Much has been written about the pros and cons of fundraising events. They are indeed time consuming and, where weather or other "acts of God" can interfere, they can be risky. I believe, however, that when used creatively and thoughtfully, events can provide your grassroots environmental organization with an ongoing source of new members, good will, visibility, and money!

How and when to use events

Fundraising events are very versatile. They represent a good strategy for raising money quickly for emergencies (some can be organized in less than a month in a pinch), and they are also good for raising core operating support, since the exact use of the funds raised at most events is usually (although not always) left unspecified. They can also be used to raise money for a specific project or purpose, and this project/purpose can be invoked to lend added urgency and motivation when people are bidding for items at an auction, buying tickets for a raffle, etc.

Benefits of Fundraising Events

Besides raising funds, events can accomplish many other things for your organization:

• Increase your organization's visibility and credibility
• Attract new members
• Involve existing members, board members, and volunteers
• Convey your organizational message
• Celebrate an organizational milestone, success, or change
• Bring attention to the resource you're trying to protect
• Announce a new program, hire, or publication/study
• Educate members on a particular issue, program or need
• Build relationships with members and donors
• Generate media coverage for your organization and/or the resource
• Reach out to new segments of your community
• Attract new sources of funding
• Provide some fun!

Choosing an Event

So how do you decide what kind of event to hold? Your first consideration should be your primary goals for the event. If recognizing your major donors is a high priority, you may decide on an awards dinner. If recruiting 50 new members is paramount, you may choose a house party or a raffle. In brainstorming possible events with a group's key people, here are some additional questions to consider:

• what special assets do your staff, board, volunteers and/or community offer? Does one of your volunteers have a beautiful home that you can use for a house party? Does a board member own a canoe company that could provide the essentials for a canoe trip? Is there someone on staff or on the board who loves to give parties or is a gourmet cook?
• what has worked well for other groups like yours? Talk to other organizations in your community, and groups like yours in other parts of the country to see what has worked well for them
• who will take this on? Is there someone on the staff, board, or volunteer roster who has the interest, enthusiasm, and capacity to make it work?
• is it appropriate and repeatable? It is important to select events that complement or illuminate your organization's mission and can be repeated and built on year after year. In essence, your events become your organization's "signature", and people associate you with the values reflected in them. A golf tournament, for example, would not be appropriate for an environmental group, unless, of course, it was held at a golf course designed specifically for minimum environmental impact. Examples of appropriate and repeatable events for environmental groups include outdoor festivals, walk-, bike-, or paddle-a-thons, canoe trips, raffles, dinners, etc. For more ideas for "signature" events, see the examples listed at the end of this chapter.
• do you have the resources, both human and financial? Some events, like dinner dances and concerts, usually require substantial upfront outlays of cash; some, like raffles, require lots of volunteers to sell tickets. Don't bite off more than you can chew.
• is it worth the effort? To start off, choose one or two events a year that will have a significant payoff in terms of money, new supporters, visibility, and other benefits.
• does the timing work? If you want to do a paddle-a-thon, you are probably limited to certain months of the year. How does this work with your other program and fundraising activities, and other similar events in your community? If you are already doing a raffle between January and June, scratch the idea of doing a raft trip in May. If February is your busiest month for lobbying the legislature, don't try to organize a Valentine's Day Party as well.

Keys to Success

The key to successful events is planning. Here are some tips to remember as you plan your next special event:

