While searching for unique social activities for a club of which I am a member, I ran across many fundraising ideas. Some of these seemed worthwhile either for social activities and/or fundraising. You may judge and contribute your own activites and fundraisers.
Examples from the message board site below. Also search for fundraising online.
by Jono Smith, Event 360
The most successful marketer in the world doesn't work for Apple, Starbucks, or charity: water. She works for herself (and her fans). Love her or hate her, it's Lady Gaga. With nearly 11 million Twitter followers, 38 million Facebook fans, over 1 billion YouTube views, and a net worth of $110 million, Lady Gaga understands marketing.
“Gaga and her team are some of the best marketers around; they understand the importance of integrating social with traditional media, engaging audiences in real-time, and most of all, telling a story that is relatable and worth spreading,” said Alexa Scordato, a Gaga fan, digital strategist and community manager for MAT@USC.
Lady Gaga has soared to success because she understands the same four things that are required of successful event fundraising programs: developing and implementing an effective ask, generating sufficient attendance, creating an impactful experience, and providing robust support.
The four components of successful event fundraising:
1. Developing and implementing an effective ask: Any effective fundraising program starts and ends with presenting others with an opportunity to help and asking for their support. Event fundraising is no different. And yet, creating an effective request is the most neglected part of most event fundraising programs.
TIP: Develop a case-based income model and ask that supports your organization’s development efforts and growth strategy, and use it to create donations.
2. Generating sufficient attendance: One of the main reasons events don't generate sufficient attendance is because the target is too broad. The narrower your target market segment, the more likely it is that you will be able to generate sufficient attendance. For example, an event targeted at Moms is an event without a real target, while one targeted at Mothers (ages 35-54) of children (ages 3-12) is much better because the participants will automatically have something to talk about—their many shared experiences. Moms participating in those conversations will get a much better sense of how the event appeals to their values through that targeting and can then offer up referrals and donors from within their personal networks who also have impact with those issues directly.
TIP: Define your target market, then develop a plan to attract and retain participants in that target.
3. Creating an impactful experience: Falling short on delivering your event participants a great experience is a wasted opportunity to earn a raving fan. You have a captive audience. Dazzle them and they will become an important resource in your recruitment and fundraising arsenal. Disappoint them and you’ll be forced to try even harder next year.
TIP: Design and implement an event experience suited to your organization mission, fundraising case, audience, and budget.
4. Providing robust support: From great customer service during registration, to safety on event day, to having an effective event website, an impactful experience alone is not enough.
TIP: Invest in the infrastructure to ensure a safe, efficient, and error-free program. The most successful events provide robust support and incredible customer service to create an extremely loyal participants base.
(Thanks to Jono and the team for allowing us to share this great article with you- Check out the Event 360 blog for more great posts!)
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