Target audience: Nonprofits, cause organizations, foundations, NGOs, fund-raising professionals, social enterprises, donors.

Guest post by Nancy Schwartz
GettingAttention.org

December is the hands-down most powerful month to fund-raise and to strengthen relationships for the year to come. So stop cranking it out right now — for one to two hours — and start your last-chance marketing audit to uncover if you’ve been doing the right things and should quickly do more of what’s worked, or whether you need to retool pronto to wind up strong.

If your planning year is a fiscal year, rather than a calendar year, I urge you to shape your outreach to your donors, volunteers and program participants who live on the calendar year model. It’s your job to match their outlook, rather than shoehorn them into yours.

No matter if you’re scrambling to increase year-end impact or hoping to shape your 2014 plan to surpass 2013 results, jump into these four last-chance marketing to-dos today.

Pinpoint where you are right now

1Roll up your sleeves and take a long, hard look at your results, both quantitative and qualitative. Note: If you have no idea what they are, designing ways to measure success is a must for 2014.

Assess results against your benchmarks.

Review year-to-date results, then compare to your benchmarks to see what’s working as hoped, and what’s not.

This is easiest with hard numbers, like those associated with online petition signing or registration, online giving, or other actions that you can directly track back to their source. More challenging is drawing insight from quantitative information such as client, volunteer or donor feedback, and stories from the field.

Identify meaningful trends.

• What matches are working: Which target audience is responding to what campaigns, channels and messages?
• Who else should you be in touch with: Are there any surprise visitors — groups that you didn’t expect to be engaged with your org who’ve shown up this year?
• Who’s fallen off your radar but you need to be in touch to try to rekindle the relationship before it’s too late? Who was a loyal supporter in previous years but significantly less responsive this year?

Execute what you can ASAP to boost 2013 results

2Every connection you squeeze into 2013 allows you to deepen the relationship just a little more! So clarify your goal, think through what’s going to be top of mind for these folks, and start reaching out right now.

December stands out as the month to generate the donations you need. Fundraiser Gail Perry cites that studies show 40% of online donors make their gifts in December, and that 40-60% of those gifts are made the last two days of the month. Offline giving is up as well in December. So look at the calendar — it’s time to start today!

Do more of what has worked best to engage your most loyal supporters while you have their attention.

Your trends analysis will also highlight the channels and messages that hit a (positive) nerve with each audience group, and these are the ones you’ll want to replicate in the remaining weeks this year. Use that info to shape some year-end-specific messages.

Go beyond online channels to share those messages. Although email is a timely and relatively low-cost way for targeted campaigns, print and social media campaigns can be great complements if resources allow. There is still time to get another postcard out the door, if it makes sense.

Launch an energized, donor-focused email and social fundraising campaign in late December, including emails the last two days of the month.

Although the stats indicate that December is a productive fundraising month, you’ll have to work better and harder than ever to generate gifts as all fundraisers are onto the same stats.

Make sure your tone is personal and your call to action clear and easy to act on. Follow these five steps to a successful year-end email campaign.

But first, get your website and staff ready to respond.

Make sure that your website features:

• Recent stories about programs, including some programs introduced pre-2013 (to connect those folks who haven’t checked in much this year)
• A big donate button on every page, with a “phone in your gift” number
• A recently-tested online giving process
• Consistent messages and look-and-feel across your entire site, including the donation page. Avoid confusing donors by making it easy for them to be confident that they’re still on your site.

Prep your team to:

• Be confident in sharing year-end messages
• Be ready for a flood of last-minute requests for help and info
• Immediately share important feedback they get on any component of last-minute marketing, so you can course correct if necessary.

Nurture your relationships now, to build support in 2014

3Spend a few minutes, ideally one on one, with colleagues in your organization to thank them for their help in making marketing a success (even if their role is very indirect).

Thank your current supporters, of all stripes.

That includes clients, board members, donors, volunteers, partners and others who help your organization move its mission forward. The more personal and relevant the better — make sure to segment your audiences (e.g., high-dollar donors, entry-level donors and prospects; or five-year or more volunteers, two- to five-year volunteers and new volunteers).

If the number of personal notes required is overwhelming, consider sending hand-signed custom holiday greeting cards to at least your Tier 1 network: Board members, loyal volunteers, donors (or at least some donors — returning, new, young, or any other group that deserves special recognition). That personal (real!) signature makes all the difference.

