Pivot Around the Pandemic for Event Success
The position of Executive Director has always been daunting, involving many roles and decisions. The pandemic has exacerbated the challenges by demanding new technologies and forcing nonprofits to forego or “virtualize” longtime fundraising events and formulas.
Consider the example of a neighborhood school in Michigan whose staff had been planning a dinner event as a fundraiser for nine months when the coronavirus hit. Lisa, the Advancement Director, and Paul, a long-time brand and communication volunteer at the academy, convened with their board and supporters and decided to hold the event virtually on the original date as there were only four weeks left before the event, there was months of work involved, and it was a major fundraiser for the academy.
This gutsy move resulted in three major benefits:
1. Reduced expenses
2. Expanded their audience
3. Made the event more donor friendly
The first benefit was reducing expenses about 30%, not counting staff time, which was totally off the chart. With a such a short timeline, the staff was very challenged. They spent more money in postage and packaging sending all of their guests a red envelope that played a key role in the event. Technology and videography were also a bigger portion of the money spent, an estimated $5,000.
They saved money, of course, by not having to pay for food, drinks, and the venue. Also printing of programs and centerpieces.
The second benefit was that they were able to expand their audience because they were no longer held back by the venue size. About 50% of their donors are not families or relatives of folks at the school. Previously they wanted to make sure they had enough room for our donors and therefore could only invite some of their families which had always been a really hard decision. It’s such an inspiring night, that it was hard not being able to have all of the families there, but this year they could.
They later learned of the third benefit from talking with their donors. They decreased the burden on donors’ time and energy while still getting them engaged, inspired, and able to see that they’re part of something bigger than themselves. As an online event, donors where not concerned with what to wear, drive time, childcare, etc.
The third benefit, which they hadn’t really considered before but learned later from talking with their donors, was that this was such a donor friendly event. They decreased the burden on their donors’ time and energy by having an online event.
When creating an in-person event you build something donors want to come to. They get engaged. They feel inspired. They see that they’re part of something bigger than themselves. However, at an in-person event, guests need to consider: “What am I going to wear? What time do I have to get in the car?” “Do I need childcare for the kids or to feed them dinner before coming”. So all of those things were just not an issue. Donors could just sign up and come. One donor said, “it was an easy yes.” And he shared that it was easy for him to encourage his friends to join online with him, “Hey, we’re doing this night, you guys want to do it too?” This was a bit of a revelation to the event planners.
The biggest conclusion in all of this is that it is possible to replicate the best elements of the live event. They followed four principles to make this happen:
1. Communicating clearly and simply
2. Telling their story
3. Fostering community
4. Providing a great experience.
The first principle is to communicate clearly and simply. They needed good technology allowing seamless use of live and pre-recorded material. They suggest that you save your money from your chicken meal and your venue and put it to a great tech partner. You’ll want to have someone on your side that can really help you get your message out in a seamless way, not to have technology stand in the way.
Just like an in-person event, you’re going to want to build an online event schedule for communications. And you have to find that balance between not too much so that you’re annoying, but not too little so that the donor forgets about what you’re doing.
Technology was a challenge because they had to vet a reliable vendor. Then there was the fact that some of their guests did not have the technology.
The second principle that they always keep in mind with all of their events is about telling the story. A story is a very powerful tool in order to connect with people and help them understand what you do and why it’s important.
They already had a story picked out because of the prior planning for the event, using a teacher, Kassandra, who was extremely articulate with her story. And it really fit well with the overall mission of the school. So they decided to keep it. They prerecorded her story so she could take her time then wove the live content around it.
The events, including each story, are constructed around three main elements. One, people need to be brought along in a journey through understanding the why they exist. And whether they’ve been with the academy for years or are brand new, don’t assume that they know exactly. And then the other two parts are how they address the why and that they’re trying to address on a bigger level with our community. And then, they give them a very specific example of that. And then we always end with “So what is the result?”
By doing that, their intentional process of leading people through that journey, it leads them to an undeniable conclusion that they can choose to be part of the solution or not.
One more point about story. The temptation in any organization is to tell the story as if you are the hero, that you’re going to save the world. That is not the way that a good story works. Position yourself as the guide, as the person who’s going to come along and make them the hero. You want to make the donor the hero. If you set up the story in such a way that presents it to them as a problem, but here is a solution for it, a way to go after that problem, and here’s the result, they will want to be part of that.
If you’re familiar with the organization called StoryBrand, this is pretty much where this idea comes from. In this case, the donor wants to be part of something. They want to help somebody, but they don’t know how. They meet a guide–that would be you. And the guide gives them a plan. The plan calls them to action. As long as it is laid out in an easy way, they will be successful.
The third principle was to foster community. As was part of their community-building effort, they decided that their event was going to be at a specific time so everyone was experiencing the same thing at the same time. As part of the previous planning effort, they had magnets with student artwork that were going to be their gift to their guests that night. They decided to send them to each person who registered in a red envelope a little sticker on it that encouraged people, “Hey, don’t open it yet,” to build the suspense. That meant they also had a vehicle for a pledge card and that they could encourage people to RSVP ahead of time because they wanted to share this with them. That was one way they could get people to commit to coming, RSVPing, and putting it on their calendar. At one point in the program they announced, “Okay, those red envelopes you’ve been holding on to, now’s the time to open them up.” So there was an experience of people doing something altogether.
The chat was important in fostering community, too. They had a number of volunteers who were watching the chat. And as people were signing on, volunteers responded, “Hey, so good to hear from you. Great to see you.” It helped people feel like they were seen as they entered into this anonymous space. People got connected through the chat. There was even a donor testimonial.
They also fostered community by working with students to create artwork and the red envelopes.
They also used polls. For example, Where are you watching from? How are you connected? Viewers could answer the poll and then see the results.
The fourth principle is to create a great experience. Your job as event holders is to gently lead your guests, helping them understand how to do the thing that you’re asking them to do, what it’s for, why it’s important, how to get from here to there. Invite them to participate in this journey. People are looking to be invited in.
Two days before the event they sent a link to a timeline for the event. People really appreciated knowing things like; How long is this going to be? How long do we have to be online? That was important to making the event enjoyable.
Make the event fun and memorable; create happiness with as much detail as possible in the planning.
By using the four principles they turned their scary and challenging undertaking into a successful and fun event. It was actually a really invigorating experience. They kept thinking “creative things are going to happen because we have to do things in a new way.”
Source: Bloomerang Blog
Learn more in the Sunshine Certificate in Nonprofit Management class on Executive Director Training online on Sat., August 22, and Monday, August 31.