Now is NOT the Time to NOT Be Fundraising

Many organizations are having a difficult time fundraising right now. Or rather, they are having a hard time justifying to themselves that they should be fundraising right now. They feel that since they are not a direct service organization feeding the needy, or providing PPE to front line workers, or helping maintain a roof over people’s heads, they don’t deserve to ask for money.

It is an understandable sentiment, but one that may prove to be extremely self-harmful. If you are an organization that is dependent upon annual fundraising efforts for survival, 2020 may be the most important year to be asking your donors to support you.

We know from experience that if you do not ask supporters for donations one year, it is harder to get them to engage the following year. People who are used to being asked to support you on an annual basis won’t simply stockpile that cash on your behalf. They look elsewhere to donate and give another organization the opportunity to build a meaningful relationship.

Now, more than ever, is the time to be reaching out to your supporters and engaging them to support you.

This tendency is being heavily multiplied right now since we also know that in an economic downturn, donors don’t stop giving, they simply reduce the number of organizations to which they give. They pull back and fortify the organizations they perceive to need them most.

During 2008, for example, if a donor usually donated $10,000 across five organizations, the trend we saw was to reduce the number of events they attended and possibly increase the donation per event. So a donor would attend three events and donate $10,000 to each, or two events and donate $15,000 to each. They didn’t stop giving, but they became more selective in their giving. Organizations who were able to clearly and effectively communicate the immediacy and relevance of their need were able to convince these retracting donors to fortify them, and not another organization.

Which brings us to right now: you may feel like now is not the time to be asking for money. You may feel like the right thing to do is to encourage people to support our front-line health care workers, a food bank, or another organization that is directly addressing our current crisis. It is a valid and understandable feeling, and those organizations deserve support. But so does yours.

I am a firm proponent of honest, engaging fundraising. So indulge me three questions:

• Has your need become greater since the outbreak of the Coronavirus?

• Do your clients need you?

• Are you dependent upon fundraising to survive?

If you answered yes to any of those questions, you have an honest, engaging reason to reach out to your donor base and ask them to support you. If you answered “yes” to all of those questions, you should undoubtedly be fundraising this year.

My final thought: people want to give money to more than just one set of causes. Yes, people want to support direct service organizations; but they still want to support the arts, and their kids’ school, and…well…you.

The Virtual Gala Pivot

The CDC recommendations released on Sunday, March 15th effectively cancel all in-person fundraising auctions until mid-May. For the many galas who were holding out hope that the social distancing efforts recently implemented would be lifted in time for your event, this recommendation feels like the final straw in a crazy, unprecedented series of events.

But it doesn’t mean that you can’t still engage your supporters and raise much needed funds. Now is the time to pivot to a Virtual Gala. A Virtual Gala can maximize everything that you and your team have worked so hard to build: the auction lots your committee has solicited, the messaging your team has worked to hone, the focus and attention of your supporters, and the goodwill for your cause.

A Virtual Gala might not be for every crowd, event, or organization, but we have always been advocates for honest and engaging fundraising. If your organization needs the funds from your gala immediately and cannot postpone until next year or roll the dice on when social distancing recommendations will be removed, you can achieve solid results online. We have already seen multiple events across the Pacific Northwest hold successful Virtual Galas, in some instances surpassing the goals they had set for their in-person gala.

A Virtual Gala enables you to utilize the reality of the moment to engage your supporters, tell them your story, and enable them to support you. A Virtual Gala will never replace the sense of community and camaraderie created by an in-person event, but it will help you raise enough money to make your cancellation less painful, and keep your organization top of mind with your supporters. It will also provide your supporters with a way to feel competent again, to feel like they are making a difference in the face of uncertainty.

There are two approaches to a Virtual Gala: live, and pre-recorded. In a Live Virtual Gala you put on an extremely scaled-down version of your gala in an event setting like a live-stream ready event space, your school’s theater, a hotel conference room, or your offices and simulcast it to your supporters. You have your program, speakers, testimonial, live auction, and fund-a-need happen real-time, online. Guests at home participate on two screens: one (hopefully large) screen to view the livestream, and a smartphone to bid and make pledges. Two schools in Portland had Live Virtual Galas this past Saturday night, including the Caitlin Gabel School.  