We all want to know that our effort (be it money, time or attention) is valued. Don’t miss this natural opportunity to appreciate your supporters. And encourage colleagues, who many have slightly different networks, to do the same.

Reach out to rejuvenate relationships that have gone dark in 2013.

You’re likely to find a group of former supporters (don’t limit it to donors) who have gone quiet in the last year or six months.

Now’s the time to nudge them out of hibernation, by thanking them for their prior support and sharing stories that showcase how your organization has moved your cause forward in the last year. Focus on established programs they’re likely to be familiar with rather than new funding or volunteer needs.

Select the channel that fits best with each sub-group’s habits and preferences, and — if you have the info — feature messages that have generated response in the past. I recommend a multi-part campaign (preferably multichannel, try a mix of email and direct mail, with a call thrown in if possible for high-value supporters).

Refine your 2014 right-things marketing plan based on your 2013 learning

4Or, if you don’t have one at all or it’s just in your head, create a first-time plan. Wherever you are in your marketing planning, you’ll find this right-things marketing plan template helpful.

Fine-tune your marketing goals and primary target audiences.

Look at what’s changed within your organization and the environment in which you work. There is change whether you acknowledge it or not, so make sure you find it and adapt accordingly.

Remember to find a way to build the engagement of those “surprise visitors” you identified in your trends analysis. They’ve found their way to you on their own, which demonstrates persistence and the likelihood they’ll be back for more.

Set or refine ambitious but realistic benchmarks, and your methods of measuring where you are on the path to achieving them.

• If you didn’t set benchmarks for this year, use 2013 results to set quarterly benchmarks for 2014.
• If you’ve already drafted 2014 marketing benchmarks, update them to reflect your 2013 trends.

Make your personal plan for 2014

Do you have measurable goals for your own professional development? If so, review them and see if you have made progress.

Either way, write down some ambitious yet realistic goals for yourself for 2014. It’s the best way to move yourself forward.

Be honest with yourself about your performance, then use the holiday season to recharge and prepare to start strong in 2014.

What’s on your fundraising or marketing checklist?

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YouCaring, GoFundMe, other sites help individuals raise money for personal causes & nonprofits

Target audience: Nonprofits, NGOs, cause organizations, social enterprises, businesses, bloggers, social media managers, individuals.

By Lindsay Oberst
Socialbrite staff

After Superstorm Sandy hit in October 2012, individuals created campaigns and inspired people to donate money using online fundraising tools (including the ones mentioned in this article). These people raised millions of dollars and made many people’s lives a little bit easier.

This type of crowdfunding may not be new, but in increasing numbers, people around the world are creating all kinds of campaigns — for creative projects, technology, nonprofits and much more.

Individual fundraising, which we’ll examine in this article, means money raised from individuals. Two types exist:

• Individuals raising money for nonprofits
• Individuals raising money for a personal cause

If you work with a nonprofit, you might also want to check out our top five social fundraising tools, which help organizations raise more money by making the process social. The following tools all have social sharing capabilities as well.

Websites for fundraising as an individual

You want to raise money — say, medical expenses for a loved one, tuition costs for someone around the globe — but chances are you’re not sure how to go about doing it.

While you could use PayPal to raise money by integrating it into a website or through email — and many of the following sites rely on PayPal for donations — these eight tools will give you a more attractive and more engaging platform; one that has a better chance of raising the money and awareness you need.

YouCaring (for personal causes)

1YouCaring is a free fundraising website created specifically for individuals wanting to raise funds for personal causes. More than 16,000 fundraisers have been held to date. Most tools charge some type of fee, but not this one. The site is supported entirely by donors.

How do they achieve this? When people donate to a fundraiser, they have an option to donate a percentage of their total to YouCaring. The only money taken out (about 2.9 percent of the total plus 30 cents) will be from credit card processors PayPal and WePay (expected to be available this month). Money is sent instantly (in most cases) to the fundraiser’s account as soon as it’s donated, so you won’t have to wait until the end of the campaign to get your money.

For campaigns, the site has seven categories: medical expenses, memorials and funerals, tuition assistance, adoption fundraising, funding for mission trips, helping a neighbor and more.

Benefits:

• It’s free.
• You get donations instantly.
• A thank-you message (personalized by you) is automatically sent to your donors.
• Pictures and videos (only from YouTube currently) can be added to pages.
• Good social integration: Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus, Pinterest and email.
• Allows anyone to comment on the page.
• Page creator can make updates.
• Campaigns are promoted to the front page. Also, projects are promoted through Twitter and on their Facebook page.
• Offers fundraising tips and a blog.
• The site is secure: All donations are processed using Secure Socket Layer encryption, or SSL.

