[MUSIC] So you now have a good idea of what event you need to do and what your audience will be. It fits within your goals and mission and it has a clearly defined purpose. You've looked over the event with a fine-tooth comb, and you've assessed the sponsorship benefits you can provide to secure some outstanding business partners. You've put together a nice one pager brochure or folder of information to share. Now you need to go out and ask. The same skills we covered in the leadership annual giving module would apply here. Start with narrowing down your prospect list and talk to those with the highest probability to support you. Look for businesses that fit your demographic or businesses that are already supporting you in other ways. You need to plan ahead. In most cases, you want to secure sponsors for events about six months before the event. The businesses need to fit you into their overall operating plan, and you need to secure them early so you can plan for your event. You now need to talk to the right person, the decision maker. Do your research and find who makes those decisions. In smaller companies, it will be the owner, the manager, or the president. Larger corporations and foundations may have positions dedicated to this role. Figure out who that person is and get on their calendar. Once you've secured the visit, send information ahead of your meeting for their review. Also, bring those materials to the meeting, and please make sure the materials you are presenting are well done. They don't have to be fancy, but they need to be good with no typos or errors. If a company chooses to tie their name to yours through a sponsorship, the decision maker needs to trust you can present yourself in a professional way. And lastly, know your stuff. You need to know what your sponsorship package is backward and forward. Like we mentioned in the session on leadership annual giving, you need your elevator speech. Flexibility is also important. Most businesses will fit within your defined program, but you'll have some that need some special care, and if you can accommodate, it will pay dividends for you. Now we've gotten to the good stuff. You know what you're going to do, you know who you want to come, and you found a way to pay for it, whether it's a donor or a corporate or business sponsor. Now you've got to get the people there. This component is crucial to your success. If you build it, they will come does not apply to fundraising events. If you build it, mail people, e-mail people, text people, e-mail them again, post on Facebook, send out a press release, call them, they might come. For invitation-only events like dinners, receptions, recognition events and galas, you'll see here a plan for invitations. Our donors are savvy and they know if they know if a non-profit is hosting an event, we undoubtedly have fundraising in mind. Keeping that mind, plan ahead so you can do a lot of follow up. Send a save the date six to eight weeks out. Follow up with invitations between four and six weeks out. I'm kind of old school in my thinking about invitations and believe special events should have a hard copy invitation. It makes it special for the donor. With my knowledge of e-mail open rates, I also know if you can get 30% of recipients to open an e-mail you're doing great. That means only 30% of your audience sees your invitation. It's the same logic I use for annual giving solicitation. E-mail is a great tool, but mail still makes it to everyone's kitchen counter. About two weeks before your event, send out an e-mail reminder to catch those last minute folks. And if you're getting down to the wire and still need to boost your attendance, pick up the phone and call people. Use your development staff for this or students or volunteers. Calling to remind people is a great stewardship touch, even if they decline the invitation, so it isn't wasted time. Marketing a community event is where you get to be the most creative, and I have to share with you this was my favorite part of doing events. I was ceaseless when it came to getting the information out about my festival. I'll start with some basics here and then share a few of our more creative moments. Send e-mails to your donors, members, and listservs. Post regularly on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Produce press releases to send to your regional media outlets. If you have the opportunity, take the advantage of radio public service announcement. Event posters still work, and so do brochures and flyers. Create great ones that people notice. If you have business partners, ask them to share the event information on their reader boards. Buy ads if you have the budget. Just be sure the vehicles you choose fit your demographic. Today, you cannot neglect having a website or Facebook page. Most people search the Internet for information, and if they can't find you in the Google search, you've lost them. Having worked for a community event that had minimal budget, we learned to do a lot with very little, and I had some very creative marketing people who helped with our event and promotions. Our event had the opportunity about 15 years ago to paint an event mural on the side of a building downtown to advertise our event on an ongoing basis. The dates of the event get updated by a painter every year, but the mural is still there today. It looks great and reminds people every day of the event. We also produced a tip sheet about a month prior to the event that we sent to all the media outlets in the state. It shared event information, weird and interesting facts and photos. The tip sheet referred to me as the Lentil Lady, the event celebrated lentils, by the way, and shared