The Grable Group

Talent Buyer, Booking Agency and Management for Keynote Speakers, Comedians, Unique Artists and Entertainers

You are here: Home / Archives for Fundraising Ideas

Fundraising Ideas

4 Fundraising Ideas That Are Perfect For The Holiday Events (2020 edition)

by

Tim Grable

Tim Grable founded The Grable Group.The Grable Group is an international event and entertainment company.In addition to managing the schedules of our speakers, comedians artists and entertainers, we handle their literary, commercial, film/TV, social media and licensing opportunities.

Latest posts by Tim Grable (see all)

The holidays are a time for people to get together and celebrate their appreciation for each other. During these times, people are exceptionally generous and supportive, making it an opportune period for many organizations.

If you’re looking to organize an event during the Christmas holidays, then here are 4 fundraising ideas you can apply to your fundraising efforts.

Pictures with Santa

During the holidays, children are too eager to see Santa, and Christmas can’t come any faster. Yet, what if Santa comes a bit sooner this year?

4 Fundraising Ideas That Are Perfect For The Holiday Events (2020 edition)

Hiring a performer to impersonate Santa and organizing a photoshoot is an excellent idea for a fundraising event. When people in the community hear Santa is coming to them, they can’t pass the opportunity to snap a picture.

This type of event is perfect for the entire family, as children will be overjoyed to be able to talk to Santa, and parents would be incredibly proud to see their child having such a great time.

After families take the picture, it will be a perfect opportunity to ask the attendees if they would like to contribute to your organization.

The Sweater Dress Code

Having a dress code that is asking your guests to sport a thick wool sweater adds a festive spin to any of your upcoming events.

Let’s say, for example, that you are organizing a conference. To spruce it up a bit, you can impose a specific dress code, and instead of suits, you will ask your guests to show up dressed in flannel sweaters.

Sweater

This type of event can turn out to be very interesting and is interactive. For example, you can go ahead and organize a small contest to showcase either the prettiest or even the ugliest sweater in the audience hall.

The Holiday Bake Sale

The bake sale is one of the classic fundraising ideas, and it has become a staple of many events. You can organize it all year round, but we feel the Christmas holidays are the perfect occasion for this type of event.

During the bake sale, you can have the winter classics such as the sugar cane and the fabulous gingerbread man.

Guests will be eager to taste them, and you can be sure they will get some for home, as well.

Cookies

Carol Singing Event

Christmas carols bring the holiday cheer into the community. One of the best fundraising ideas is to organize an event around singing carols.

You can approach this type of event in two ways: either having volunteers from the community to sing together and form an entire group choir or you hiring a professional singer to perform on stage in front of your attendants.

This type of event is effective at gathering a large number of people. Through ticket sales or voluntary donations, you could be looking forward to earning significant money for your organization.

holiday music

Enhance Your Fundraising Ideas

The holidays can be very beneficial for your organization, so make sure not to miss the chance to get more involved and show your community their contributions go to the right place.

If you are planning to organize any upcoming fundraising events, then be sure to consider hiring a professional to entertain your guests. Just give us a call at (615) 283-0039, and let’s work together to provide your event with the best entertainment.

4 Things You Can Do To Make Your Fundraising Event More Attractive in 2020

by

Tim Grable

Tim Grable founded The Grable Group.The Grable Group is an international event and entertainment company.In addition to managing the schedules of our speakers, comedians artists and entertainers, we handle their literary, commercial, film/TV, social media and licensing opportunities.

Latest posts by Tim Grable (see all)

Last updated on January 12th, 2020 at 08:27 am

There is no universal recipe to guarantee your fundraising event will be 100% successful. However, there are some factors through which you can tilt the odds of success in your favor.

In the following article, we will go through a few ideas you can try to make your event much more appealing to potential participants and donors.

1. Your Event Could Use More Dancing

Dancing is both an art form and a sport, it is aesthetically pleasing, and it also has much depth. It can deliver a powerful message to the audience, so whether you’re an observer or a performer, dancing always elicits powerful emotions.

As an event organizer, you shouldn’t miss out on the chance to base your event around a dance thematic.

