine
www.fundsraiser.com
You may subscribe to their free monthly e-newsletter, consult the fundraiser yellow pages, or read featured fundraising news and articles at this site. Also contains a lengthy list of links to other fundraising resources.

Fundraisers Forum Library
www.raise-funds.com/library.html
This site includes a variety of resources for fundraising including articles on planning, capital campaigns, annual campaigns and developing a fundraising team. The article, “Your Organization’s Next Special Event: Fund-Raiser or Friend-Raiser?” promotes focusing your event on fundraising.

Fundraising Depot
www.fundraisingdepot.com
Everything you need to know about selling products to raise funds. Includes a questionnaire to determine what fundraiser is right for your group, a Frequently Asked Question (FAQ) page, fundraiser activity checklists and success tips.

Fundraising Ideas and Product Center
www.fundraising-ideas.org
Review fundraising ideas and fundraising products offered by 100 top fundraising companies. Choose from special events, candy, catalogs, cookbooks, discount cards, plants, safety products, personalized items and gourmet foods, just to name a few. Also includes a large selection of non-commercial, do-it-yourself fundraising ideas.

Grassroots Fundraising
www.grassrootsfundraising.org/titles/gr_journal.html
Visit this site for a wealth of information on fundraising. Includes articles, sample chapters from “must-have” books, and a searchable archive from Grassroots Fundraising Journal.

The Nonprofit Matrix
www.nonprofitmatrix.com/about.asp
Visit this online directory for information about computer programs that can help increase your nonprofit organization’s online fundraising capability. The site also includes a library with Question & Answer articles and other tips on using technology to fundraise.

Tailor Made Mysteries
www.tailormademysteries.com
Visit this site for an affordable download of dinner party murder-mystery kits that can be used for fundraisers for 8 to 100 + guests. Each kit includes a host's guide, party planning ideas, an invitation on which you can enter your party details before you print it, clue booklets for each main character and the "Who Did It?" pages.

Suggested Reading

Batchelder, Duff. (2002). Evaluating & Selecting Fundraising Software: How to choose the right software for your organization. With the wide range of packages available, finding the right funding software can be a difficult task. How do you evaluate and choose a fundraising database program that best meets your needs? See this Tech Soup (the Technology Place for Nonprofits) article for information on the basics of selecting funding databases, including costs, staff training and questions to ask sales persons. View at: www.techsoup.org.

Causer, Craig. (2002). Fundraising Ideas that Really Work. The NonProfit Times. This article describes examples of how nonprofits can partner with local businesses to sponsor fun and successful fundraising events. View at: www.nptimes.com/dme/Jul02/dme_1.html.

Klein, Kim. (2000). Fundraising for Social Change. Jossey-Bass. The book will help you reframe fundraising to understand how to provide potential donors with the opportunity to contribute to the community. Includes all types of fundraising - events, direct mail, phone-a-thons, personal requests and more.

Hamilton, Gail. (1996). Fundraiser’s Phrase Book. Hamilton House. Consult this resource for thousands of effective fundraising phrases that can help you create materials that get results. Contains numerous ideas of words and phrases that can be adapted to a variety of needs.

Osinski, Bonnie. (1997). Effective Fund Raising For Human Service Organizations. Journal for Nonprofit Management, Vol. 1. This article provides an overview of the basics of fundraising for small to medium size nonprofit organizations and compares differences with fundraising for large institutions such as hospitals or universities.

Stallings, Betty and McMillion, Donna. (1999). How to Produce Fabulous Fundraising Events: Reap Remarkable Returns with Minimal Effort. Building Better Skills. This book tells you how to select the right fundraising event for your organization; attract, support and appreciate your event volunteers; and plan, budget, publicize and evaluate your event to ensure success. It includes a step-by-step guide to producing a perfect event.