In a changing time, the fundamentals of fundraising remain. One of the more important fundamental is to be sure to thank and steward donors. We are in a virtual era for now. That doesn't mean no donor stewardship events. In fact, now that many people have more time on their hands, this is the perfect time to do more donor events, not fewer. Fortunately, many of the execution details are always the same.

Here are some pro tips for building your next stewardship event.

8 weeks in advance

• Develop an set of outcomes for your event.
• Develop a set of ideas for your online event.
• Develop parameters for who you are going to invite.
• Book the Zoom date.
• Book the appropriate attendees.
• Block time in your calendar about a week before the event if you are going to drop off a gift or snack for your event.
• Block time in your calendar to make phone calls about a week before your event.

7 weeks in advance

• Order whatever is going to be in your drop off gift.
• Get eVite design underway using something like Paperless Post.
• Running your list of invitees for your event, being sure when you pull the list to pull.
  • Donor ID
  • Name
  • Salutation
  • Address
  • City
  • Postal
• ALL email fields (the donor may have more than one).
• All phone number fields (the donor may have more than one).
• Marked their donor record that you sent this invite.

Six weeks in advance

• Send out your invitation six weeks in advance of your event if you are sending a snail mail invite.
• Prioritize which donors you want to be sure attend the event. Priority donors could include donors who you are cultivating, donors you are thanking, people who are planned gift prospects. You might want to get a second opinion from your in-house prospect researcher or colleague on who to prioritize.
• Have an electronic copy of your invitation ready.

Three weeks in advance

• Send out your invitation three weeks in advance of your event if you are sending an eVite.

Two weeks in advance

• Send invitation reminder by eMail to all who have not registered.
• One and a half weeks in advance.
• Check the RSVPs.
• Pick up the phone and call your priority people.
• Do any follow-ups immediately - resend the eVite (if they don't remember receiving it), send any appropriate follow-up notes, and (of course). record any updates into their donor record.

One week in advance

• Drop off any donor gifts (if you are doing this). Allow at least 3 days before your event so that your donors can disinfect your gift in advance.

One day in advance

• Send reminder email to all your invitees who have RSVP'd with all the login information. 

The day after the event

• Send a "sorry we missed you" email to those who didn't attend.
• Send a "Thanks for coming" email to those who attended.

Ann Rosenfield, MBA, CFRE is the editor of Hilborn Charity eNews and has been calling donors for over 20 years. No one has hung up on her yet.

Cover photo by Chris Montgomery on Unsplash