Hi all - I've participated in several great conversations (with many of you!) about how organizations pivoted their spring fundraising events this year to a virtual platform with varying degrees of success. From the panels I've attended, it seems the most successful events (from a fundraising standpoint) have been those which pivoted to virtual after the majority of their sponsorship and ticket revenue was already secured. My organization is starting to look ahead to next year and contemplating how to manage our annual fundraiser, which brings in about 20% of our overall contributed revenue budget. There is some conversation about planning a virtual event from the very beginning and forgoing any attempt at a "traditional" in person event. Is anyone else starting to think in these terms? I'd love to connect and springboard ideas of how to start, how to structure pricing, program content, etc.
Amelia, we are in the same boat. Our gala is at the end of November. One of our chairs wants to declare virtual from the start. The rest of us are afraid we won't get the funds in we need if we do that. We are struggling a bit with how to proceed. Any pearls of wisdom from others would be greatly appreciated.
I am going to follow this convo as well. We are in the process of transitioning our auction from our cancelled spring event to a full online auction with potentially an in person/virtual element (tbd). We also are talking and discussing options for the Spring 2021 event as most of our patrons (opera) tend to be older we are not sure if they will be ready to go to a large event even come Spring 2021. So I completely understand! One thing we are considering is how to have both as an option. One of the local production companies we work with to put on the event is able to do live stream options so I want to discuss with my team a ticket option for that so we can still get some revenue but offer a watch from home option.
We are planning our Virtual Gala at the moment. It is Virtual from the outset. We are asking our donors to organise dinner parties. Rather than charge an admission we are going to focus on the giving throughout the night. There is a thought that charging the $x for entry will be lowering the giving bar too much ie: setting a tone that that entry was the evenings donation. We are partnering with Givergy again for our donaton pathway.
Feels like there is some momentum around this topic -- is it a good idea to host an Arts & Culture Connections small group video discussion around this? I need to look at the calendar but I'm sure we could work it in if there is substantial interest. Something like "Exploring a Fall Virtual Gala?" or along those lines?EDITED TO ADD: Let's try this? If you are interested, UPVOTE Michaela Donnelly's response below? (Hope this works!)
Erin Koppel (Past Staff Member) I would be interested in that type of call/discussion
would get up at 2am for this ;)
Hi Erin!
We are looking into options for our virtual fundraising event in February. Wondering if the call you mentioned here happened? If so, was there a recording or notes taken?
Thanks,
Kanani
I'd love a recording if one was taken! Perhaps people still want to connect about virtual fundraisers given folks are most likely planning virtual events for the coming months? Would love to participate in one. We have an event coming up in February and would love to hear how folks have utilized Tess with an elevated event and if they have a website that has integrated, what successes they have found with taking registration and donations straight from the site.