Moving Beyond Special Events

1. Moving Beyond Special Events Avoiding The Highly Contagious Special Events Bug National Schools Foundation Association 8th Annual National Conference April 25, 2013 Nick Parkevich, MPA, CFRE Partner Loring Sternberg & Associates

2. The Golf Outing

3. The Gala Dinner

4. The Others

5. Sick with Special Events? A board member of an organization once shared: Reliance on events is like a cold. It’s easy to “catch” and difficult to get rid of. He was right!

6. The Special Events Bug Defined: A reliance on events and belief by a board or organization that events are the best (or the only) way to raise philanthropic dollars.

7. The Landscape of Philanthropy • 89% of households give • Average annual contribution: $2,000 (in 2011) • $314B in 2007 (ONLY 15% from Assets)…Build Relationship • $308B in 2008 • $304B in 2009 (ONLY 4% drop from Individuals) • $291B in 2010 • $298B in 2011 Giving USA

9. The Case for not Focusing on Corporate Sponsorships: DEAD PEOPLE GIVE ALMOST TWICE AS MUCH ANNUALLY AS AMERICAN CORPORATIONS!

10. Why You May Not Be Getting Big Gifts • Competition: 1,900,000 Nonprofits in the U.S. • No Relationship • Never Asked for a Gift • Someone Else Asked Them for a Gift • You Trained them to Think Small (event attendance) “If you’re not asking them, someone else is. They may be writing a million dollar check as we speak.”

11. How many $1M gifts would it take to change the dynamic at your organization? How many $1M gifts have you seen or heard of being made through a special event?

12. Events Inherently Bad? No, but… • Events are expensive • Events are time-consuming • Fail to record and report accurate costs • Events train our donors on how to support us • Rarely move the donor relationship beyond events • Rarely have post-event follow-through strategies • Rarely have meaningful goals (beyond attendance & money)

13. Special Events • Raise a ton of money; or: • Cultivate donors/recruit volunteers – start relationships • Identify new board members • Raise awareness • Are your special events part of the overall plan? • If so, how? • Are you donor-centric? • Do you have a follow up plan? • Bring program into the event

14. Budgeting Some of the most successful events lose money! • This is an investment • Cost to raise a dollar at 30-50% • Renewing donors cost far less and NETS revenue • What can you do in-house vs. out? • What can you do with volunteers? • Analyze

15. Analyzing • Cost to raise a dollar • ROI • Gross dollars verses Net Revenue • Emails captured, visits made, board engagement • Keep analyzing – repeat gifts decrease cost

16. What Went Wrong? • A focus on the wrong types of fundraising • The wrong board members • The wrong expectations of board members • Board members who believe they don’t have any contacts • Board member rolodex fatigue

17. Now What? • Review how you got here: • How did events become the way to raise funds? • What goals did we set? What did we hope to achieve? • What assumptions did we make? Are they still accurate? • Assess events and stop those that don’t make sense

18. Now What? • Maximize current events and transition away • Stop measuring resource development success with attendees and funds raised. • Stop taking on new events and plan smarter events • Plan and strategize about future fundraising

19. Process-Planning Counts • Set a calendar • Map out the cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship for all strategies before execution. • Planning can determine whether you are successful

20. Celebrate! FINISH LINE

21. STARTING LINE

22. Activity 1 Assignment Activity 2 Activity 3 Table Sponsor Activity 1 Event Assignment Activity 2 Attendee Activity 3 Auction Donor Activity 1 Assignment Activity 2 Activity 3

23. Donor Portfolio System The most successful gift solicitations are: The right person asking  The right donor for  The right amount for  The right project at  The right time

24. Monthly Prospect Assignment Your Name: _____________________ Prospect #1: _____________ Activity: _________ Date: ______ Amount: $________ Prospect #2: _____________ Activity: _________ Date: ______ Amount: $________ Prospect #3: _____________ Activity: _________ Date: ______ Amount: $________ Prospect #4: _____________ Activity: _________ Date: ______ Amount: $________ Prospect #5: _____________ Activity: _________ Date: ______ Amount: $________ Prospect #6: _____________ Activity: _________ Date: ______ Amount: $________

25. Planning

26. Breaking the Cycle • Keep doing events, but as part of a diverse fundraising program • Host smarter events • Host a non-event event • Spend time on other fundraising activities • Ask volunteers to “own” the event • Focus on building relationships rather than the gift transaction

27. Imagine… • Instead of: • Spending countless hours in committee meetings • Securing event sponsors • Getting 200 event attendees at a cost of $30 per plate • Setting up and managing the auction • Cleaning up after the event • Grossing $50,000 and netting $30,000 • Just meeting with a donor a few times, building a relationship and asking for a gift of $50,000.

28. Thoughts to Leave With • Build relationships one-to-one • Use the phone to call and say thank you • Smaller more personal events to reach specific groups • The onsite tour with a funder • Fundraising is part of the Development Process • It is a marathon, not a sprint! • Renewing and upgrading are profitable, acquiring is not • Invest over time • Set good expectations • Do not forget where the money is!

29. Questions, Comments, Disagreements, Etc… Nick Parkevich, MPA, CFRE PartnerLoring, Sternberg & Associates nick@LoringSternberg.com 317-414-9693