Organise Your Own
Organise Your Own MHF Fundraising Event – Best Practice
If you are planning to organise your own dedicated MHF fundraising event, below is an outline summary of the key points that you may wish to consider as part of your strategy and preparation
¬Identify your event¬Prepare your budgets and financial goals
¬Volunteer leadership
¬Establish your event calendar
¬Start to build your contacts list
¬Potential sponsors
¬Press / media relations
¬Event administration
¬Last minute checklist
¬After the event
Identify your event
The event planned should where possible reinforce MHF’s use muscle to save muscle tagline. Be creative and plan up front what your overall goal is ie. are you going to raise funds, raise awareness, or both? Perhaps your event is not a fundraiser at all but a cultivation event or a donor recognition event. Both of these are important and will require specific planning and preparation.
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Prepare your budgets and financial goals
Know the end game ie. carefully scope out your budget strategy and focus on specific event costs in building up a clear and realistic financial picture. Decide what your financial goals are and consider carefully potential revenue sources. You ought to consider who will be your event underwriters and sponsors as they are likely to bring in the greatest revenue
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Volunteer leadership
You may wish to determine an individual or individuals to recognise/honor at your event, if for example, it happens to be a gala dinner. A good choice is perhaps someone who has a relationship with you and/or the company/organisation that you work with, perhaps someone who cares about you and/or your chosen cause ie. MHF, perhaps someone who has the ability to make a major contribution but crucially also may have the ability to invite others to celebrate the evening with you. Such a person opens doors to new potential support and is invaluable.
Consider what you may need to do to draw interest to your event ie. inviting a celebrity to participate. Be careful not to ask for too much as this may scare them off and vice-versa, too little, and they may not feel valued. It is important to work with such a person/s in determining their level of participation.
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Establish your event calendar
Allow at least six months to successfully plan and execute your event, especially if it is a major event, such as a gala dinner. Set clear weekly and monthly goals and have an event checklist which shows timelines and key action points.
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Start to build your contacts list
Consider who you know, who your friends and business colleagues know and perhaps even consider how your community can help in telling people about your event. Consider advertising but be aware of the costs versus the return as well of course the audience you want to reach .
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Potential sponsors
The financial success of your event lies solely in your ability to secure sponsorship. In setting and managing sponsor expectations, deliver on what you promise and carefully research, so you know what may be important to them. Produce a succinct sponsorship proposition outlining features and benefits and try to have a summary sheet which gives the what, why, where and when.
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Press / media relations
Work with the media if you want press for your event and plan thoroughly. You may wish to produce a press/media briefing document that gives the salient points and highlights what your event is about. Do not leave this activity to the last minute – it should be part of your integrated communication strategy, again depending on the type of event you might be planning. Important areas to cover off include learning how to write a press release, how to communicate with the media in recognising that it is more important to actually speak with contacts rather than e-mailing them, consider a press launch if appropriate and be prepared to produce an information pack as well as provide suitable hospitality.
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Event administration
This covers all the event details including travel, logistics, equipment, media, communications including an event website, print requirement, insurances etc. Part of the administration process is the careful management of costs which must be tracked in line with your event budget spreadsheet. You might also wish to consider video and photography in capturing the event and ensuring that your press/media contacts are aware of and can receive images, preferably online ie. via email or by downloading them off your dedicated website, as part of the associated media coverage.
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Last minute checklist The devil is in the detail – refer to your last minute checklist and communicate with those who are involved with the critical elements of your event ie. ground, logistics, media, project management support etc.
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After the event
Consider the opportunity to leverage the success of your event in promoting what it is you have done, why you did it and what perhaps you are doing next. Keep all your contacts informed as to the outcome of the event and be sure to follow through on your sponsors as well as thank everyone involved or who helped in the event planning process. For major sponsors, you should carefully consider an extra special thank you and if possible, meet them face-to-face; it is vital that you not only recognise their contribution whether financial or in-kind, but also equally important to maintain the relationship for the future. You should evaluate your event, focusing specifically on the investment of time versus the financial return. Consider what worked well and what did not and then consider when you expect to start planning your next event.
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