4 Things You Can Do To Make Your Fundraising Event More Attractive in 2020

For your fundraising event, you can go ahead and organize a dance competition, where participants get to showcase their talent on stage. Conversely, you can also opt to hire a professional dance group to perform in front of the audience.

This has the potential to draw in many participants for your event. With shows such as World of Dance and America’s Got Talent bringing dancing into mainstream attention, people would be stoked to see amazing dance performances live.

2. Turn up the Music

There’s nothing better than good music to settle the atmosphere and uplift the spirits. Music dramatically influences people’s mood, and having the right kind of music for your fundraising event can guarantee its success.

When done right, a benefits concert can yield excellent results, having the potential to draw a large number of participants and to incentivize them to donate.

If you can have high profile musicians on stage, you would be even better, as a celebrity is bound to have higher chances to draw more prominent audience support.

music instruments

3. Off to the Races

Make your event more interesting by going back to the basics. Fundraising events that involve a lot of audience activity are very popular nowadays.

These types of events or other similar active fundraisers can be some of the most lucrative projects, as they can bring in a substantial number of participants.

Runner

The inherent social nature of these events allows you to organize races or other types of competitive events. With this in mind, you should consider organizing a walkathon, marathon, or bike ride.

And every competition should have a grand prize which will make things more interesting for your guests. To make things even better, you can crowdfund this final prize and pledge to donate a percentage of it.

4. The Fastest Way to Someone’s Heart

Nobody can say no to the chance to sample some excellent dishes or beverages. Tasting events are a fundraising classic, and to this day, they are still entertaining and engaging.

salad

Whether your event is about showcasing different flavors of chocolate, cheese, or wine, guests wouldn’t say no to the chance to taste something that will make their taste buds explode.

To make your event more enticing, you can have professionals such as a sommelier or a chef to showcase their products to give the attendants a more rounded experience.

Furthermore, you can have a professional entertainer to perform live on stage while your guests are wining and dining, to create an enjoyable atmosphere.

Let Your Fundraising Event Shine!

There are many ways in which you can make your event more exciting and attractive for your guests, and we have barely scratched the surface with the suggestions presented in this article.

Regarding what we have mentioned in this article, we can help you get in touch with some of the best performers in the industry.

All you need to do is to call us at 615 283 0039, and we can help you with all the necessary arrangements.

How To Successfully Market Your Fundraising Event

by

Tim Grable

Tim Grable founded The Grable Group.The Grable Group is an international event and entertainment company.In addition to managing the schedules of our speakers, comedians artists and entertainers, we handle their literary, commercial, film/TV, social media and licensing opportunities.

Latest posts by Tim Grable (see all)

Last updated on November 21st, 2019 at 05:56 am

Organizing a charity event remains one of the most powerful tools nonprofit organizations have at their disposal to gain support for their cause. Many different aspects go into planning an event that will engage donors, increase awareness, and help you boost donations.

How you market your fundraising event plays a critical role in its success.  It will help you spread the word about the event, increase attendance, and reach fundraising goals.

So, it’s important you make promotion one of the main priorities. Luckily, there are a lot of different strategies and channels you can use to effectively market your fundraising event – even if you don’t have much experience in this field.

To make the job a little bit easier, here are 5 useful tips that will help you set a fundraising event up for success by helping market your fundraiser better.

How To Successfully Market Your Fundraising Event

1. Create a Dedicated Landing Page for the Fundraising Event

A landing page is a special page on the organization’s website you’ve created specifically for a marketing or advertising campaign.

There are a few essential things to keep in mind when creating this page for it to be effective and to support stated goals.

For example, let’s say the goal is to sell as many tickets to the event as possible.

First off, you need strong headlines that showcase the benefits guests will enjoy by attending – and how much of a difference they can make by being there and supporting your cause.

Include any types of incentives that help the fundraiser stand out from the rest (like maybe you have a special guest, or perhaps you’ve booked amazing entertainment for the occasion).

All these extras make each event more appealing and thus help increase the number of attendees.

Also, pay extra attention to call-to-action buttons. These are the buttons visitors click on to take the action you want them to receive; in this case, registering for the event.

Use contrasting colors to make sure they are easy to spot within the page and try using text which evokes emotion and creates a sense of urgency (words like now, today, only, hurry, rush, limited-time are great for this purpose).