Downsides:

• No way to embed a widget on another site.
• Pages have a big YouCaring banner at the top.

GiveForward (for personal causes)

2GiveForward provides online fundraising pages for free. Their website says they are the No. 1 platform for medical fundraisers. Other options for pages include pet medical and funeral/memorial.

Desiree Vargas Wrigley and Ethan Austin created the site in early 2008 to allow anyone to raise money for anything. They have had more than 25,000 individual fundraisers published on their site and have helped people raise more than $27 million.

A fundraising page is free to create, and at the end of the fundraiser, GiveForward deducts 7 percent for processing fees. However, donors now have the option to cover the processing fee for their individual contribution. Also, PayPal deducts 2.9 percent of the total plus 30 cents. Creators get the money when the fundraiser reaches its end date, and the maximum time for fundraisers is four months.

Benefits:

• Users get their own personal fundraising coach, who will helps users reach their goals and answers any questions they may have.
• Photos and videos can be added to pages.
• Anyone can grab a widget to help promote the fundraiser.
• Anyone can send “hugs” or comments.
• Anyone can get updates on the project using RSS.
• You get your money, even if the goal is not reached.
• The site offers fundraising tips on its blog.
• The site is secure: They use 128-bit SSL encryption.
• You can make your page private if you wish, meaning that it won’t show up in Google.

Downsides:

• The fundraising goal and amount raised is generally small.
• The overall design of the page is a little cluttered.
• Social integration is adequate: Only Facebook and Twitter are included on the pages.

GoFundMe (for personal causes and for charity)

3GoFundMe is an online fundraising service that allows regular people to create personal donation websites and to raise money for charity. Some nonprofits also use the site. (Note: If you work for a nonprofit, it might be a good idea to get listed in the GoFundMe charity directory by contacting the site.)

Its website says it’s the most popular website for personal causes, and that it grew more than 500 percent from 2011 to 2012 (it launched in 2010). FastCo.Exist says its the third most successful crowdfunding platform after Kickstarter and Indiegogo.

Users can select one of three types of campaigns:

1. Personal donation campaigns. These type of projects receive money immediately after it’s donated, and there are no time limits or collection requirements.
2. Charity fundraising campaigns. Money raised for charity is sent to the selected charity on a monthly basis. All donations are sent via check.
3. All or nothing campaigns. Supporters are only charged if you reach your funding goal.

Creating a page is free, but GoFundMe deducts a 5 percent fee from each donation you receive. Also, the site partners with FirstGiving, which deducts a 4.25 percent fee to process and deliver all donation payments to charities. Or for individuals, a 2.9 percent plus 30 cent fee per transaction is deducted by WePay or PayPal.

Benefits:

• Users can choose different colors for pages.
• The fundraising page does have a GoFundMe banner at the top, but it is small.
• The home page shows recent donations, which might encourage others to check out and donate to campaigns.
• The site promotes campaigns on its blog and social media.
• Offers a customizable widget and badge that anyone can embed on a website or blog.
• Good social integration: Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Reddit and email.
• Creator can post updates, and each update has a donate button on the bottom of it.
• Each page has a printable sign, which anyone can use to help raise awareness and money.
• GoFundMe tries to answer all emails within five minutes.
• To protect donors and prevent misuse, a member of the GoFundMe team checks that the campaign creator has a valid Facebook account connected to their page, the page has a photo or video and the page has raised at least $100 in donations. After this, the page will be listed in the search directory.
• An email is sent to you each time someone donates to the page.
• People can set up recurring, monthly donations.
• The site is secure: They use SSL processing.

Downsides:

• Must have a Facebook account to show up in the site’s search.
• People must use Facebook to make comments on the page.
• Most of the messages explaining what the campaign is about get shortened, and people must click the more button to keep reading.

Fundraise.com (for personal causes and for charities)

4Fundraise.com is a social fundraising platform founded in 2011 for raising money for personal causes or for raising funds for nonprofits or other organizations. The site also offers pages and support for events, including ticket sales, donations and Salesforce integration.

Users can choose to receive their donations on a monthly basis or in one lump sum at the end of the campaign. Money is sent by check or by electronic fund transfer to the user’s bank account. A page is free to create, but a 4.5 percent fee plus credit-card processing costs are charged to each donation.

