Three Ideas To Spice Up Your Fundraising Event

Three ideas to spice up your fundraising event

Is your event stuck in a bit of a rut? Are you looking to spice things up but not turn your event 100% upside down? Here are three simple changes to consider when planning your next annual fundraiser to add a bit of spice to the routine.

Hold your event mid-week
Many people attend more than one fundraising event in the year. Mix busy lives and a multitude of end of week events and some fundraiser is going to lose in terms of great attendance.

Friday and Saturday evening dates are at a premium in terms of availability and cost. They often get booked a year in advance. Is it truly worth the expense and lack of flexibility? Will it make that significant of a difference to your net revenue and attendance figures?

Why compete when you can stand out with a mid-week event.

Liven up your auction
Add a bit of creativity to your silent and live auction to help generate more revenue. These simple tweaks will help your auction stand out from the others.

Buy-in Party
Create a party experience which can’t be found anywhere else with limited capacity. Invite guests to sign up for the party – a guest can sign up for more than one spot and could conceivably reserve the entire buy-in party. For example, if you work for an art gallery, a buy-in party could be a tour of the vaults with a local artist, followed by wine and cheese.

The beauty of this approach is that you control the price, stipulate the minimum and maximum number of participants and have a much better idea of revenue.

Lucky 7
Bidders who place their bids on the seventh bid line on Silent Auction items are entered into a draw for a great prize.  With this incentive, people will skip the first six bid lines and your item has a greater chance of bringing in fair market value.

The Golden Ticket
Rather than secure a separate raffle prize, sell tickets with the winner selecting a live auction of their choosing as the prize.

Host interactive games for alternative revenue generation

Engage your guests and provide them with options to support your cause that aren’t auction related. For example, a game of heads and tails is fun, simple to execute and requires no props. As fewer and fewer players are left participating, the tension in the room builds with the anticipation of a winner. A nominal fee will allow those who may find the auction out of their price point a way to support in a fun and interactive fashion.

It’s important to keep your event fresh and fun for your guests. A tweak here and there is all it takes to spice up your fundraiser.