You can learn more about creating effective landing pages here.

Market Your Fundraising Event

2. Leverage Social Media 

Social media is a powerful tool you have at your disposal to increase awareness as you market your fundraising event. Here are a few best practices you can use to make the most out of it:

  • Update cover images to highlight the upcoming fundraiser. This is a great yet simple way to let your social media following know you have a new event coming up.
  • Create a special #hashtag, like # [name of the event] + [the year] and encourage people to use it to help increase online exposure to the event. This will also help you discover and connect with people who are talking about the fundraiser using the event’s hashtag.
  • Stay active. Don’t just make a bunch of posts announcing the fundraiser and then go MIA. Instead, post periodically across all social media accounts, linking to your landing page. Sharing the latest updates about your fundraiser will help keep people engaged.

3. Employ a Multi-Channel Strategy to Spread the Word

Social media is a powerful tool you can use to gain exposure for your fundraising event and engage multiple groups of followers.

Consider posting different types of messaging across various channels. This way, you avoid message saturation on one channel while being MIA on another.

  • Facebook: An excellent channel for sharing behind the scenes photos and marketing materials, including photos with inspirational quotes and testimonials from the people your organization has helped. Plus, videos that convey the excitement and impact of your event are, generally, engagement-boosters.
  • Twitter: Best for sharing timely updates around your fundraiser’s goals, statistics, and retweets from some of your most avid online supporters.
  • Instagram: You can post stories that promote your current event and share throwback photos from past fundraisers. If an Instagram influencer supports your cause and shares it with their audience, it’s a good idea to re-post their stories or posts on your account, as well.

Bonus!

Don’t forget about the organization’s website.

It’s an excellent place for sharing updates, as well as articles that offer in-depth information about specific topics (the cause you’re fighting for, the impact people can make by donating, why is your cause urgent or important).

4. Offer Early-Bird Ticket Discounts

If you are planning to sell tickets as a way to raise money for your cause, then consider tiering ticket prices. Using this ticket pricing strategy is an excellent way to encourage people to buy tickets and commit to your event early-on.

Plus, these early-birds are likely to turn into your biggest advocates and share details about the event to their friends, family, co-workers, and their social media following.

5. Invest in Entertainment for Your Fundraising Event

Featuring a high-quality entertainment act will help you market your fundraiser, as it will elevate the perceived value of the ticket.

Plus, it makes your event more appealing, thus helping you draw in a larger, more diverse crowd and attract new donors.

However, finding the right type of entertainment is not always easy, especially if you don’t have much experience in this field.

Now You Know How To Successfully Market Your Fundraising Event

We hope you’ve enjoyed learning more about a few tactics which will help you promote each fundraising event and you’ll consider giving them a try.

Also, if you’re looking for the best entertainment, we can help with that, too.  Luckily, securing amazing entertainment is something we can help you with!  There are over 1,500 fantastic entertainers, speakers, and comedians featured in our portfolio, so start browsing now!

7 Secrets of a Successful Fundraising Event You Need to Know

by

Tim Grable

Tim Grable founded The Grable Group.The Grable Group is an international event and entertainment company.In addition to managing the schedules of our speakers, comedians artists and entertainers, we handle their literary, commercial, film/TV, social media and licensing opportunities.

Latest posts by Tim Grable (see all)

Last updated on October 10th, 2019 at 06:06 am

Organizing a successful fundraising event is, without a doubt, one of the most popular ways of raising money and gathering support for a cause. However, just planning a benefit and sending out invitations does not guarantee the event will be a success.

For that to happen, you need to make sure you pay extra attention to a few essential aspects. 

4 Secrets of a Successful Fundraising Event You Need to Know

How To Set Up Your Fundraising Event For Guaranteed Success

When done right, a fundraising event has the potential to raise a significant amount of funds for your organization. Also, when such events offer immense potential for growth, you can’t say – no.

Besides the obvious financial benefit, fundraising events can cultivate long-lasting relations between the donors and the organization.

Such an approach is quintessential for your benefit to be fruitful, and it’s just one of the factors which contribute to the overall success of your fundraising efforts.

In the following article, we will explore how you can set up your fundraiser for guaranteed success.