A Pre-recorded Virtual Gala is similar, but instead of happening in real-time, the speeches, testimonial, fund-a-need pitch, etc. are all pre-recorded and uploaded to YouTube or some other video on demand site. Upaya, in Seattle, was forced to have a Pre-recorded Virtual Gala and was able to exceed their original live-event goals with it. Their blog post offers excellent insight into the ways a Virtual Gala can make the most of the moment and rally your crowd to your cause.

We are working with numerous clients to implement both live and pre-recorded Virtual Gala solutions. We have secured a set-price of under $4,000 from an event space that is livestream ready with multiple cameras, a professional sound system, video switcher, and high-bandwidth internet.

If your gala was scheduled to happen between now and June 1st, let’s chat about ways we can make the most of the current situation and help you raise some needed funds. We are ready to do whatever it takes to work with you to find successful fundraising solutions. If that means wearing a tux to your offices to record video introductions for auction lots, we’ll be there; just let us know the color scheme, so we don’t clash.

Tips for Holding an Event During the Coronavirus Outbreak

March 2020 is an incredibly challenging time for fundraising auctions, especially in cities or counties where the government is calling for social distancing (i.e., no non-essential large gatherings or social events). There is a lot on the line for every organization that puts on a fundraising auction, and the decision to hold or cancel an event in the midst of a public health crisis is not an easy one to make.

Organizations are faced with a daunting decision, and many are deciding to proceed with their fundraising auction. If you are choosing to proceed with your fundraising event, there are some simple steps you can take to help make your guests feel comfortable, help your event succeed, and (more importantly) also help prevent the spread of any infectious disease – but especially Covid19.

1) Encourage guests who are sick to stay home. Screen for obviously sick guests at the door and send home anyone who is showing visible signs of sickness. It seems obvious to state this, and while we haven’t had issues in the past with people who were sick with the flu showing up to events and spreading their germs, it is still worth communicating to your crowd.

2) Support guests who choose to stay home and offer them alternative methods of supporting you, either via proxy bidding or some online participation tool like GoTo Meeting. Whether they are sick or worried about getting sick, the decision to stay at home is theirs to make. You should make sure that decision doesn’t preclude them from supporting you and your cause.

3) Provide clear messaging to your crowd about your decision to hold the event. It is always a good idea to reach out to key bidders and attendees in advance of your event to make sure they are committed to attending and supporting the auction. A high level of pre-event communication is even more crucial now. You have done a risk/benefit analysis and arrived at this decision conscientiously, now bring your crowd into the loop. What are your needs and how would cancelling or postponing your event negatively impact your organization? What won’t happen if you don’t hold the event?

The Pure-alien is here to help keep your hands clean.

4) Once guests arrive, do everything you can to make them feel safe. Provide at least one hand sanitizer station at registration, preferably more around the event as a whole. We’ve seen events with a small bottle on every table – which may have been overkill, but it was appreciated by guests. If you are having a difficult time locating hand sanitizer, you can always make your own.

5) If you are having a silent auction, offer everyone their own, brand-new pen at check-in. This will make attendees feel more comfortable and at ease. It will also reduce the amount of hand sanitizer your crowd uses.

6) Reevaluate your auction items based on the reality of the present moment. Check in with donors or providers to see if they can extend expiration dates to two or even three years, instead of the standard one-year expiration; especially for trips, large-scale events, parties and sporting events. Consider pulling trips to impacted areas and cruises out of your auction. In fact, don’t consider it, do it. Trips to Italy and Princess Cruises are not going to do you any good if you keep them in your live auction.

7) Encourage guests to embrace zero-contact methods of greeting; eliminate handshakes and hugs. Embrace fist-bumps or come up with your own greeting if possible (the “Vines and Vision Toe-Tap”) and have greeters demonstrate it on the way in. Normalize the new normal. People probably want to get away from the fear, uncertainty, and doubt that is inundating us these days, but we still need to encourage safe behavior.

8) Work with your caterer and venue staff to adjust the layout of your room if you are suddenly expecting a smaller crowd. Subtle changes in ballroom configuration or usage of pipe and drape can make a room feel intimate.  

9) Work with your caterer or banquet manager to evaluate and adjust your food plan if necessary. Now might be a bad time for an un-staffed buffet or “family style” service. Some creative collaborating with your food services team should be able to find a solution that makes everyone comfortable.

10) Finally, thank your guests and appreciate their presence! You don’t need to overwhelm them with how thrilled you are that they braved the outside world and came to your event, but gratitude for everyone’s desire to congregate and support you is always a good thing.