my contact information. That tip sheet garnered several radio interviews around the state every year and three television interviews. For one of the TV interviews we actually did an on-air cooking demonstration. The tip sheet took some time to create, but the free press it generated was worth the effort. It was just weird enough to be interesting. One year, I also worked with the Mayor and the City Council of our town to have the name of a street changed to Lentil Lane to celebrate the event. I did a little research first to make sure no one would be offended by the name change. The city agreed, and we did a celebration to commemorate the name change and unveil the new street sign. My hope was to get a little coverage for the event in the regional papers. But the story, including information about the event, was just strange enough that it hit the AP and we ended up in a few newspapers around the country. When you're marketing your event, whether through communication vehicles, or face to face, you will find success if you are creative in your thinking. Be inspired in your thinking and your actions so you can inspire others, and be enthusiastic. I used to speak every semester at my alma mater to public relations students interested in becoming event planners. And the piece of advice I shared every time was you have to be your own biggest cheerleader. If you aren't excited about what you're doing, how will you get anyone else to be excited? I want to circle back and talk briefly about sharing impact at your events. Community events, fund runs and golf tournaments don't really fall into this category, but this is definitely an integral part to recognition events and other fundraising events. Find ways to share stories about the impact of giving at your events. Donors telling stories about why they choose to support can be really impactful. It helps other donors envision themselves in the same way if a colleague, peer, or friend stands up in front of everyone and shares their story. Maybe they were a scholarship recipient as a student and they have an endowed scholarship to help students now. Or a study abroad semester changed their lives so they are funding a program that allows students to have those same kinds of experiences. Maybe an especially caring nurse helped their family during a difficult medical situation and they decided to fund a program that supports nursing education. I know this donor that started an endowment to support the Disability Resource Center at the university because his father worked in that field for 50 years and impacted a lot of lives during his career. The donor wanted to leave a legacy in his father's name that would really reflect who his father was. I love this story, and I admit I cried, and I wasn't the only one who did, when the donor shared his story at that recognition event. It meant a lot to them, and they told their story better than we could have. Share stories from the people directly impacted by the giving as well. A student who wouldn't have an education if it weren't for a donor. A research project that wouldn't exist if it weren't for donors. A group or club that did something really great like winning a national competition because donors supported their project. If a story impacted you when you heard it, it will impact your donors. So keep your eyes open throughout the year for people and projects that might be good to feature in your events. Many impact stories require a serious tone. Much of what we do as non-profit fundraisers is to support people in need or serious problems, curing cancer, other diseases, solving global problems. But sometimes a little levity helps deliver your message in a really memorable and impactful way. This year, at our recognition gala, our donor relations team put together this really fun Jeopardy style game that highlighted giving impact across the university. There were categories, just like Jeopardy, and then questions related to each of those categories. Everything was related to philanthropy. Each table competed in a trivia game at the beginning of dinner, and the top three tables got to compete. There were buzzers and lights flashing and the winning team won a prize. The guests had a blast, and the game shared donor impact in a really interesting and memorable way. I hate to be a broken record, but I'll say it again, be creative. People are looking for new and different experiences, and you'll keep them engaged if you can do that even in a small way. For events, we discussed the various types of fundraising events. Doing an inventory of what you're currently doing, what is missing, and what can be eliminated was discussed, as was defining your purpose and your audience. Fundraising events need to have a goal. We covered briefly how donors and corporate business sponsors can help fund your events to give you the greatest impact. I also shared some ideas for building a sponsorship package for your events, and selling those to potential business partners. To wrap up, we talked about marketing your events to your audience to maximize attendance. And for fundraising events, we touched on impact stories and some ideas for including them in your events. I'll close by saying that working with membership organizations and doing events brought me a lot of personal joy. The members were wonderful people. Being part of something larger than myself with a greater purpose was fulfilling, and the work, though it was hard sometimes, was a ton of fun. Some of my fondest memories, proudest moments, and best friends were made during those years. If you take this path, or you're already on it, enjoy the work, be creative, and have some fun with your projects.
