Venues are Offering Deals Because of the Recession

Today I ran across an interesting post on the Association of Fundraising Professional's message board on LinkedIn:
http://www.redappleauctions.com/venues/tempting-offers-from-venues-are-still-to-be-found/
The plus side to the recession: deals can be found on venues. The example used in the article above is a venue waiving the rental fee for nonprofit organizations for mid-week events. That's quite a deal.

Building Your Brand and Network with Every Event

Today I was thinking about how my blog reminds me a bit of the 'current events' assignment I used to have back in elementary school. We were required to scan the newspaper, pick an article, write a paragraph about it, and present it to class. Back then, the internet was still something that was only used by the government and computer geeks. Who would have known that assignment was preparing me for my blog many years down the road?

I came across an article in Biz Bash that highlights and organization that thinks of ways to use their fundraising events as a means of building their brand and network. I just finished reading a book by my favorite author, One Million Miles in One Thousand Years by Donald Miller. The book is all about story - how our lives are a story and the elements that make a good story. In one part of the book, Miller is writing a screenplay and explains how having a scene where two people sit in a coffee shop to hash out a conflict won't work because it isn't memorable. Miller points out that good movies have scenes taking place in strange places, such as in a batting cage (Good Will Hunting), on the edge of a cliff (Garden State), or in a meat locker (Rocky). This theory applies to fundraising events as well. To make your event memorable, it helps to have it in an interesting place or with an unusual activity going on. Positive memories are what help to build your brand, and entice donors to give (as well as remember you in the future and tell their friends about you).

Most Valuable Kids held a Ping-Pong Tournament fundraiser. Since the organization largely sends kids to sports-related events, they use sports events as fundraisers. As the organization's president put it: "When five of us started Most Valuable Kids in New York in 2006, we didn't want to do the typical events. For us, it's all about building our brand and building our network with every event." They are also planning a tennis, swimming, and golf triathalon this summer.
The event brought in 250 - 300 people, most of which were new donors.

http://www.bizbash.com/newyork/content/editorial/17505_kids_charity_attracts_new_donors_with_fund-raising_ping-pong_competition.php

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.

Holiday Volunteering Parties

Piggy-backing on my last blog post, I saw this in today's Daily Candy:

GIVE
Money, Time, & Energy
What: Contact local orgs to volunteer at shelters, foster a lonely pet, serve lunch, and be part of The Holiday Project.
Why: The winter doesn’t have to feel so cold.
When: Carve out some free time.
Where: Think local.

Nonprofits: you can market this in an email or on your website as a way to encourage your donors to get involved this holiday season.
Individuals and nonprofits: you can encourage your friends to get together for a holiday party where you visit a shelter together, serve lunch, or visit institutionalized patients. Take an hour or two out of your holiday party to do one of these activities. Afterwards, you can reconvene at a bar or your home for the holiday volunteering after-party, so you don't miss out on the fun holiday baked goods or drinks and you can share stories of your time volunteering.

Merry Christmas!

Practical Guide to Donating Time or Services this Christmas

Although the holiday season is coming to a close, I wanted to fit in an article about event planning and the holidays (since this is a huge event planning time of year, as well as the time of year when many charities are trying to get year-end donations).

I came across this blog article from a few weeks ago with practical suggestions on how to encorporate donating time or services into the holiday season. It's a great guide for nonprofits to suggest to their donors, even with 3 days left until Christmas. After all, many will be taking time off from work between now and New Year's and possibly looking for ways to make their holiday season more meaningful.

The Giving Spirit: Donate Your Time or Services this Holiday
http://webworkerdaily.com/2009/12/02/the-giving-spirit-donate-your-time-or-services-this-holiday/

Quick Update; Inviting Websites for Party Planners

It's been a busy December. I've been caught up in the typical holiday activities; throw into the mix work events plus my final presentation for class and now I have a cold. Those are the excuses behind my neglect of the blog.

This will be a quick update since I've been kind of drowsy with this cold.

A coworker brought to my attention an interesting article in the NY Times:
Inviting Websites for Party Planners
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/17/technology/personaltech/17basics.html?emc=eta1
It's a nice breakdown of the different online invitation tools out there. The article does complain about Evite a bit. I'm an Evite fan, except for the fact that invitees always seem to wait to see who else is attending before they respond, which isn't really an Evite flaw as much as a social networking flaw. Still, it's nice to know that there are other options out there.

Have fun at your holiday parties and keep in mind these tools for inviting folks!

Don't Be These People

Nobody likes a party crasher. I thought we all outgrew this after college. As an event planner, unexpected guests, as well as last-minute RSVPers (and cancellations) irk me. I can't help it, it's in my brain cells... even though I have been one of "those" people many times. In the non-profit fundrasing world, last minute guests can mean more money or publicity for your cause. However, crashing a party that you weren't invited to is never a cool thing.
Couple Crashes Obama State Dinner: http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1943072,00.html

Here is an article about a non-profit organization, "The Moth", that serves as a venue for all types of people to come together on certain nights and tell non-fiction stories about the chosen topic of the night. Being known amongst my friends for entertaining, non-fictional, often wacky "Jen Cole stories", this is definitely an organization that sounds interesting to me. Additionally, I've been learning in class that a big part of being a good fundraiser is being a good story-teller (basically, you are telling the story of the organization in order to raise funds). Those are some reasons why this story interested me, on top of the fact that they threw a masquerade ball as a fundraiser. Happy reading and hope you had a happy Thanksgiving!
Masked Raconteurs Tell Tales at Moth Ball and I Have a Blast: http://www.bizbash.com/newyork/content/editorial/17164_masked_raconteurs_tell_tales_at_moth_ball_and_i_have_a_blast.php