The Fundraising Formula; Make it New
“Renew thyself daily, utterly, make it new, and again new, make it new.” —Inscribed on the bathtub of Ch’eng T’ang, first king of Shang dynasty (1766–1753 BC)
Clients often ask… what new things are other organizations doing at their events? In 1934, the expatriate American poet and critic Ezra Pound published a collection of essays entitled Make It New. Its title became a slogan for the ages. Take something old, and make it new. Applied to fundraising events, this idea can help you raise more money than ever before.
Fundraise First
It’s a well known imperative in the nonprofit world, especially when it comes to fundraising at live events. Still, many organizations fail to recognize the importance of situating the fundraising first in their programs.
The traditional way of thinking has been to give people time to settle in, have a few drinks (too many), and socialize with friends. As if cocktail hour did not exist. Once guests are seated for dinner, set the stage for a theatre of giving with mission based programming that tells your story. Some of our most successful clients begin their fundraising within the first ten (10) minutes of their program.
Front load the fundraising. You don’t have all night to harness people’s attention. The easiest way to avoid compassion fatigue is to feature strong, brief, emotional examples of programs and services your organization provides. A one (1) minute welcome, two (2) minute remarks from an Executive Director, a two (2) minute video highlighting what the organization does, a one (1) minute introduction of an emotional appeal speaker, and two (2) minute testimonial sets the stage for fundraising (all during salad, pass the butter?).
The converse approach vainly attempts to conceal a false pretense, that people will be turned off by fundraising too soon. For development folks, it’s an absurd proposition. To fail to engage guests at the most critical moment, when their attentions are fresh, is an inexcusable error. People are goldfish. Organizations that wait too long to fundraise face adverse circumstances like fatuous speakers and uncontrollable crowds, for whom the moment has passed.
What good is experience, if not to learn from it? In fundraising, as in life, there’s no time like the present. Seize the gala! Do not put off until dinner, what can be done during first course. The sooner you get to the meat of the matter, raising funds for your cause, the better. And yes, the MORE you will raise.
Appeal Before Auction
For many years, event planners were weary of switching the order of the live auction and appeal (aka paddle raise, fund a need, giving moment). Custom had the auction come first to warm up the crowd, have a little fun, get people to open their digital wallets. People were AFRAID to place the live appeal before the auction because it could cannibalize the latter’s revenue. Such strong language! However, professional fundraising hosts around the country have proven otherwise.
The reality is that live auction and appeal revenue are separate buckets. Switching their order has negligible, positive and beneficial effects in the majority of cases. There may be exceptions, which I’ll address later. Let’s look at why you might try putting the live appeal before the auction at your next event.
First, it’s easy. Simply switch the order in your run of show. Second, it puts the focus on your mission early in the program, and allows you to smoothly transition directly into live appeal fundraising. Third, it prioritizes connecting with donors who will not participate in the live auction. If there are 350 people at your event, 25 may bid in the live auction, and 5 of them win. That leaves 345 guests yet to donate. Why not concentrate on the majority first?
Here’s the biggest reason of all to consider switching… our clients raise an average of two to ten times (2-10X) more money in live appeals than auctions. Appeals are the winner! Live auctions are limited by the number of desirable lots an organization can procure, amount of legitimate bidders in a room, and compounded by the fickle nature of auctions. It’s possible to grow live auction revenue year to year, however, the long term trajectory is unpredictable. It can plateau, or even decrease. Consider silent auctions as precedent, which is like investing in bonds.
I love auctions, but the future of my role is to host fundraising appeals. They sit high atop the event fundraising pyramid; above live and silent auctions, raffles, and games people play. Time is money. A carefully conducted live appeal takes ten (10) minutes of your gala life. I sell a live auction lot in 2.5 minutes. Other auctioneers take 5 minutes. A live appeal happens in about the same time as a 2-4 lot live auction, but raises exponentially more revenue. Prioritize it!
Procure New Lots
If you do host a live auction, make it new by procuring incredible and unique lots to inspire bidders into a frenzy of giving. For years, we exclusively recommended clients use fully donated packages in their live auction. Trips, dinners, concerts, sporting events, vacation homes… all came by way of donation. Those days are done. Organizations have sold the same things for too many years in a row, can no longer get the same caliber of items, or lost their connections. If you are in a similar position, there is a simple solution.
Supplement your live auction with lots procured from reputable companies who specialize in providing high quality experiences and luxury vacations. Do you know anyone with a home in The Azores? Access to a Taylor Swift suite? Can you curate a high end California Wine trip? For anyone looking to augment their live auction offerings, now you can have access to private homes, premium guest services, and authentic local experiences without picking up the phone.
Our clients appreciate professionally secured auction package because it takes the onus of fulfillment off their staff and donors. Over the years, we’ve heard some horror stories. Why not take advantage of companies with full service teams who specialize in suppling non-profits with great auction lots? Some have been in business for decades. You get to choose packages that match your supporters’ interest, with no up front cost.
And you can almost always sell multiples. This means if the top bidder on the Mexico Getaway is at 16k, and the underbidder at 15k, your auctioneer can sell it twice (2X) and immediately DOUBLE your total raised to 31k. Often, lots can be sole thrice (3X) to triple fundraising, or more. The important thing is to look at a few companies, and determine which one(s) have auction lots that will appeal to your crowd the most. Ask your auctioneer for help.
Finally, let’s return to the exception to the rule about switching the order of live auction and appeal in the program. Suppose you have a really robust auction of 8-12 lots that raise more money than your live appeal. You definitely need to procure new lots to keep bidders coming back each year. And you may wish to preserve the traditional order of auction before appeal, if the former is your juggernaut.
There’s no one fundraising formula guaranteed to work every time. However, by fundraising first in your program, putting the live appeal before the auction, and procuring new and exciting auction lots… you can make it new, and raise more money too!
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