I don’t know about your neck of the woods, but in our community of Boulder, Colorado we have a plethora of “gala” type dinners. You know - with a meal, a silent and live auction, and a paddle raiser for the cause.
Now in this very blog I have defended these events from the sometimes scathing criticism that follows them. In fact, for many start-up and smaller organizations, the gala is an easy way to earn a decent amount of money. Even some larger organizations that have done these events for years have managed to create galas with a dedicated following and a respectable return on investment.
But the problem with the gala is that it is an extremely blunt fundraising tool. Rather than targeting the donors or prospects you want, most gala organizers just try to get as many people there as possible. Instead of looking at true cost in terms of organizational effort and the opportunity for staff to do something else,the objective of most galas is to make as much gross revenue as possible. And instead of trying to meet strategic fundraising objectives,the gala is all about the amorphous virtues of raising awareness and building good will.
A few weeks ago, we held a sold-out workshop called The Un-Gala: A Workshop for People Who Want to Move Beyond the Traditional Chicken Dinner. This topic really seemed to resonate with our community. There were some people there that had galas for years, but whose return on investment was diminishing. Some people who were just starting to do events. And some people just wanted to do something different.
Using our 10 Steps to Planning the Un-Gala (attached here and also found in our Toolbox), participants came up with events that not only raised net revenue, but also fulfilled other strategic objectives of their fundraising plans.
One team came up with a concept to re-engage lapsed donors at a house concert. One group planned a planned giving event to honor people who had put the organization in their will. Another created a martini happy hour event just for young professional donors. All were challenged to come up with events that had super-specific objectives with a laser-beam focus on a target audience.
You can create one, too. Here is a quick synopsis of the 10 Steps to Planning the Un-Gala:
Step 1: Determine your overall goal: Every fundraising event has to have an overarching goal. Is it to get new donors? Improve retention of existing donors? Upgrade major donors? What are you trying to accomplish with your Un-Gala? (Hint: the best events have one goal!)
Step 2: State your specific objectives: Have SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, time-bound) objectives for your event. But, beware of trying to do too much. Focus!
Step 3: Identify your target audience: Given your overall goals and SMART objectives, who is your target audience? This decision will help you to form your Un-Gala invite list. (Spoiler: the general public is not a target audience).
Step 4: Come up with a concept: This is the fun part! What would your target audience like to DO? What would be fun for them and would still help you to achieve your fundraising objectives?
Step 5: Get your team together: You can’t do the Un-Gala alone! Identify the staff and volunteers you need to get this thing done.
Step 6: Run the numbers: Determine how you are going to make money. Will it be on ticket sales? Pre-event contributions? Post-event solicitations? Sponsorship? Calculate how many gifts at what size you will need to make your fundraising goal.
Step 7: Figure out the cost: This is crucial! If you’re throwing a true Un-Gala, you have to know exactly what your return on investment is. And you can’t know that until you count ALL of the costs, including staff time.
Step 8: Make assignments: Be concrete – have a spreadsheet that identifies each task, the person who is responsible for it, and the date it must be completed. Once you complete this spreadsheet, it’s your Un-Gala bible. Meet with your team and revisit it regularly to make sure you stay on track.
Step 9: Have a post-event strategy: What will you do after the event to make sure your objectives are met? How will you THANK event participants? How will you CONVERT event participants to longer-term donors? How will you SOLICIT event participants (if you didn’t do it at the event)?
Step 10: Evaluate and Learn: Be sure to do post-event de-briefs of staff and key volunteers, as well as participant evaluations so that you know what went well and what didn’t. And it’s key to go back to your SMART objectives and see if you met them. Did you get as many gifts as you planned? Did you recruit as many new donors as you projected? For some Un-Gala events, this analysis might stretch over years as you determine how the event affected the participants’ giving in the long-run.
Here’s the thing. Events are expensive. More expensive than nearly every other kind of fundraising there is (particularly when you include all the costs). And if you consider what else your staff could be doing in the time they are devoting to events, the opportunity cost of events is huge.
If you’re going to spend all that time and money, you need to have specific, strategic objectives and a plan to make sure you meet them. Sure, awareness and good will are great. But how do you count them in your bottom line?
Do you have any examples of Un-Galas you’d like to share? We’d sure like to feature them in our next training!
