How To Plan a Successful Charity Event | Bella Collina

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How to Plan and Host a Successful Charity Event

There’s really no shortage of ways to raise money for something that is near and dear to your heart. In this day and age we have crowdsourcing sites, such as GoFundMe, or you can create a viral social media challenge (remember the “ice bucket challenge”?). But probably the most engaging, and fulfilling ways to raise funds for charity is to organize and host an event yourself.

Planning and hosting a charity event is not something you just decide on and do — it requires well thought out planning and organization. If you’re serious about putting your energy towards a cause that’s near and dear to your heart, read on for our tips for how to plan and host an amazing charity event.

Know Your “Why”
Before you decide to plan a charity event you should understand your personal “why” you want to do this. This is especially true if it’s your first time involved with non-profits or fundraising. Defining your cause and the reason why you’re focused on a cause is the necessary first step to setting your plan of action.

On top of knowing why you’re hosting a charitable event, you need to also define your purpose. Are you planning this event strictly as a fundraising opportunity, or are there other goals you’re considering. Being honest with yourself about these things will go a long way to helping you get all the details in place.

Choose the Charity
In line with knowing why you’re planning this event, you need to have in mind the charity (or charities) you’re raising funds for. This needs to be made clear at the outset. You also need to be in contact with people from the charity you would like to raise money for. This will help you understand their needs and their responsibilities—they may have specific ways money raised must be presented or the way services and funds are distributed.

Set Goals for Fundraising
You might think “I want to raise as much as possible!” — but that’s not a very good or meaningful goal. You should decide the amount of money you would like to raise from this event. When you know your fundraising goal everything you do moving forward will go toward making sure that goal is met. Keep in mind you will have expenses, and a budget will be a big part of this decision as well. Your fundraising gaol needs to be the net amount you want to raise after all other expenses are deducted.

Know the Audience You’re Targeting
Who do you plan to target for this event? Will this fundraiser be open to everyone? Or will it be more for a specific type of audience? You have to decide who you will invite to this event and that will help you determine how you market it. Once you’ve defined your target audience you will have a better idea how to market the event to attendees, sponsors and donors, and the people you hope will give to your charity of choice.

Choose a Date and Venue
You’ll need to know or at least have a good idea for when you would like your event to take place. You should keep a few dates available in case venues cannot accommodate your first choice.
Before you decide on a venue, make sure it’s a good fit for the type of event you plan to host. Any venue you choose needs to be able to answer the following questions:

will it hold the number of attendees you plan to have
how much will it cost to rent the venue and can the venue make a donation — this could be an in kind or as a discount from their rental prices
what, if anything, is included in the rental package? Does the venue supply catering, decor, seating, music, etc…?

Decide on an Event Theme
While this isn’t completely necessary, it goes a long way to ensure a successful event. Many people love to donate to charity, but they also want to have a good time. A theme for your event will give attendees something to remember and talk about — and more importantly will make them excited to attend and support your cause.

Consider the audience you plan to target and the cause the event will support—combine these two groups and come up with a fun, memorable theme for your event.

Market, Market, Market
Remember in “Field of Dreams” the voice tells Ray Kinsella “if you build it he will come” — that doesn’t seem to work in real life. Just because you plan something, without marketing no one will know about your event. For a charity event marketing is crucial to ensure you are able to meet your desired fundraising goals and have a successful event.

Traditional fundraising models still work — event flyers at the clubhouse, mailed out invitations, phone and cold calling are still viable methods.

But you know what is even better than those? Digital marketing.

Email marketing, setting up a basic website, content and blog posting are all great strategies to get the word out about your event. Don’t forget the real powerhouses of promotion: social media channels such as Facebook and twitter are amazing ways to promote your fundraiser.
Have Multiple Ways to Accept Donations

Your event will need at least one way to accept donations — but for real success you need to have multiple options. To give you the best chances to meet your fundraising goals you should set up alternative donation methods.

There are platforms that accept digital and mobile payments that allow supporters to send donations in advance. These payments can even be coordinated with an account to allow direct deposit.

You should also plan for at the door/at the event donations. Research ticketing apps that allow for processing last minute sales.

Last, but not least, have an option for people who would love to support your cause but cannot attend the event. Make it easy and painless to make a donation — a great service for this is ‘text to donate’ and set up a Supporter option for easy donations.

Create a Thank You Strategy
Now that the event is over and you’ve hit your fundraising goals, don’t forget to thank those who made that fundraising goal possible: all of your contributors. Often contributors will complain they never received even a ‘thank you’ for their participation and giving. Make sure to take the time to reach out, this can be via email, calls, or a handwritten note to express your gratitude.

This thank you strategy doesn’t only apply to the people who’ve donated; your volunteers, other event organizers, workers at the venue you selected all deserve recognition for a job well done. Keep your fundraising partners happy and you’ll be able to have many more successful charity events in the future!

It takes a lot of hard work, determination, and effort to plan and host a successful charity event — but all of that work is definitely worth it when you can present much needed funds to the charity you support. If you want to get started planning an awesome charity event at Bella Collina, contact our events and meeting venue organizers for more information.