Fundraising Blog

Learnings From The Us Fund A Need To Make

With GalaBid recently launched in the US we have been on a training roadshow to speak with our US clients about how to get the best out of events technology to increase fundraising revenue.

Over the next few months we will share some insightful info that's come out of these sessions to help you with your own event planning.

See below for some interesting feedback on 'fund a need' and how to ensure you really do get the most donations possible.

Make it easy!

Fundraising events are often a lot more 'fun' nowadays. With fundraisers often putting on bands, singers and other live entertainment there's a lot of fun to be had.

But fundraisers are noticing somewhat of a problem with this: When people are having fun and enjoying themselves they don't want 'complicated' distractions - especially when coupled with alcohol. This in their eyes could be something that is as simple to you as filling out a donation and pledge form or coming up to the front of the silent auction display to place a bid or pay for a winning item or donation. Often pledge cards get lost, misplaced or filled out incorrectly - and in some cases correctly but just not readable!!

A lot of our clients this year have therefore started to think about these things and how they can make it easier for guests to donate.

We've seen a huge increase in electronic donations and pledges where clients are allowing their guests to make pledges and donations straight from their mobiles, along with bidding on the silent and live auction catalogues.

This also means when it has come to invoicing and payment guests have been able to receive just one invoice for everything they have donated/brought/won straight to their phone, along with an instant payment option. Much easier than throwing a shape on the dance floor!

View a case study and some helpful hints and tips below on how to make the most out of your 'fund a need' campaigns.

Case study

One of our regular clients really had a terrific success with their pledge and donation campaign: having the first 8 items in their catalogue as their donation and pledge choices:

  • The first was a who we are and how we help' donation option where guests could read about the organisation and what they were looking to achieve in the next year and place a donation of any amount.
  • The next 7 were buy it now' pledges ranging from buying equipment and furniture to sponsoring a person, all available at different amounts to suit the various guests participating.

Because they gave their guests something tangible to donate to and they also promoted that this was so easy to do through the guests mobile phone, they received an incredible result with over 69% of their total fundraising revenue coming from pledges and donations and the remaining from their auction.

This was an outstanding increase on anything they had achieved in previous years and so shows what the capabilities are if you just simplify your donation campaigns.

Hints and Tips

Some helpful tips we would recommend

  • Send a link out to your entire supporter database with your donation options: we can't always build events around our key donors so sometimes they just can't physically make it to the room -this is why it's great to offer a donation option electronically - they can simply click a link and donate from any device and from anywhere.
  • If you're also using the silent auction platform then list your donation items above your silent auction catalogue so your supporters must see these first much more attention grabbing!
  • Use the 'buy it now' feature to set different price points for donations and also make them more emotionally tangible: e.g "$100 buys a child's vaccinations for a year"
  • Get your MC to remind people they can donate on their mobiles your MC is one of the most powerful assets you have at your live event we've seen them run 'fastest finger first' donation competitions as well as mass donation requests. Utilise the projector screen and features like the totaliser to get the room banding together to reach your final fundraising goal. One of the reasons people donate is to get that 'good feeling' that comes from selfless giving. Never do people get this more than when collectively all helping to achieve a goal.
  • Let your volunteers instantly collect payment for any live pledge campaigns you run using our instant payment option they can go straight up to the pledger and take their card details through GalaBid and an invoice will be generated for them and sent straight to their phone.
  • Use the GalaBid end of night text service to allow anyone that was unsuccessful in your auction to still make a donation with the instant payment feature this ensures the funds reach you straight away saving countless hours of reconciliation work and those awkward 'please can you pay us' conversations.
  • Instant win table games are another great way to encourage donations without a guest having to do too much. A bid for nothing' live auction is another great winner and your volunteers can use GalaBid to instantly process these pledges and take payment.
  • There are plenty of ways to keep it simple, including how to pay. Think about how you can make invoicing and payment a simple process for your guest rather than a long queue at the end of the night.
  • GalaBid also offers an instant 'pay now' option allowing your guests to pay for donations via credit card as soon as they make them ensuring those funds reach your fundraising account straight away.

About GalaBid

GalaBid is CrowdComms’ fundraising software, developed inhouse, which facilitates bidding, donations, purchases, payment for and management of all fundraising activities before and during live fundraising events, galas, golf days etc.

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