Whether you’re trying to get the details pinned down for your nonprofit’s next charity gala or just trying to organise an online fundraising campaign, running a successful event is often easier said than done. This is especially true for smaller organisations that typically must run on tight budgets and use staff that is already harried and under pressure with commitments related to your NFP’s day to day operations. The following are a few strategies to help you host a successful fundraiser.

Clarify the Goal

Many nonprofit events have more than one purpose. For example, you might want to host a charity auction to raise money for a specific service project for your NFP, but, you might also intend to use the event to raise awareness about your cause, and, to encourage supporters to volunteer with your organisation. The first step of planning your event, after deciding what type of fundraising event you will host, is to clarify what you want to accomplish, and then rank your goals in order of importance.

Clarifying your goals will help you and others in your organisation to be more focused on what you truly hope to accomplish, as well as help you to be able to determine what steps you will need to take to reach each goal.

Make Plans

The planning stage can begin in earnest once you’ve decided on the type of event you will host and what goals you wish to accomplish by hosting the event. At this point, if you haven’t already, it’s a good idea to form a committee to help plan out each step that your nonprofit will need to take to host the event.

Once you’ve created a list of steps to reach each goal, assign leaders that are drawn from the pool of committee members. Each leader is to be responsible for ensuring that the tasks needed to accomplish each step are, in fact, completed.

Message Across Multiple Channels

Once you’ve decided on the type of event, as well as its date, time, location and duration, and outlined your goals and the steps you will need to take to accomplish your goals, it’s time to spread the word about your event. You will want to reach as many supporters of your NFP as possible, and motivate them to take action.

To do this, you will need to reach out to supporters across multiple formats, including traditional advertising on TV and in print, as well as on your website, by email, and across all of your NFP’s social media channels.

Creating a donation page that is branded to this particular fundraising event can increase the amount of contributions your NFP receives, as well as make it easier to spread the news about your event. Another way to increase contributions is to look for ways to build a sense of urgency into your fundraising campaign messaging to encourage donations.

Some ways to do this are to publicise special time frames where matching funds are available for donations, as well as to include human interest stories that show what is at stake if your nonprofit misses its fundraising targets.

Make it Easy to Donate

Before launch, make certain that it’s easy for your donors to contribute. Include an obvious call to action for your campaign on all of your site’s landing pages. Accept multiple forms of payment to increase the ease with which donors can make contributions. Double check your site to make certain that it is easily assessable from traditional and mobile platforms so that users can make a donation regardless of which platform they use to access your site.

Follow Up Before Launch

Just before you event is scheduled to occur, follow up with committee leaders and make certain that everything is in place and ready for the event to begin. Make certain that leaders have backup plans and substitutions in place should unexpected emergencies and other disruptions occur.

Provide “Live” Updates as the Event is Happening

Keep your supporters updated about the progress that you are making while the fundraiser is going on. Provide live updates across social media as your nonprofit reaches various fundraising goals. Send out news alerts on the impact made by donations at every level, and what a difference even very small donations can make in the lives of others.

Don’t Forget to Give Thanks

Make certain that online donation portals are set up to thank contributors as soon as they have taken action to donate or otherwise support your nonprofit. Use your social media networks and website to thank donors for their contributions throughout your fundraising event, and call attention to the impact made by specific donations. Be ready to follow up with donors after the event and thank them again for their donations via emails, newsletters, written letters, and even telephone calls. When expressing your gratitude, reinforce the benefits created by giving by specifically mentioning how this particular donation level will impact your service community.