While COVID-19 has touched every aspect of our communities, many local and national nonprofits – built specifically to help the most vulnerable – are facing outsized demand while having to postpone crucial fundraising events.
As leaders continue to explore how best to safely reopen our communities, give green light to businesses paused and restart our work away from home, my team and I are counseling nonprofit leaders who are dependent on fundraising galas and events. Just as so many businesses and workers were decimated by the ongoing pandemic, those in the nonprofit world are in crisis, too, as the virus has put major funding at risk.
For organizations so near and dear to our community, live events have been the tried and trusted approach to their annual fundraising. The pinnacle of giving is often centered around a signature giving event. The sense of urgency and call to action from the stage when “the Ask” goes out is powerful. Gathering hundreds or thousands of community advocates into a venue can bring in hundreds of thousands of dollars in an evening.
I know. My company is made up of a team of passionate, live event production experts. All we do are events – hundreds of them – produced annually for academic institutions, retail, supplier brands and nonprofits. By the first week of March, we could see the direct impact from the pandemic not only on our company, but the countless clients and nonprofit groups we support. Within a week, the calendar was empty for the 80-90-day horizon. March quickly became touch and go. April was completely cancelled for the good of the community. May is in question. When possible, we are urging that instead of cancelling, our clients should instead postpone. At the time of this writing, the Fall is still on. My team and I are confident the day will come when we can safely reemerge from our homes and come together again. And when we do, here’s a few tips to help you salvage your fundraising event plan:
Keep socially distanced but maintain close communication – If you haven’t already, continue to engage with your donors and keep them up to date on your work that provides an important and relevant need, especially during these challenging times, in our community.
Reimagine your campaign – Work closely with live event production experts and reimagine your signature giving campaign or gala. Is the audience now split between in-person and remote? Does it include a streaming or virtual component? What changes need to be made inside the room?