1. Be in Line with Your Core Values

What’s it like to organize a charity run, without having a goal to run for? Precisely, the entire effort would amount to nothing.

A fundraising event should reflect the organization’s core values. Not only that, but they should be carefully weaved into the overall event’s experience.

fundraising event

For example, if you’re organizing an event which is made to raise awareness of the increasingly devastating effects of climate change, it is imperative to bring to the forefront of how your organization will be dealing with these issues.

Such an effort reassures your donors they’ve made the right choice by picking your organization and it shows them that their money is going to the right place.

2. A Well-Established Purpose

When organizing a successful fundraising event, there’s something you need to do before you do anything else; and that is to decide what that main thing you hope to achieve is.

Think about whether your sole goal is to raise money or whether the real purpose of the event is to gain publicity, or perhaps reach out to a new pool of potential donors.

It’s not uncommon for fundraisers to have more than one purpose, but you need to know what your priority is.

This will help you establish a cohesive overall strategy, as well as serve as a guide when having to make crucial decisions in the planning process.

3. Use Your Resources Wisely

If there’s one thing which makes or breaks the event, it’s the way you decide to allocate the available resources. You may overextend on the expenses for the props, or you may hire many people to help you out with the activities.

Whatever the situation, having a clear cut plan of how you are going to spend your resources is an absolute must.

How to set up fundraising event

We cannot predict precisely what your fundraising event needs; instead, we can ask you a set of questions:

  • Do you have enough capital to cover your expenses?
  • Is the event may be too ambitious? Alternatively, is it modest?
  • Is there enough human resources to carry out the tasks?
  • Do you have partners or sponsors to ease the costs?
  • Do you have enough time to carry out all your plans?

If you have a definite answer to all of these questions, then you can have a more optimistic outlook about your event’s chances of turning outright.

4. Establish Your Donor Base

One of your primary objectives is to get to know your donors or better yet, to get to know whom your donors are going to be.

From the get-go, it’s crucial to establish whom your event is going to cater to. Is it going to be a younger audience or an elderly, more mature audience?

Do you already have a stable donor base, or are you aiming to attract new donors through your event?

There are many questions which need to be answered, but the bottom line is that having a clear understanding of your donors’ profile is going to give your event a sense of direction.

5. High-Quality Entertainment

It should go without saying that how your guests feel attending the event will influence that event’s success, as well as their decision to continue to support your nonprofit or not.

You’ll want people to have a good time and remember your successful fundraising event for a long time ahead. Also, featuring great entertainment can help you achieve that.

If you’re interested in creating a memorable experience for your guests, make sure to read this article to discover five amazing entertainment ideas which will make your fundraiser stand out from the rest.

6. Marketing

When it comes to organizing a successful fundraiser, the famous “build it, and they will come” mantra does not apply.

You need to make sure you employ an array of marketing strategies to get the word out about your event and get more potential donors to RSVP.

office, computer, work

Here are a few tactics you can try to promote your fundraiser.

  • Create dedicated landing pages. These pages should state the most important details about the fundraiser and provide clear next steps on how people can sign up to show their support.
  • Social media promotion. Focus on posting visual content and don’t forget to link to your dedicated landing page.
  • Reach out to local media outlets. Even if you don’t have the resources to write a comprehensive press release, you can still submit your fundraiser to local event sites and reach an audience who is actively looking for events such as yours.

7. Practice Makes Perfect

Don’t worry. This doesn’t mean you need to do a full run-through of your event beforehand.

However, it is essential that everyone who is working the event knows, ahead of time:

  • what their responsibilities are
  • where they should be during key moments of the fundraiser
  • how the event is timed and how it should “flow.”

If you are having a large or unusual event, you may want to have a practice run with your staff, as well. This will help detect a few last-minute hiccups and ensure everything will run smoothly on the day of the actual event.

Make Your Fundraising Event an Instant Success

The reality is that organizing such an event is no menial task, but the returns it entails are more enough to give it a shot.

There’s one thing we didn’t get to mention in our article, and that is the level of enjoyment. To appeal to your guests, your event must offer some entertainment value.

We can help you with all the necessary preparations for your event to become an unforgettable experience.

