Folly #94: A Recipe for Events
Smart boards cook them up, and it's not about making galas.
Recently I attended a nonprofit board’s development committee. This is something I do often. Perhaps the only universal truth in my work with small-staffed nonprofits is that their boards need to be active in fundraising. (Familiar fodder for Follies followers! Pretty good alliteration, even without my favorite swear word.)
This nonprofit – and its board – had hosted a donor meet-and-greet at a neighborhood cafe, and were debriefing about the event. And then something wonderful and unexpected happened.
Several board members spoke about hosting events for other organizations where they invited friends to come for an evening together to support the work.
I’m always saying: if fundraising doesn’t feel easy, then people (er, board members) won’t do it, no matter their good intentions. Creating ease is something that I try to sprinkle into every aspect of my work. Yet it’s still a delicious experience when those ingredients all come together!
Continuing a theme from an earlier Folly, I am a big fan of house parties. Intimate, easy engagements that get the right donors in a space where you can create connection and have a meaningful conversation. Food for the soul.
Well, this group of board members really upped the ante. They suggested two things:
Make an ask – They were (mostly) ready to move from stewardship to solicitation events. And we talked about the incredible amount of time that staff spend on big events.
Plan a few – One board member had just received an unfussy invitation for several events in different locations over a month. Naturally, I asked, should we be talking about dates this fall that might work for those of you who’ve offered to host an event?
We wrapped up our one-hour meeting with three events scheduled for August, shared in a single invitation. Here’s our recipe for events with ease.
3 Strategies for Board-Hosted Donor Events
We’d spent over a year building board comfort around talking with donors. They each had 5-10 major gift prospects whom they sent email updates: things like thank you notes, invitations, or sharing a “win” in the nonprofit’s work.
These were the secret ingredients:
Normalize it.
Contacting donors became something that the Development Committee just did every quarter. We carved out 20 minutes in each monthly meeting to email donors or get feedback on messaging for donors. It started to feel easy. Rather than leave the meeting with a list of calls and emails that they may not have felt all that excited about doing, they did it during our time together and then could fuhgeddaboudit.
Encourage creativity.
Anyone who’s ever called customer support knows how awful it is to hear someone read from a script. Sure, I suggested some “language that they might use,” but mostly I encouraged them to be themselves when they called or emailed donors. And I reminded them that donors are just people. The one common thread of shared interest in the same nonprofit opens doors to other interests we share as humans.
Show them.
We planned a few donor stewardship events at low-cost venues that the board members suggested. Each time we asked if anyone would host it in their home, and the answer was no – until it wasn’t. In the meantime, they attended and had fun talking to donors. It became no big deal. And we had something like 80% board turnout at every event, which created energy to keep it rolling.
Ask.
Every fundraiser worth their salt knows that “no” usually means “not now” (or that we’re not making the right ask). So I kept asking! I even included the question – Would you consider hosting a house party? – in each event survey afterwards. Repeat Step #1. I normalized it until they started to talk about it organically.
(Speaking of the right ask, I may have gotten the answer sooner if my question had been: Do you know of any nonprofits that host house parties?)
The best thing about house parties is the low cost and staff time. Even the small cafe event took over 40 hours of coordinating. But anyone who offers to host a donor gathering enjoys throwing parties! And they know how to do it. So let them.
Salt? Check. Eye of newt? Hmmm.
Enjoy what’s cooking and let it simmer a while.
As I approach Folly #100, I would really, really love to get to 1,000 subscribers.
Won’t you …
… Funder Follies with two friends?
Very seductive ! In my ignorance, I do not understand the reference to the eye of a newt
I mean that you so lower the bar for putting on a gathering with donors!
I will be looking for one-eye newts.....