A charity event is an excellent way for an organization to gather funds or raise awareness for a social cause. Besides the tangible benefits, a charity is a great avenue to network and present itself to new people or other organizations.
Exposure is important for charitable organizations, especially those that conduct their operations through donations or crowdfunding. If it were to lose support from its community, an organization would fail to deliver on its promises and eventually end up failing its mission.
To prevent such scenarios, we have put forth a few ways in which you can increase attendance and maybe even convert these attendees into donors.
1. Easier To Get Into
Having some registration system in place for your events is important. This way, you will see the exact number of attendees. However, tread lightly with this kind of system because it might negatively impact you.
This might seem like a fleeting issue, but it’s one of the top reasons people give up on attending an event.
That’s right, having an egregious registration method will hurt your attendance numbers. For example, people are put off having to wait in line or buy tickets.
We recommend using technology to help you out and simplify the registration process as much as possible. We can’t recommend any particular software, but we can say that as long as it’s simple and easy to use, it will prevent people from giving up on your event.
2. Promote Your Event
While your cause may be necessary, most people will be completely oblivious if there’s no promotion surrounding it. While word of mouth is effective, most of the time, it doesn’t quite have the power to reach many people.
Social media is an excellent promotional tool. Platforms like Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram are great places to post messages, pictures, or videos that offer more details about your charity event. This kind of media gets pushed around a lot and has great potential to reach people interested in your campaign.
You can also promote your event locally through physical media such as leaflets, fliers, and posters. Another way to promote your efforts is through networking by attending other similar events and sharing business cards with attendees.
3. Maintain Contact
Provided this is not the first charity event you’ve organized, you most likely have a guestlist from previous charity projects. It’s possible that many of those who have attended any of your events will be interested in taking part in your other endeavors.
Many may not know of your future activities, so you should take active steps to maintain regular contact with this group of people.
If you have a hold of their e-mail addresses, you can send them an e-mail to open up a new communication channel. Start by thanking them for their previous contributions, and tell them about your future endeavors.
Also, don’t forget to leave them with enough information about your event because even if they do not immediately react, they’ll know where to find you.
4. The Power of Entertainment
Events by themselves usually need something extra to generate interest.
It generally depends on what kind of event you’re going for. It could be an activity, a competition, a presentation, or an entertaining show. However, fundraising entertainment has the strongest pull of all the methods to engage attendees.
People will be more interested in participating, knowing they can also have a good time at your event. Because of this, we recommend booking professional entertainers to provide fun for your guests.
It’s up to you to decide what kind of performer you should hire for your event, but know that there are plenty of options.
The Charity Event Experience
It’s important to pay attention to the details and to carefully plan your event. The experience you offer your guests plays a crucial role in swaying them to your side and convincing them to support your endeavors.
We believe quality entertainment is paramount for any worthwhile event, so we advise you not to cut corners.
At the Grable Group, we help event organizers get in contact with entertainers from all facets of the industry. Call us at 615-283-003, and we’ll help you find the right ones for your needs!