Get More Ideas to Help You Plan a Successful Fundraising Event

Are you looking for more inspiration to help you get the most out of your fundraising events? Then you’ll be happy to know you can find more articles on this topic on our site. Take a look now.

What You Need To Do To Make The Most Out Of Your Fundraising Event

by

Tim Grable

Tim Grable founded The Grable Group.The Grable Group is an international event and entertainment company.In addition to managing the schedules of our speakers, comedians artists and entertainers, we handle their literary, commercial, film/TV, social media and licensing opportunities.

Latest posts by Tim Grable (see all)

Last updated on November 21st, 2019 at 05:58 am

Organizing a charity event remains one of the most efficient ways to raise money for a nonprofit organization. However, there is no denying the fact a lot of resources, such as time, money and effort, are needed.

So, in order to fare well when calculating your profit, it’s important to make every bit of that investment count. To help you out, we’ve included a few fundraising event planning tips on how to get more out of your function. 

More often than not, the success of a non-profit event is the result of careful, thorough planning. Yes, this can be time-consuming, but the truth is that what you do before the day of the event can make all the difference.

What You Need To Do To Make The Most Out Of Your Fundraising Event

Organizing a nonprofit event is a fantastic opportunity to leave a lasting impression on your guests, strengthen their relationship with your nonprofit, and significantly boost donations.

Unfortunately, there is no single recipe you can follow to host successful events. However, you can rely on a few proven ingredients to maximize the chances of your fundraiser being a hit.

How To Make Your Fundraising Event Be A Guaranteed Success

This article will focus on highlighting a few essential steps you shouldn’t skip in preparation for your event.

Keeping these in mind will ensure your event has the best chances of being a success and raise a significant amount of money for your cause. Ready to get started?

1. Setting Clear Goals for Your Event Early on

Goals are essential because they help guide your entire event planning itinerary. The more specific you can get, the better, so see if you can break down your goals into subsections.

This will make it much easier for you to outline tasks which need to be completed, as well as to keep track of the progress being made.

What’s more, the staff will also be aware of their primary responsibilities for the fundraising event ahead of time.

It will also help you get better organized, as you will be able to get a head start on the more time-consuming tasks in your fundraising planning checklist. All in all, it will lead to a more streamlined, more efficient planning process that makes the most use out of available resources.

2. Choose a theme

Themes are fun, they can be extremely creative, and you can find one that will fit the type of fundraiser you are having. For example, if it is a fundraising event for cancer research, the theme could be that all the attendees need to wear something pink. Imagine how men would rock pink ties!

3. Make the location attractive

Conference rooms are the most used type of places for fundraising events, but it does not have to be a cold place because of that. You can turn it into a maze, a game, something that will intrigue the attendees, and that will make them say “I wish I would’ve thought of that!”.

4. Marketing Your NonProfit Event

Another thing you should incorporate in your plan has to do with promoting the event to your targeted audience. It’s important to show your supporters that the event is – blatantly put – worthy of their time and donations.

Try to get the word out about your event, generate hype and get people excited about attending. Possible strategies to include in your marketing plan are:

  • using your organization’s fundraising network,
  • mailing invitations,
  • direct mail,
  • social media promotion.

Be careful how you choose your event promotion timeline; the goal here is to engage your donors and build excitement without becoming dull or spammy.

5. Employ a Multi-Chanel Promotion Strategy

One of the keys to turning your fundraising event into a success is ensuring you manage to fill those seats. Therefore, it’s paramount to spread the word to as many people as possible.

To engage multiple groups of followers and boost fundraiser turnout, consider using the following mix of online platforms:

  • Your organization’s website. Create specific landing pages where people can learn more about your fundraiser and reserve their spot on the guest list.
  • Twitter, Instagram, Facebook. These are all great channels you can use to keep your followers up to date with the latest developments regarding your fundraiser. Create special hashtags to increase the online exposure of your event.
  • Pinterest. This highly visual platform can be particularly efficient if you’re hosting a gala action or a themed event, as you can use it to share images of your auction items or your unique decorations. Also, include event hashtags and links to your event’s landing page.

6. Maximize Online Exposure for Your Fundraising Event

Nowadays, there are many available online channels you can use to promote your event. So why not make the most out of them?

