In Part 1 of this two-part series, I talked about some of the most important aspects of running a successful donor cultivation event that help you to achieve your fundraising goals, from the importance of building your contact list, to creating a stronger engagement with your mission.
In part two, I share more ideas how you can ensure that your events are powerful fundraising tools that help you to build a more engaged donorbase and ultimately, to raise more money.
Have a strong home team. I’ve talked about this before, but this is a must for donor cultivation events. If the goal of your event is to get to know your guests better, for larger events in particular, it can be hard to speak with everyone there and give each and every person personal attention.
One way to get around this is to have a strong “Home Team”. These is a group of people at the event whose role, and only role, is to chat with the people that attend. They could include Board members, staff, volunteers, beneficiaries and even other donors, and they would be people who were completely comfortable with interacting with guests, thanking them for their support and getting to know them better. Not only will this help guests to feel more valued, but it provides an excellent opportunity to understand your donors’ motivations and how they might like to get more deeply involved. As a result, you will be able to follow up with the guests in a way that is highly personalised and appropriate for their level of interest.
Have a debrief, the SAME day. This is where you come together with all your Home Team members and talk about the conversations that were had on the night and take notes, so that you know exactly how to follow up later. You might be looking out for details such as direct offers of support, where people have asked to meet with you or other members of the team to talk about getting more involved, or even just where they were clearly enthusiastic or talked about what moved them most during the evening.
Most importantly, the debrief should happen the same day, as it’s amazing how much is lost by the next morning, not just in terms of information, but the nuances in terms of how people said what, and how they felt about what they had experienced. So even if its late, and you are all exhausted, ensure that you schedule some time at the end of the evening to make this happen and get people’s commitment to attend.
Identifying other opportunities. Whenever I organize a cultivation event, I’m never just looking for people who could be donors. I am also looking for people who can help in other ways. For example, I might be trying to identify higher profile people or current major donors who might be a good fit to host and sponsor the next event. I pay attention to who within the organization, from staff to board members, are turning out to be great champions of the cause and could play a more significant role in supporting fundraising efforts moving forward. They might even be people who I would invite to join the Home Team at future events.
I also pay attention to which internal team members have a strong rapport with our donor prospects, so that we can determine who might be the best person to follow up with them later. By identifying such opportunities, I can increase my capacity, reach and the impact with regard to my fundraising program moving forward.
Follow up! Talking of follow up, this is another must! Of course, I know what it can be like. Event organization is hard! Leading up to the event you have been working long hours to make sure everything is going right. Then there is the event itself, which is a high stress activity. So naturally, you might think that you`ve earned a long break afterwards to recuperate.
Taking some time off immediately after an event can be a huge mistake. Fundraising events provide a fantastic opportunity to really get up close and personal with your donors, who otherwise you might never have the chance to meet. When done right, they put people on an emotional high, where they really want to do something to help. With cultivation events in particular, the follow up is even more important as you really don’t want to lose momentum, and you want to build on the connections that you made. You also need to act quickly - ideally the next day - before the enthusiasm that your guests might have felt at the event starts to fade as they get back into busyness of their lives.
So think about your follow up strategy with your guests, and how you are going to approach them. Use the information that you have from the evening to ensure that you can do this in as personalised a way as possible, so that you can make the most of the enthusiasm and engagement resulting from the evening.
Of course, direct fundraising events and ask events have their place in the fundraising spectrum, but by doing them right, donor cultivation events can an extremely powerful tool in your fundraising toolbox. By being clear on your goals, by driving all your activities towards the achievement of them, and by understanding your audience, there is no doubt you can turn your cultivation event into a highly successful fundraising initiative that helps you to build a robust and growing fundraising program.
About the Author
Mena Gainpaulsingh is a fundraising professional and consultant specializing in fundraising strategy and management, from capital campaigns to grantwriting. She is the founder and CEO of Purposeful Fundraising, a consultancy firm that supports organizations to strengthen their fundraising capacity and to raise more money. You can reach Mena at mena@purposefulfundraising.com.
