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.