1. Events should always accomplish more than just raising money.
   Because events are almost always time-consuming to organize, they should be used to accomplish a number of purposes. Review the list of potential benefits given above and try to incorporate as many of them as possible.
2. Integrate your events with other program and fundraising activities
   In planning your event, look closely at your annual calendar to see where you can generate synergy with other program activities. If you have an annual meeting your members attend in the fall, schedule your raffle drawing to coincide with the meeting. It will add interest, and you will sell quite a few tickets to last-minute buyers. If you are coming out with a new book describing the threats to your river, use that as the theme for your annual house party, and sell copies of the book at the party. And so on.
3. Start Small.
   Special events, especially large ones, can be extremely time-consuming and even risky. Don't bite off more than you can chew. Choose one or two events a year that you can handle easily and that will have a fairly large payoff in terms of money or members. Try to find someone else - other than your already overworked staff - to handle most of the work for you (this is an excellent opportunity to involve board members or volunteers). In general, steer away from big concerts or benefits that involve a large outlay of up-front cash. While there are many stories of the big event that netted $50,000, such events are rare in the communities where grassroots groups usually operate. And bad weather or some other unexpected occurrences can depress attendance at the best planned event and turn a "sure thing" into a fundraising disaster.
4. Create a committee for the event.
   For small groups, the success of any special event will depend on how well you do your job of engaging other people in its planning and execution. Think about whom on your board and among your volunteers might be interested in helping with a particular event, and then hold a preliminary meeting to enlist their support. Ask for their ideas and input on promoting the event and get them excited about participating. Select one person to act as coordinator, make decisions, and keep the "big picture" in view.
5. Prepare an income and expense budget.
   Before embarking on a fundraising event, do a careful and realistic analysis of how much you can expect to raise. Don't rely solely on your own projections. Talk to other people who have done similar events and check your figures with them. Once you have come up with a realistic projection of income, decide how much you can afford to spend, and prepare a detailed expense budget. While costs will vary from one event to another, a good rule of thumb is to try to keep costs to less than one-third of income. If an event is going to require a good deal ofstaff time, figure that into the cost equation as well.

   Sample House Party Budget Projected Income 20 Hosts @ $100 $2,000 4 Sponsors @ $250 $1,000 50 Guests @ an average of $35/person $1,750 Donations from people who can't attend by send money anyway $ 250 Total Projected Income $5,000 Estimated Expenses Paper and Envelopes for Invitations (400) $ 200 Printing $ 200 Postage $ 150 Food donated by host Wine, Beer, Juice $ 150 Music donated Staff time (10 hrs @ $20/hr) $200 Volunteer Time (40 hrs) donated Total Projected Expenses $ 900     Projected Net Profit $4,100

6. Prepare a timeline for the event.
   Once you have created a committee and a budget, get everyone together and list all the tasks involved in holding the event. This will include such items as securing a location, drafting and printing an invitation, recruiting sponsors, and so on. Then arrange this list of tasks into a timeline and assign dates and people to carry out each task listed. This timeline will become a useful tool for the person coordinating the event and can be refined from one year to the next.

   Sample Timeline: House Party 8 weeks in advance: Hold meeting with volunteers and staff to draw up income and expense budget, assign responsibilities, and prepare timeline. Choose date and place for party. 7 weeks in advance: Recruit co-hosts for party; locate artwork for invitations. 6 weeks in advance: Draft invitations. 5 weeks in advance: Print invitations. Mail invitations to co-hosts 4 weeks in advance: Mail invitations to regular members 3 weeks in advance: Plan menu and program for party; line up volunteer help (bartender, decorator, cleanup crew, person to be at door to greet people and take checks, etc.). Coordinate food. 3 days in advance: Call/email invitees who have not responded (especially if response is low) 2 days in advance: Prepare guest list and review with staff and board; brief staff and board on who is attending and who they should make a point of talking to; prepare name tags, using large lettering and a special designation for board and staff. 2 hours in advance: Arrive at party site to assist host in getting ready; put out organizational literature and name tags. 1 day after event: Send out thank-yous to host(s) and volunteers, and a letter to each person attending, thanking them for coming and welcoming them as new members (and perhaps enclosing their first newsletter). Hold a celebratory meeting with volunteers and staff to review what went right and what went wrong; complete an Event Evaluation Form.

