For event planners in the charity sector, the festive season is a stressful period. It’s not called the season of giving for nothing, as most people donate most generously during this period. Event planners must maximise donations during events in the festive season. Here are a few tips and fundraising event ideas to help you tide through this busy but joyous period!
1) Spread positive cheers
Most charities love to make potential donors emotional by showing the plight of the less fortunate and contrasting it with our more fortunate circumstances. So getting your donors to smile and feel happy through your charity event will definitely set you apart!
Get creative in how you can plan a positive and great-humoured event, such as a marathon in the cold that would enable your attendees to feel a sense of accomplishment and fulfillment during this festive season. You can still highlight the plight of less advantaged people to everyone else during the festive season but do so in a less explicit and more positive way!
2) Pick your venue wisely to minimise cost
Many venue owners will be putting in money and time to decorate their venues for the festive season. Use this to your advantage! Many otherwise less than stellar venues will light up this festive season and you can grab them at lower costs compared to conventionally better venues.
Be sure as well to think about the venue location. Will there be bad traffic nearby? Will your event attendees find it impossible to park their cars if you hold the event there?
3) Coinciding with public holidays
This really depends. Scheduling your event to fall over the public holidays may mean that families can partake in your festivities together. But it may also mean stiffer competition from other events and higher costs. Instead of jostling for those few dates, why not have the event before the public holidays to kickstart a series of festivities. After the event, enhance your online presence or amplify your fundraising efforts as a follow-up to the event.
4) Bring in the kids…
…and you automatically bring in the parents.
Plan a family-friendly event to bring in even more people!
5) Leveraging traditions and culture to market your event
Retail stores have done this the best by using the tradition of giving gifts to encourage crazy shopping. For a charity, why not start a tradition of giving back or sending a gift to your charity during the festive season?
You can also organise Christmas fairs, gift wrapping services and Christmas parties as people are most interested in these sorts of events during this time!
And with the surplus of unwanted gifts, auctions, appeals and collections can be extremely successful during this time! Why not plan an event that combines these aspects?
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