Nine months into the pandemic, we still have no idea when it will be safe to host events in person again. Many nonprofit leaders still feel unsure how to get started in planning their organization’s first virtual event. This week on the Nonprofit Jenni Show, Jenni interviews Melissa Norden, the Executive Director of Bottomless Closet, about how she planned her nonprofit’s first ever virtual event. We also play another round of nonprofit trivia to learn how to make your fundraising events earn more revenue.
Virtual Fundraising Event Example: Bottomless Closet’s Virtual Lunch
It was so fun to have Melissa Norden, Executive Director of Bottomless Closet, appear on the show this week. Melissa says she feels lucky that her organization was able to pivot its fundraising strategy early on in the pandemic because her development coordinator insisted on trying out a virtual event. I asked her to come on the podcast and explain how her team planned their virtual lunch this spring, which raised over $550,000 for their organization.
You can listen to our full conversation in the latest episode of the Nonprofit Jenni Show:
Here were 3 takeaways I loved from our conversation:
1. Don’t feel pressure to host a live streaming event.
I’ve been helping a lot of clients lately to plan their first virtual event, and many feel like they need to host a live streaming event in order to keep their attendees engaged. However, a live streaming event can be extremely stressful to pull off! There are so many opportunities for technology to fail at the last minute, and your attendees who are less familiar with virtual events may not be able to figure out how to get into the event right away. Melissa describes how Bottomless Closet hosted their virtual event and made it feel like a live, engaging experience when it was actually a recorded video!
2. Take advantage of the opportunity to invite new audiences.
One downside to in-person events is they can be very limiting for attendance. Some people may not be able to attend due to geographical limitations or because you may need to charge inhibiting high ticket prices to cover the cost of a venue. With a virtual event, you have the opportunity to invite people who aren’t able to attend your regular in-person events.
3. Consider creative ways to engage your audience.
Sometimes virtual events can feel slow and long because it’s harder to engage people who are isolated in their homes watching through a screen. Melissa describes how she made sure her event felt uplifting, and engaged the audience with a texting line. She also talks about fun, interactive events that the Bottomless Closet young professionals’ group is hosting, including a virtual party teaching attendees how to make cocktails, virtual poker games, and more.
Trivia: Successful Fundraising Event Strategies!
In my latest episode of the Nonprofit Jenni Show, I host a quick game of trivia to test your knowledge about how to make your fundraising event earn even more revenue! You’ll have to listen to the full episode to hear all four trivia questions, but here’s a sneak peek of the first question:
How many times do you need to remind people about your upcoming event?
We can actually answer this question more broadly instead of limiting it to fundraising events! In general, when you want to make sure people hear about your mission, upcoming event, or any other message, how many times do you think they need to hear that message before it really sinks in?
In his research, organizational psychologist Adam Grant found that people need to hear and/or see a message between 10-20 times before they know they understand what you’re trying to tell them. That means your donors may not even recognize that they’ve heard about your event unless they’ve been invited at least 10 times!
This is why I recommend using a variety of channels (e.g., email, direct mail, social media, etc.) to invite people to attend your event, remind them several times to RSVP, and remind them that they’ve RSVPed the day before your event.
Pick Jenni’s Brain About Your Upcoming Fundraiser
Fundraising in 2020 feels like an entirely new challenge to many nonprofit leaders, so I’ve had a lot of them ask me lately if they can use me as a sounding board to narrow down their ideas. Would you like to pick my brain about your fundraising or marketing challenges?
Schedule a casual 30-minute call with me for $60 to pick my brain! I’ll send you a recording of our call afterward in case you’d like to listen again later, along with a written summary of my notes from our call.
Do you feel like you need a more in-depth conversation? Schedule a 50-minute coaching call with me for $75, and I can help you find practical action steps to meet your marketing and fundraising goals. This is a great option if you need help walking step-by-step through the tasks to plan a fundraising campaign, engage your board in fundraising, or even develop a full blown communications strategy to keep your donors engaged.