The Morris Animal Foundation, a national nonprofit based in Denver that supports research on animal health, held its first annual fundraising gala just four years ago.
The “Black Ties and Tails” event—“tails” refers to attendees’ canine companions, who are invited to the formal dinner—is held in Knoxville, Tenn. The first year’s gala had 80 guests, accompanied by 20 dogs, and raised a net total of $15,000.
The August 2014 gala drew more than 200 guests, plus 100 dogs, and raised a net total of $50,000. The organization spent $15,000 to hold the event.
The nonprofit tries to keep expenses for all its events to no more than 30 percent of revenue, says Kate O’Brien, an events specialist who works at the Morris Foundation’s national headquarters.
Since 2008, the national foundation has relied heavily on walkathons in six cities as its signature fundraising events. But one of the main organizers of the group’s Canine Cancer Walkathon in Knoxville made a suggestion.
“She told us we were totally missing a huge demographic by limiting our fundraising in that city to the walkathon model,” says Ms. O’Brien. The volunteer explained that there was a wealthier crowd who, while supportive of the mission, were not “walkathon people.” They would, however, come out for a gala.
The organization’s leadership was intrigued enough to evaluate the group’s resources in the Knoxville area.
“They saw that we had a strong volunteer base, solid sponsor relationships, good potential venues there,” says Ms. O’Brien. “And, when matching that to the strong donor support we had always enjoyed in that region, we realized, ‘Hey, we can do this.’”
As events specialist for the charity, Ms. O’Brien was the national staff member most involved in organizing the first “Black Tie and Tails” event. Ultimately, however, much of the actual gala planning and execution was done by the foundation’s key Knoxville volunteers, while Ms. O’Brien coordinated efforts from the group’s Denver headquarters.
She shared her advice four years into the increasingly popular event.
Ask event veterans for advice. Though experienced with other types of fundraising, Ms. O’Brien had never been responsible for establishing a signature annual gala. So she started by speaking with gala veterans at other organizations.
Don’t be shy about asking for help, says Ms. O’Brien: “Approach people with something like, ‘You obviously have something that works. Are you willing to share your budget template or a sample timeline with us?’”
Plan early to follow up with event attendees. Ms. O’Brien’s advisers at other nonprofits stressed that many gala attendees have the potential to become major donors, so creating a plan to contact them after the event is crucial.
The foundation’s director of major and planned giving joined her in planning the event. “This way we have a development professional in charge of working the invite list, to get the right people there in the first place, and then following up afterward to keep the engagement active and encourage deeper relationships,” Ms. O’Brien says.
As a result, the foundation has been able to expand the event—adding attendees and sponsorships each year—while also building its donor base in the region.
Plan your work and work your plan. Ms. O’Brien recommends working at least one year in advance of the event, and having an event planning timeline in place before recruiting volunteers. Doing so allows a planner to break out event tasks and assign each area separately.
“Each person can take a piece and really own it, and you can also match tasks to volunteers in terms of interests and talents,” she says.
The group’s gala-planning approach is to create subcommittees, each assigned to a different set of related planning tasks, such as decorations, entertainment, auction organization, and event promotion. Each subcommittee chairperson is responsible for keeping to the timeline, and Ms. O’Brien checks in with them regularly to ensure progress and to catch—and address—any glitches early on.
For example, she says, if RSVPs are low, “we might ask the subcommittees for their ideas, or bring in other foundation staff to boost the effort.”
Trust your volunteers. By and large, Ms. O’Brien feels that strong volunteers can be entrusted with the lion’s share of planning a gala, with some guidance.
They could have abundant community contacts, and perhaps event-planning experience of their own. An enormous amount of time and work goes into planning a gala, especially a first-time event, she says, but she only had to spend about 15 percent of her time on the event, thanks to volunteer efforts.
Don’t neglect final preparations. In the days before the event, nail down any details that don’t need to be done on-site. For example, make sure auction items are in hand and bid sheets printed out, and the database is updated so registration and check-in go smoothly. The evening before the event, set up the site as completely as possible, so that the big day can begin with an early-morning walk-through.
“We take it from a guest’s point of view, and even ask friends or spouses who aren’t involved in the planning to walk through pretending to be guests, to tell us if something doesn’t make sense or is missing,” says Ms. O’Brien.
Follow the walk-through with a practice run of the evening’s program from start to finish, to ensure the presentation runs smoothly and all equipment works as expected.
Keep “go time” going. Registration and check-in is a typical event “bottleneck,” where guests get waylaid before joining the party. Event-management software can streamline this process to minimize wait time and even boost revenue.
“During registration, we encourage guests to set up an ‘express checkout’ for the silent auction,” Ms. O’Brien says. “Our database allows us to assign a bidder number and scan a credit card so they don’t have to stand in line at the end of the night to pay for auction items. We’ve found this actually seems to encourage more bidding.”
Get people engaged. Ms. O’Brien suggests building an interactive game into the program portion of the evening, “so people don’t feel like they’re just sitting there staring at the stage.”
Guests at her nonprofit’s gala play “ties and tails,” where each player stands, places a hand on either their “tie” (chest) or their “tail” (dog, or their own lower back), and then the master of ceremonies flips a coin. If it’s “ties,” people touching their chest remain standing, while guests who took “tails” sit down.
“Then we keep choosing and flipping until only one person is left standing, and they win a prize,” she explains. “It’s fast-paced, gets people up and laughing and moving—and then, once they’re energized, we open the live auction.”
Review and refine. After the event, planners need a wrap-up meeting to review what went well and what didn’t, and to brainstorm possible solutions.
For example, Ms. O’Brien says, after the first few galas, the organization realized many guests need assistance finding their seats, tickets, or even lost items. At subsequent events, the planners designated a “problem solver” to address guests’ problems quickly and make sure their experience was a positive one.
Attention to small details can be crucial, says Ms. O’Brien. After all, she says, people buy their ticket to support your cause—but also to enjoy a gala evening of fun.
“You know you’ve done it right when people come up to you afterward to say, ‘I’ll be checking my mail for next year’s invitation!’” she says.
By the Numbers
August 2011 (premiere) event: $15,000 in net revenue raised after $8,000 in expenses, 12 months of planning
August 2014 event: $50,000 in net revenue raised after $15,000 in expenses, 12 months of planning
