Hosting events are one of the best fundraising methods for non-profit organizations and the good news is, that you don’t need an extensive budget to get started. Whether you’re a business looking to collaborate with a charity or are working independently to successfully run your own event, it can be difficult to know where to begin. If you have no experience in planning and running events, you may find that the project is much more difficult than you had initially imagined—especially when your sole focus is making an extensive profit for the charity.
If you’re in need of some advice on running a successful charity event, the following steps should give you a clear lead on how to go about it:
1. Understand your cause
Before you can truly get stuck into planning the event itself, you need to think carefully about finding a charity you’d like to support. What work do they do and what is it about this charity that drives your passion? These are questions that you’re going to have to answer when making a speech about your chosen charity at the event, so it’s best to get the groundwork done early.
Once you’ve recognized these benchmarks, you can then start to compile a proposal on how your event is going to support the cause. You’ll need to understand how much money needs to be raised to cover your initial budget and generate a profit, what the cash will be put towards, and the types of people who are likely to want to support the foundation.
2. Plan your event itinerary
You may have a vision in your mind as to what your event is going to look like, but unless you set out a clear plan on paper, it’s very difficult for others to get an idea of your vision. By making notes, you can start to see what’s achievable, and what may be a little out of your reach with the budget and time frame you have to work with.
Some of the most popular options include organizing a raffle; which is a great way of raising money without too much expenditure on your behalf, or you could bring some fun to an event by searching the internet for game rentals near me to find local event rental companies. Essentially, it’s all down to your target audience on the types of entertainment and activities that you choose for your event, so think carefully about what they would realistically want.
3. Plan a promotional strategy
If you’re opening your charity event to the wider audience, you’ll need to nail down a successful marketing strategy that gets your event noticed by people in the local area and potentially, beyond.
Promoting your event may come in two forms (online and offline marketing) depending on how far you’d like your promotion to reach.
Offline marketing
If you’re planning on targeting your local community only, then offline marketing is a clever way to spread the word of an event. Print off fliers and posters and post them in mailboxes, ask the kids to take them into school to hang in the lobby areas, or ask local businesses if they wouldn’t mind placing a poster in the window.
Online marketing
Online (digital) marketing is ideal if you’re looking to promote your event to a wider audience. Using social media triggers instant attention to events, while ticketing platforms, such as TicketSource are a great way to register your event and sell tickets, while promoting your event through free listing websites.
Photo by Ben Rosett on Unsplash
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