Benefits:

• Good, clean design of the campaign pages, with large, horizontal images.
• Photos and videos can be added to pages.
• The tour of the pages’ features is helpful and well designed.
• The pages do have a Fundraise.com banner at the top, but it is very small.
• Multiple donate buttons.
• Good social integration: Facebook, Twitter and Google Plus.
• Users get a dashboard with analytics to see how their campaign is doing.
• Offers an email center, allowing users to send thank-you messages and reach out to hundreds of donors at the same time.
• Offers users a one-line code to embed the donate form on a website.
• The site promotes some campaigns on its blog. They also feature campaigns on their homepage and show recent fundraising activity on the homepage, too.
• Pages are mobile-optimized, and users have access to a free iPhone app.
• Donors can choose from $25, $50, $100 or another amount.
• Allows people to make recurring donations.
• The site is secure: They use 128-bit SSL encryption.

Downsides:

• Pages don’t have a place for campaign updates.
• People can’t comment on the pages.
• People can only donate with a credit card or debit card, not using PayPal.

Razoo (for charity)

5Many nonprofits use Razoo to raise money, but individuals can also create fundraising pages to raise money for nonprofits. Nearly one million officially vetted nonprofits are registered on the site. More than 300,000 people have used the site to support their favorite causes.

Pages are free to create, but the Razoo Foundation, a nonprofit itself, deducts 2.9 percent, or 4.9 percent after April 1, 2013. Funds are given to the nonprofits once a month.

Benefits:

• Photos and videos can be added to pages.
• Recurring and anonymous donations available.
• Good social integration: Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus and email.
• Small Razoo banner on the top of all pages.
• A free iPhone app is available.
• A Facebook widget allows you to embed the fundraiser on a Facebook page.
• Has an embed code for putting a widget on your blog or website.
• The homepage features campaigns and shows recent donations.
• Anyone can leave comments on a page.
• Pages are mobile optimized.
• All donations are tax deductible, and donors instantly receive a tax-deductible receipt.
• The site is secure: They use SSL encryption.

Downsides:

• Online donations must be at least $10.
• Can only donate with a credit or debit card, not using PayPal.
• The goal and amount raised on the pages are small.

FirstGiving (for charity)

6FirstGiving allows nonprofits and individuals to create fundraising pages. The website has been around for 10 years, and more than 8,000 nonprofits have used it to raise more than $1 billion.

Pages are free to create, but FirstGiving deducts 7.5 percent service fee from all online donations. Also, donors have the option to pay this fee so that all money reaches the nonprofit.

Benefits:

• Photos and videos can be added to pages.
• An embeddable widget is available to put on a website or blog.
• Good social integration: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and email.
• Offers fundraising tips and a blog.
• A few causes are featured on the homepage.
• Site is secure: They have 256-bit SSL security.

Downsides:

• Design is a little cluttered and not as good as some of the other tools.
• Only donors can make comments on pages.
• Can only donate with a credit or debit card, not using PayPal.
• No recurring donations.

Crowdrise (for charity)

7Crowdrise provides online fundraising websites for individuals, nonprofits and event fundraising. People can create fundraising pages for their favorite causes.

Charities choose from among three plans:

1. Basic. With this free plan, Crowdrise deducts a 5 percent fee plus a $1 fee on donations under $25 and a $2.50 fee on donations above $25.
2. Featured. This plan costs $49 a month or $490 a year, and Crowdrise deducts a 4.95 percent fee plus $1 per donation.
3. Royale. This plan costs $199 a month or $1,990 a year, and Crowdrise deducts a 4.95 percent fee and no transaction fee per donation. This plan also get custom, branded pages.

To get their money, charities can choose to receive a lump sum check every 30 days or they can receive each donation in real-time.

Benefits:

• Photos and videos can be added to pages.
• Good social integration: Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and email.
• Visible “Donate” button and amount raised.
• Pages do have a Crowdrise banner at the top, but it’s small.
• Donations are tax deductible, and donors automatically receive email receipts.
• Users get Crowdrise Impact Points for raising money, donating to causes and getting votes.
• The site is secure: They use SSL processing.

Downsides:

• Online donations must be at least $10.
• No recurring donations.
• Only donors can make comments on pages.
• Crowdrise doesn’t promote causes very much.

IndieGoGo (for personal causes)

8IndieGoGo allows individuals and nonprofits to create fundraising pages. The site started out for creative projects only, but now it has expanded to causes and entrepreneurial projects as well. (Its chief competitor, Kickstarter, is still strictly for projects, not charitable causes.)