In addition to helping extend your reach and sell more tickets to the event, you’ll also get valuable exposure for your cause. Here are a few things you should consider doing:

  • Create an Eventbrite page where you share the most important details about your event and the cause it supports.
  • Spread the word about your event on your social media accounts. You can also ask your donors and staff members to post content which is related to your event on their networks, as well. Event banners or updates about the schedule are just two examples of content they can post.
  • Create a three-part email sequence to send to donors and supporters. The first email should announce the event, the second would serve as a reminder, while the final email is meant to create a sense of urgency and boost last-minute RSVPs.

7. Rally Your Champions

If you want your fundraising event to be a success, you can’t be the only one promoting it. So try putting together a group of supporters who are willing to pitch your event to their friends, families, co-workers, and others who may be interested in it.

Think of people who have already supported your nonprofit, have a full circle of contacts, and are passionate about your cause. Those are your champions.

So get them on board to help you run broader social media campaigns to raise awareness about your event.

Get them involved in the planning process and guide them on what is the best way to describe your organization’s mission.

All of this effort is likely to help increase the number of people who show up for your fundraiser and donate. 

8. Don’t Pass on the Opportunity to Have an Engaged Audience

An engaged audience who feels actively involved in your event is more likely to resonate with your cause and therefore more willing to support it.

So it’s important to focus on captivating your guests and getting your message across in an effective yet not overpowering manner. So a professional entertainer or master of ceremonies can help you achieve that.

9. Invest in High-Quality Entertainment for Your Fundraising Event

It’s important to prioritize creating an enjoyable experience for your guests at your event, and picking quality entertainment can surely help you engage and delight your guests.

However, if you’re not sure what kind of entertainment you should be gravitating towards, here are a few suggestions to consider:

  • Keynote speaker. A professional speaker will add great energy to your fundraiser and keep guests focused on your organization’s underlying cause.
  • Magic show. This is a great way to help your fundraiser stand out from the rest and ensure it will leave a lasting impression on guests.
  • Live event painting. A professional live event painter will bring that wow factor to your event, as attendees will get to witness the birth of a piece of art right in front of their eyes.

10. Booking the Entertainment Well in Advance

Some planners leave this part of the planning process for the final stages – only to realize that their first choice of entertainment is no longer available.

To make sure this won’t happen in your case, consider booking the entertainment at least a couple of months in advance. A few top suggestions include musicians, variety acts and clean comedy acts.

The best entertainers have a strong stage presence and command the audience’s attention from start to finish, all while making them feel comfortable and encouraging donations.

Not only that but having the name a professional entertainer on the event invite is likely to help you get more people to attend.

If you are looking for top entertainment which will take your fundraising event to the next level, then go ahead and browse through our portfolio of over 1,500 best-in-class artists, speakers, and performers.

There are plenty of great choices to pick from, and we’re confident the right entertainer for your event is among them. Happy browsing!

word, community, hands, lights

11. Have a Clear Follow-up Strategy

Instead of doing nothing after hosting a fundraiser, you should leverage the wave of interest and excitement the event has generated to create new opportunities for the future.

Make sure to reach out to every guest after the event, thank them for their support and provide them with a new way to engage with your organization.  Stay in touch and provide updates about your cause.

This increases the odds of your event guests becoming some of your organization’s most passionate advocates. This is also a great strategy for turning one-time supports into recurring donors.

12. Putting Together a Back-Up Plan

The details of what this backup plan entails will depend on the specifics of your fundraising event, of course.

The takeaway here is that you should think of the variables in your plan – the things that are most likely to change and disrupt the smooth running of the event.

For instance, if you’re planning to host your fundraiser outside, think about having a backup solution in case of bad weather or other possible disruptions of this kind. This way, you won’t have to send donors home early.

Thinking about alternative solutions in good time will help you avoid getting a panic attack if something doesn’t go according to plan on the day of the event.

Explore More Entertainment Options on Our Blog

We hope you will consider using the tactics included in this article the next time you’re planning a fundraising event for your nonprofit.

Also, if you are looking for more fundraising tips and inspiration, make sure to take a look at some of the other articles posted on our blog.

Do NOT follow this link or you will be banned from the site!