7. Be sure to charge enough.
   Do not make the mistake of undercharging for your event. While it is important to be sensitive to the income of people in your community, remember that you are providing participants in your event with additional benefits (such as a membership, the opportunity to feel good about contributing to a worthwhile cause, etc.) over and above the event itself. People think nothing these days of paying $35-50 for a pleasant dinner or an evening at the theatre, and if you have something special to offer, such as a celebrity or the chance to see a magnificent home, $100 per person is not an unusual event price tag. Talk to other nonprofit fundraisers in your community who hold successful events and get their advice on what to charge.
8. Keep Expenses Down
   With all events, try to keep costs low by getting as many things donated as possible. Food, drink, prizes, and even printing and design services are often donated in exchange for a mention on the invitation, program, or tickets. It is always tempting to spend just a little more on the invitation, or to hire an expensive caterer to prepare the food, or to pay cash to get just the right raffle prize. My advice on this issue after organizing dozens of small events is RESIST! People don't expect lavish food or a glitzy invitation from a grassroots nonprofit organization. As long as the event is well orchestrated and fun, people will be happy. For a small nonprofit, saving $1,000 on catering services by asking a number of volunteers to prepare the food is a significant saving! Designing your own invitation using desktop publishing software may take a bit of time, but perhaps you have an artistic board member or volunteer who will take it on! Using board members and volunteers to do these things builds capacity and leadership and makes them feel involved and recognized for their talents. Don't forget to thank them profusely (at the event, and again by mail) for their in-kind contributions.
9. Put your efforts where the money is.
   In organizing events, groups often lose sight of their goals and put much time and energy into activities that are not essential to the success of the event, such as obtaining dozens of prizes for a raffle when a few good ones are all that is needed, or lining up three or four performers for a concert when one would do just as well. All this is a judgment call, of course, but care should be taken to focus adequate time and energy on the real goal - selling tickets, lining up sponsors, recruiting passengers for a river trip, or whatever the criticalactivity is that will guarantee the success of the event. In most cases, it is helpful to break this critical work down into manageable bites - selling a certain number of tickets, making a certain number of phone calls - and then get volunteers or board members to commit to these tasks. Clearly, finding 10 people who will each commit to selling 25 raffle tickets is a lot easier than trying to sell 250 tickets yourself.

   In case of an event that is weather dependent, or any event for that matter, insure your financial success by securing individual and business sponsors/hosts who pay (or commit to pay) ahead of time and whose names generally appear on the invitation. This way, you will at least cover expenses even if attendance at the event itself is less than expected.

10. Make event participants members.
    Recruiting new members is one of the most difficult challenges any organization faces. Always think of your events as a way to reach out to new constituencies and whenever appropriate, follow up with a new member solicitation or enroll event attendees who are not already on your membership roster as new members of your organization. If you do not have members, be sure to put event attendees on your mailing list for special appeals and other purposes. Remember that it usually costs anywhere from $20-40 to recruit one new member or donor. Events provide an opportunity to recruit members/donors and actually come out ahead! If you decide to enroll participants as members, don't forget to send them a new member welcome letter or package and put them on your mailing list.
11. Analyze and compare results.
    In fundraising, it is always important to learn from your successes (and mistakes). A simple form, such as the one below, will help you keep track of how much you spent, how many people you invited, what percent attended, how much you netted, what went right, what went wrong, and so on. Armed with this information, you can compare how things went from one year to the next and work to improve your record each year. Also, you will quickly become skilled at predicting income based on previous experience with your group.

    Special Event Evaluation Form (Attach copies of invitation & other pertinent materials and keep in a file folder or three-ring binder for easy reference next year) Name of Event __________________________________________________ Date_____________________ How many people were invited? _____________ When were invitations mailed out?___________________________________ Which lists produced the most attendees?_____________________________ How many new members did the event produce? __________________________ What was the approximate cost of the event? (attach a detailed list of costs) ________ How much money did the event bring in?_____________Net Income:_________ Other benefits___________________________________________________ How much staff time did the event require?_____________Volunteer time?________ What kind of follow-up needed to be done?____________________________ Who was on the event committee? (attach a list with phone #s) ______________ Indicate which committee members might be willing to help again next year. Should the event be repeated next year?_______________________________ How can we make it better?________________________________________

Tax Considerations

Monies paid to attend a fundraising event are usually not entirely tax deductible. Event-goers can only deduct that part of their contribution which is over and above the fair market value of any goods or services received at the event. This amount should be spelled out for the donor in the invitation with a phrase such as "All contributions over and above the value of this evening's dinner and entertainment ($35) are tax deductible.