IndieGoGo charges a 9 percent fee on all funds raised, but if you reach your goal, you get 5 percent back. Also, nonprofits get a 25 percent reduction on platform fees. Campaign creators can keep all the money they raise, even if the goal is not reached. Or they can opt to keep the money only if the goal is reached. Creators who choose the first option will also have to pay a 3 percent credit-card processing fee, plus a $25 fee for non-US campaigns.

Benefits:

• Photos and videos can be added to pages.
• Each page has a shortened, shareable link.
• Can provide donors with perks for donating certain amounts.
• Good social integration: Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus and email.
• Creators can provide updates on projects.
• Creators have a dashboard with analytics.
• Anyone can get an embed code to add a widget to a website, blog or email.
• Offer a blog with tips and other info.
• They say they respond to all emails in 24 hours or less.
• Donations can be accepted through PayPal or by credit or debit card.
• Indiegogo helps spread the word about campaigns through an algorithm they call the gogofactor. Sharing, tweeting and getting people to “like” your campaign will boost your campaign’s visibility.

Downsides:

• All pages have pink and green (IndieGoGo’s colors) on them.
• Pages must offer perks to donors.

A few fundraising tips

• Be specific. Tell people why they should contribute to your campaign. Introduce yourself and describe your project and why it’s important to you. On its website, Indiegogo advises people to, “Keep it concise, yet personal.”
• Create urgency. According to the GiveForward website, they’ve seen that the most successful fundraisers typically last four to six weeks, as people are more inclined to donate when there is a shorter time frame and a higher sense of urgency.
• Do something unique. You should have a little fun so that people want to reach out and give money to your campaign. The Crowdrise website suggest coloring your hair blue when you raise $500.
• Tell your friends and family. According to the GoFundMe website, personal campaign donations come mostly from friends and family, not strangers.
• Share and use social media. According to the Razoo website, shared fundraisers raise $18 more in donations, on average.
• Be persistent. “The biggest difference I have seen between successful fundraisers and non-successful is persistence,” Luke Miner of YouCaring told me. “Most people give up in the first few days of fundraising, instead of continuing forward with the promoting, and lose hope.”

What did we miss? Which individual fundraising tools have you used? Add your experience, feedback and suggestions in the comments section!

Related

• 24 tools for fundraising with social media (Socialbrite)
• Behind the success of 10 top Causes (Socialbrite)
• top five social fundraising tools (Socialbrite)
• 10 mobile apps for social good (Socialbrite)
• A directory of top cause organizations (Socialbrite)

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A few small changes that get more from online efforts

Guest Blog by Ritu Sharma
Social Media for Nonprofits

Of the $317 billion donated to nonprofits by individuals, currently about 15% is transacted online, but it’s growing at a whopping 35-55% a year. With Facebook now boasting over 1 billion active users and the “value” of a Like now said to be $217 per year for a nonprofit, social media is clearly playing an increasingly important role in helping causes secure the support they need to maximize impact.

We all wish we could raise more money online, but there are a select few tried and true ways for making that happen without investing tons of time or money, both of which are in short supply at just about every nonprofit.

Whether you’re raising money through your website, Facebook, and/or a social fundraising platform, there are three simple things you can play with to optimize your online fundraising efforts. A special thanks goes out to the 100+ presenters who shared these actionable tips with the 3,500+ nonprofits who have attended our Social Media for Nonprofits conferences throughout the country. (Here’s what’s coming up: Austin on Tuesday, Seattle on Nov. 5 and New Delhi on Dec. 5.)

The top 3 tips for online fundraising our presenters have identified are:

Make your donate button shine

1When the online fundraising service Network for Good changed its donate button’s color from gray to red, donations immediately went up by 30%. Sometimes, it’s just that easy. So run a little experiment and systematically change your button’s font, color, and size, then track the results to see what combination gets you the best results.

Default levels are key

2It’s usually important to give potential online donors default donation levels (i.e., $25, $50, $100, $250, and other/fill in the blank) to guide their generosity. But just like with the other tips, embrace data vs. gut; take the time to play around with these levels and see what gets the most dollars rolling in. Every once in a while, deleting these completely can work, although that’s very much the exception to the rule. If you don’t have any levels, integrate them into your efforts ASAP! Also, be sure to plug a monthly sustainer program to generate revenue you can count on throughout the year.

