House Party for the Humane Society

Here is a cool example of throwing a party to fundraise and raise awareness for a cause from The Chronicle of Philanthropy: House Parties Offer Ways for Donors to Connect With Animal Charity's Priorities

The Humane Society's "Chimp Retirement Parties" are house parties run by volunteers in order to bring attention to specific issues of humane treatment to animals. The Humane Society does this twice a year and raises about $25,000 from 1,000 people each time. They also make sure to properly equip their volunteer party-throwers (who can sign up online) with brochures, fact sheets, sign up sheets for the party, and envelopes to collect donations, although most party-attenders will donate online.

Props to the Humane Society for changing the world and throwing a party!

How Do the Online Event Management Tools Compare?

I've been busy with a few projects and I started a new class that I'm very excited about - Grant Proposal Writing! Right now, I am stealing a few minutes for a quick blog post while hanging out with friends at Think Coffee on Mercer Street. Great place! It reminds me of being in San Francisco a bit. They also have rental meeting space in their basement


Check out this
great article from www.masternewmedia.org that breaks down a number of different online event management/promotion tools (mostly registration-oriented). They even have a few comparison charts! An event planners' dream. :)
If you are looking for a service for registering people for your events, I suggest you check out these affordable options!

Live Event Promotion, Management And Marketing: Guide To The Best Web-Based Tools And Services

Have More Smaller Events That Cost Little or Nothing

This article from the Chronicle of Philanthropy caught my attention for a number of reasons.

A Sleep-In Captures Donors' Attention: http://philanthropy.com/premium/articles/v22/i04/04001502.htm

GlobalGiving hosted their second annual "Great American Sleep-In," encouraging people to sleep-in on Black Friday and instead make a donation. First of all, I love anything that takes our minds away from materialism and towards helping others. I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one who feels this way, which is why events like these are successful. Secondly, I like the point that the development director makes: "If we can do a number of smaller events where we make a little bit of money and they don't cost us much, if anything, that will supplement our income and really raise awareness about who we are and what we do." This is a powerful and effective philosophy to go by in planning events for small nonprofits with little resources. It's a great philosophy for large nonprofits to make their dollars go farther, as well.