Your Fundraising Event Checklist Guide for Stress-Free Planning

Organizing a charity is hard work. You need the perfect fundraising event checklist guide to simplify the process.

You need it to be successful. It will help not only your cause but your organization as well. This guide will help you reach your goals with your next fundraiser.

Plan Ahead

That is the most important tip you need to know. Efficient planning will ensure the success of your fundraiser.

But to be able to plan ahead you need a basic tool. It’s called a fundraising event checklist guide. It’s a written detailed plan that covers everything – from location to entertainment and invitations.

Be sure to share copies with all your organization’s members and volunteers.

The Pre-Event Checklist

The before the event checklist is one of the most critical sections of your plan. It usually starts one year ahead of the event. Here’s what it must contain:

• Last year’s results – so you can set this year’s goals
• Budget – cover everything
• Goals – make them S.M.A.R.T. (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-oriented) goals
• Volunteers – who can help you organize everything
• Event date – pick one that suits most of the guests
• Marketing and promotion plans
• Logistics – projectors, seats, the theme
• Location – find a place big enough for your goals
  • Do you need accommodation?
  • Do you need janitorial staff?
  • Do you need security personnel?
  • Do you need to rent anything else?
• Entertainment – choose from clean comedians, musicians or empowering speakers
• Invitations – hand them personally or email them at least a month ahead of the event
• Catering – make sure you offer both vegetarian and non-vegetarian options

Speaking of entertainment, you can’t go wrong with an artist like Heidi Schwartz. She’s a live event painter that captures your event atmosphere perfectly. Then, she turns it into a memorable piece of art.

The Fundraising Event Checklist Guide

The day of your event is stressful. If you can finish any tasks the day before, please do so. Here’s what this section of your checklist should cover:

• The auction – in case you’re holding one, make sure to get a great auctioneer
• The logistics – print everything you need, set up computers
• The location – finish all decorations and check if the WiFi and sound systems are working
• The volunteers – tell them what to do in case something goes wrong

Last but not least, relax a little. After all, you’ve worked hard. This fundraising event checklist helped you a lot. Everything is in place. Enjoy yourself and have a good time.

Congratulations! Great event!

Jobs not done yet, though!

How to Include Technology in Your Fundraising Event Checklist

With its fast-paced evolution, sparkly prospects for the future and seemingly unlimited possibilities, technology can be used in any industry to amp up processes and elevate concepts.

That said, have you ever thought of including tech in your fundraising event checklist? 

If not, here are just three of its advantages:

• get instant reactions from participants
• the possibility to breathe new air into classic concepts (if you feel an event theme is too stereotypical, you can always employ some new tactics and freshen it up)
• get more impact with fewer resources (instead of spending loads of cash on expensive decorum, you could use visual editing tools to create a clip showcasing your achievements)

If this sounds like something you aspire to achieve with your events in 2018, read on and find out about a few ways you can incorporate technology to jazz up your fundraisers.

Tech and Entertainment – A Match Made in Event Heaven

We are starting off with entertainment because this is the most natural place wherein tech can be integrated.

You can go digital on several aspects that involve entertainment:

• presentations;
• year-in-reviews;
• announcements.

You can craft these yourself with the aid of cutting-edge presentations or video tools.

Or, you can make the whole entertainment part tech-centered and take this into account when you assemble the fundraising event checklist. How?

1. Use wearables (e.g., VR sets) to entertain your guests (the idea is to team up with sponsors in this field).

1. Book a performer who employs tech in their act.

For the last point, here’s an idea: Simon Pierro, the famous iPad magician:

Social Media Savviness Is Now a Must

Although everyone seems to be doing social media, it does not mean they are doing it right.

In a pool of charity social media accounts, you can work on setting yourself apart, with the result being that you will reach far more people who could resonate with your causes.

However, how can you best go about building an individuality on social media and how to include it in your fundraising event checklist?

There are a few possible answers:

1) Become a constant presence in your target audience’s feeds with the aid of social media content curation and automation tools.

2) Think of your non-profit organization as a brand you are constantly building. Your whole event policy will have to be aligned accordingly because you will find the main narrative to prioritize. This way, your organization will become a recognizable entity, and it will be easier for you to communicate and spread a far-reaching message on social media.

3) Go for paid ads – but only on the social platforms that make sense for you.

Upgrade Your Fundraising Event Checklist

By that, we want to suggest that you should consider working with an event management tool when building your planning checklist.

In any area of activity, tech can help solve many workflow-related issues. Ultimately, automated processes provide a better overview – something you can use to orchestrate your next moves better.

So if you have not given serious thought to using event management tools, it is high time that you considered it.

You can start with these:

• Fonteva for Associations (for overall event management)
• DipJar (helps you collect funds in a light-hearted manner)
• BidPal (best for mobile bidding and online fundraising)

New Year, New Fundraising Processes

Technology constitutes an immense pool of inspiration and resources.

And fundraisers can sure get more of each, especially with the current possibilities of reaching a global audience via digitalized means. 

The Grable Group is vying to help event planners both with information and talent booking, we are trying to provide all the content you need – including information on the latest fundraiser trends. You just need to make sure you are subscribed to the newsletter.

The Post-Event Checklist

Give yourself a day or two after the event. Relax and clear your head. Then, get back to work. After the event, you still need to take care of a few things:

• Payments – process all necessary payments and release invoices
• Make a recap of the event – it will help you or the person organizing it next year
• Assess your budget
• Return any rented equipment
• Measure your goals
• Thank everyone – both volunteers to donors

Your fundraising event checklist guide is supposed to help you organize the event better.

Don’t turn it into a complex tool that would make your life harder. Success doesn’t always come with great sacrifices and stress.

Stick to the plan and things will work out great.

In case you think it’s all too much, you can hire a professional fundraising organizer.

We are a booking agency and entertainment company with years of experience. We can help you out with everything – from speakers to organization and promotion. Contact us online to learn more or if you have any questions.

Let 2019 be a successful one for your money-raising efforts.