Give Your Event Direction with a Strategic Plan
Picture this: Your organization has been holding a signature fundraising event for years and your numbers are stagnant. Your big donors are suddenly double booked on your biggest night of the year. Your staff is overwhelmed with everything else on your to-do lists and reimagining your event is the last thing you all want to take on.
The good news? You’re not alone! Whether you need to rethink or revamp your next fundraising event, there are 3 areas you should focus on to start building your strategic plan—your roadmap—to success.
- Budget
A strong strategic plan begins with clear and realistic goals. This starts in the budget. And we’re not just talking about your food and drink expenses, your AV costs or your rentals. An effective budget includes all of your revenue streams, how much you need to make from each piece of revenue and who can help you get there. This includes identifying each level of your sponsorship goals and which sponsors you can cultivate at those levels. This includes your special appeal and live auction goals, your ticket and table sales, your raffle sales, etc.
Once you’ve built a budget, this will be your compass. Start with going after your largest pre-event revenue goals first and work your way down the ladder from there.
- Story
The next crucial step is to identify the story you want to tell through your event. This needs to start with the save-the-date and continue as a cohesive message throughout the program and the night of the event. Do you want to focus on one new and exciting service area? Or do you want to go big picture and re-engage your longtime supporters? Do you want to shape your messaging around honorees? Whatever you decide, a cohesive story strategy helps you get guests into the room, script your speakers on stage and tell strong stories through video.
- Run-of-Show
After you’ve established the story of your event, a run-of-show helps you build the program elements and decide which speakers are on stage throughout the event. The most essential part of building your program is establishing a strong event arc—which works with your audience’s engagement and puts your fundraising first to maximize giving. Read our blog post on the event arc here.
These 3 pieces will help you identify your priorities and kickstart the planning for your best fundraising event yet. Plus, it might just give you permission to stop doing the things you’ve always done if they’re no longer working.
If you’re interested in working with us on developing a strategic plan for your event, we’ll assess your event model to maximize giving and create an easy-to-understand plan for you and your team to execute. Plus, we’ll include 5 hours of consulting time with our team to provide coaching along the way.
Reach out at hello@swaimstrategies.com or contact us here.
