Recently, a member of a charity
contacted us and was asking about how we can help them. But wanted to know what the costs were
etc. Before I began informing her about
our cost structure, I asked her about their fundraising events. Needless to say, they believed they were
successful but in reality, they were far from it. In fact, the reality of it was that they were
making very little without an enormous amount of effort. The problem is, when it comes to charities,
they have it all wrong, completely wrong.
In the “For Profit” world, you go after and pay the best in the business
to get maximum results for your company.
The price you pay is minimal compared to the result. However, in the charity world, the belief is
exactly opposite – spend very little to make as much as possible. Does this make sense at all? And why do charities think like this? And why?
So here is her question and my response:
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QUESTION: For my event, it would be great to have more
info from you regarding fees and such, should the organization decide that they
would like “outside” help.
ANSWER:
I would absolutely love to help you.
Can we talk about your event more?
When we spoke, I remember your Net was low in accordance with the amount
of people you had in attendance. Look at
it like this - # of guests divided by your Net.
The absolute beginning of successful fundraising, which is a guide for
professional fundraising is $100.00 a head Net.
400 people = $40,000.00 net (after pay alllllllll the bills including
us). We are paid through the event and
not from your charity. The difference
between us and doing it alone is this - Baseball Teams go after the best
players who they have to pay heavily for to win games and eventually the World
Series. We pay Doctors, Lawyers,
Contractors for their expertise - we are the #1 fundraisers in North
America.
When you have a major donor of an item -
how not to make them mad because their item they donated does not bring top
dollar. Why have a live auction and who
are you targeting with it. What types of
items do people pay ridiculous amounts of money for time and time again. What types of event excite people who do not
know about your cause, will want to be a part of as well as successful event
marketing trends which bring the spot light on your event. How to get above the crowd noise of the 104
Million registered U.S. Non Profits out there who are trying to get people to
donate like yours is.
But mainly - think of it like this. What was the "Net" of last years
event? Now you have to be absolutely
honest with yourself when it comes to this because its a real eye opener. Divide your true "Net" by the
amount of people it took to plan the fundraising event. Then, divide that number by the amount of
months (the true amount of months) it took to plan it. Now, look at that number....does it make
sense? Would you work that long for that
low amount of pay in your own life?
Another common mistake is that charities
believe that people want to hear speeches,
watch presentations or people given
awards when in reality - no one likes to hear long winded speeches and it slows
down the momentum of the event itself.
Speeches need to be kept to a minimum.
The charity should "Work" the room, meeting their guests and
sponsors. To deliver the mission or to
tell people about how wonderful your charity is, Video is the absolute best way
and is entertaining.
Summary - we are proud to say we hit 1.8
to 2.5 above the national norm for successful fundraising of $100.00 a head
net. We are proud to say that our events
normally sell completely out because of the way we build, plan and market
it. At our events, it’s a
"Norm" that people will ask to buy tickets for the very next event,
which is a year away.
Our events are extremely fun,
entertaining and all about the excitement of the event itself....that is what
brings success - excitement and happy people.
Happy people donate heavily.
Bored people do not.
It's all about desire - the desire of
your charity - if they truly want to be successful. Why have a volunteer or someone who does not
know how to fundraise or specializes in planning these type of events, planning
your event!!! Would you want your
mechanic doing your surgery? Would you
want your housewife friend representing you in court when she has no background
in Law? Would you want your accountant
building your house when he has no background in building? Or - would you want the best in the business
cutting into your skin, representing you in court or planning and building your
house?
It's all about desire to be better - we
are not expensive, but it is expensive when you have someone with no background
doing your fundraising - which it seems you already do. For some reason, people's mind tend to shut
completely off when it comes to fundraising.
They plan an excellent event at a fantastic venue but when it comes time
to actually fundraise - they think cheap is better when in reality, its not at
all. The most important thing a charity
can do is to have a professional helping them.
In a down economy, when fundraising is
tough, wouldn't you want the best in the business helping you with a proven
long term track record? All of our
current clients do. In fact, we go back
year after year after year after year.
Here are some incredible examples:
A small group needed to raise money -
they said in their wildest dreams they would love to raise $40,000.00. They hired us, their 1st event did
$161,000.00 Net. 2nd event did $248,000.00
net.
A small, unknown charity needed to raise
$90,000.00. Over 6 years, they had only
raised $6,000.00 and couldn't get 50 people to come to a dinner
fundraiser. 1st event - 810 guests with
$141,000.00 Net.
A very well-known national charity was
reporting to their board that they made $360,000.00 however; the money in the
bank did not equal what they were reporting.
Their chairman of the board asked that I look over the financial
reporting quietly. I determined that 95%
of the money raised came from pre-event sponsors but when they had their event,
the actual event was in the negative forcing them to spend money which the
pre-event sponsors donated. They
shouldn't have even had the event. We
took over, the event made $458,000.00 with the pre-event sponsors.
The list goes on and on and on and
on....
Successful fundraising is strategy...it’s
not a wish or a hope. Rarely do
charities go back and examine what their event did or what made money or what
their losses were. They take the money,
accept it and make themselves believe that they were successful. They never try to improve by learning by
their mistakes. We do...
So - all in all, we are the best in the
business with a proven track record and resume.
We would love to help you.
We can provide a management team which includes everything from graphic design, to event set up, paperwork, planning, managing and hosting – directing the committee
and being onsite to manage the event...to even providing an entire event staff that our clients don't even have to do anything other than check people in and do your program (Awards, speeches etc.).
In summary – does it make sense to put the most valuable tool in a charities arsenal (their fundraising) in the hands of someone who has no background in it when it’s absolutely crucial to the funding of their mission? No it does not but charities do it day in and day out all across North America every single day.
We can provide a management team which includes everything from graphic design, to event set up, paperwork, planning, managing and hosting – directing the committee
and being onsite to manage the event...to even providing an entire event staff that our clients don't even have to do anything other than check people in and do your program (Awards, speeches etc.).
In summary – does it make sense to put the most valuable tool in a charities arsenal (their fundraising) in the hands of someone who has no background in it when it’s absolutely crucial to the funding of their mission? No it does not but charities do it day in and day out all across North America every single day.
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