Nonprofits need to evaluate their portfolio of fundraising events to ensure the best-performing ones are getting the attention they need and ones that are struggling get revitalized or ended, a development leader told attendees at the recent Peer-to-Peer Professional Forum Conference in Washington, D.C.
Other topics discussed at the event included ethical storytelling and ways to encourage the most vigorous fundraising-event participants to become bigger donors.
The event brought together fundraisers who primarily ask supporters to solicit donations from friends and family, often as they participate in runs, bike rides, and other events.
While organizations often hold the same fundraising events each year, it’s important to evaluate them periodically to make sure they’re still serving the organization, said Kari Bodell, vice president of development programs strategy for Susan G. Komen.
Nonprofits need to ask what would happen if an event went away, she said. “Would it really impact the bottom line? Would it impact our ability to move mission?”
Bodell recommended creating a chart that lists key information about each event an organization hosts, including how much revenue it grosses, how much it costs to put on (including staff time), the percentage of the total organizational revenue the event is responsible for, what part of the mission it supports, and a few other factors. By looking at that data on a matrix, the organization can figure out if events are on the upswing and need additional resources or if they’re losing steam and need to be revitalized or ended.
If an organization chooses to end an event, Bodell said, it’s crucial to communicate well with the volunteers and supporters who love that event and help them find a new way to get involved in the nonprofit.
Ethical Storytelling
For organizations that provide direct services, telling stories about recipients of those services is often a hallmark of their fundraising efforts. However, there can be ethical issues with using personal stories, said leaders from Covenant House International, a charity that provides assistance to youths experiencing homelessness.
The organization previously used testimonials from service recipients but realized that some youths may have felt like they had to share their story to continue receiving services. Now the nonprofit asks for stories only from alumni who have been out of the program more than six months. It also limits the time the stories will be shared so beneficiaries’ stories don’t live in perpetuity.
“They are agreeing their story can be shared for up to two years, and then it goes away,” said Colleen Veldt, the group’s assistant vice president of peer-to-peer fundraising.
The group also realized that although its old approach to storytelling had a great narrative arc — a teen receives help and goes on to success with a place to live — that didn’t reflect what typically happened.
“Young people, on average, come back two to three times,” Veldt said, noting that when they were telling the one-and-done story, the kids who did come back felt like failures. “They’d say, ‘I was supposed to be a success story and now I’m back here.’”
From Walkers to Big Donors
While many organizations use events like walkathons as opportunities to find new supporters, they also attract die-hard enthusiasts who can become major givers, said Jana Bearden, vice president of campaign development and community initiatives at the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.
“Light the Night [walk event] is how we welcome, introduce, and bring the majority of the constituents into our organization,” Bearden said. “We absolutely want people to participate year after year after year, and even beyond that, we want them to engage with our organization in other ways.”
She says it’s important to view these participants as a part of the organization’s overall donor pool. To help with this, the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society has a path for folks to move higher and higher within its volunteer fundraiser structure. It encourages volunteers who raise significant amounts through the walk to become team captains or join its executive committee — a tier for company executives who also volunteer and agree to raise a minimum of $10,000 in most markets.
The society recently added an “emerging leaders” tier — people who commit to raise $2,500 in most markets — as some volunteers wanted to move higher but didn’t feel they were at the “executive” level yet. Moving volunteers to new levels benefits the entire organization because they remain active and get more deeply involved in the group as they accumulate more wealth.
Bearden said it helps to think of events, like walks, as a connection point for all donors. At a recent Central Florida walk, the local society decided to make the VIP walk tent — which had food and guest speakers discussing the research being funded by donors — open to all the organization’s top donors, even those who hadn’t signed up for the walk. One major donor attended and was so moved that it led to a $1.5 million gift in the following months.
“When we’re willing to think bigger, really good things can happen,” Bearden said. “That helps us build lifelong relationships with our donors.”