Map donations to impact

3Sally Struthers had at least one thing right: Giving changes lives. But the key is helping potential supporters understand the incremental impact their contribution will have on your efforts. As Kay Sprinkel Grace says, “People don’t give to you, they give through you.” So help make their gift concrete. For instance, a $100 donation may feed 50 children in a particular war torn region, a mere $50 purchases life-saving medication for 60 pregnant women in Africa, etc. Every default donation level must have a specific impact associated with it, but toy around with how you operationalize your impact to gauge what moves people to dig a bit deeper.

We hope you decide to take advantage of these simple yet powerful tips and that you’ll join us at any of the upcoming Social Media for Nonprofits conferences around the world for more insights, tips, and tools. Use the discount code “Socialbrite” to get $20 off your registration rate!

Follow us on Facebook or Twitter for details. Come see great speakers and senior leaders from leading social networks like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Google+, plus nonprofit executives from National Geographic, American Red Cross, Greenpeace, Kiva.org, Story of Stuff, DonorsChoose, and charity:water. To ensure broad accessibility, we keep conference registration fees down to about $100, including breakfast, lunch, and access to the full-day program. Scholarships are always available for smaller nonprofits.

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How to wow your supporters at your next event gathering

Target audience: Nonprofits, cause organizations, NGOs, event organizers, fundraising professionals, social media managers.

This is Part 8 and the final installment of our series on social fundraising. See below for other articles in this series.

Guest post by George Wooden
Founder & CEO, BW Unlimited

With so many fundraising campaigns taking place online these days, nonprofits have fewer chances to interact with their supporters face to face. And while fundraising events may no longer be the most important component of your organization’s fundraising strategy, it’s still a good idea to host an event for your supporters and take the opportunity to interact with your community.

Here are 10 key pointers to help you make your next fundraising event an extraordinary one.

1Pick the right venue. Your guests should be treated to a wonderful venue with an expert staff. As your guests enter your event, even in the parking lot, the appearance of the venue is vitally important to their overall experience.

2Plan as if you are a guest. When planning your event, examine it during the planning stages from the perspective of a guest and not as the organizer. This includes meal selection, items for your Live and Silent action (if applicable), as well as presentation length.

3Plan to plan.  Well before your event, meet with your event committee and discuss all aspects of the event. Go over your event time line over and over so that everyone is familiar with the flow. Ensure that everyone understands their duties and what they are responsible for.

4Meal should match the ticket price.  When reviewing meal choices for your guests, do not pick what you like or what is economical, pick the meal that your guests will truly enjoy. A fantastic meal is the cornerstone of a great event; a bad meal will ruin their experience.

5No lengthy speeches. When someone has a speech or some type of presentation, do not make it lengthy. No one is attending your event to listen to speeches, they are attending to have a good time, see their friends and enjoy a night out. Limit any speeches or presentations to a specified amount of time.

6Offer multiple ways to donate. Donations are just as important as attendance. Without the seats full, you will be unable to raise the funds you need. Diversify the ways that you solicit donations, such as holding a Live and Silent Auction, or holding a Raffle.

7Account for all donor levels. A successful fundraising event comes from several well planned fundraising platforms, such as a Live Auction. But remember, not everyone attending can bid on your items in the Live Auction. Account for lower bidders as well as those who would enjoy an entertaining raffle.

8Auction items that “wow” the crowd. As with any fundraising event, your guests will bid on items or trips that will excite them. Local donations are fantastic but larger more exciting items, such as “No Risk Auction Items,” are needed to urge on higher bids.

9Provide entertainment. While entertainment options seem like they cut into your event’s net proceeds, they can be productive investments. Background music provided by live bands can break up the time, as well as fill dead space. Furthermore, an entertaining Master of Ceremonies is a very valuable asset. Your guests will enjoy someone who is not afraid of speaking in front of crowd and can create excitement.

10Cover event sticking points. There are two sticking points during an event – Check In and Check Out. Ensure your registration table is adequately staffed to prevent your guests from having to stand in line when they arrive. As guests are leaving, ensure again that your check-out table is staffed so that your guests can pay for the items they purchased quickly. Make sure your staff understands their duties and that there are staff members assisting your guests in retrieving their items.

Fundraising series on Socialbrite

• What social fundraising means for your nonprofit

• Social fundraising tools: Our top 5 picks

• Fundly: Tap into your supporters’ social networks

• GoodThreads: Custom T-shirts as a fundraising tool

• HelpAttack!: Unleash the charitable power of social media

• Rally: Raise money for your favorite cause

• Mobile: The next frontier of nonprofit fundraising

• 10 tips for a successful fundraising event

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