3 Tips for Nonprofits to Exceed Virtual Fundraising Goals

This is part three of a blog series to help nonprofits learn how to create virtual events that exceed fundraising goals and audience reach, by looking at how UNICEF, Boys & Girls Clubs, and more exceeded their goals.

In the last post in this series, we shared six ways to increase virtual audience engagement. Hint: an engaged guest is also more likely to be informed, and ready to give. Today, we’ll cover three ways to exceed your fundraising goals

To recap one last time: If you’re new to virtual fundraising, you’re not alone. Global nonprofits with little to no experience coordinating events in the digital space dove in and, with the right partners, had great success. To them, success meant:

1. Fostering a sense of community on a virtual events platform and being taken by surprise when they discover new ways to connect.
2. Finding new ways to educate and entertain various audiences: staff, donors, partners, and more.
3. Exceeding fundraising goals.

Top global nonprofits shifted to virtual by focusing on what was most important to them and their audiences, and the results surprised them.

Three Ways to Exceed Fundraising Goals

How did UNICEF, Boys & Girls Clubs, The Royal Ottawa, and Hamilton Wood Type & Printing Museum smash through their fundraising goals? One reason was that they were considerate of their guests, of course.

1. Make it Easy to Register

   For in-person events, we want “people in seats,” right? Getting people in the door and attending is paramount. So, it’s vital to choose a platform with a clear and simple registration process.

   Denise Wang-Kline, Vice President of Development at Boys & Girls Clubs of San Francisco said, “We wanted it to be easy for people to register for the event and direct confirmation of their registration from the platform. The [Brandlive] registration process did that.”

   Kelly Meincke, Manager of Special Events at The Royal Ottawa Foundation for Mental Health said, “Our event guests said it was easy to log on and watch the event. The [Brandlive] registration process was nice because guests were able to add the event to their calendar.”

2. Make it Easy to Donate

   By choosing an events platform that’s engaging and easy to use, guests are already on your page, interacting with your chosen features. The next step is to make sure that your platform includes a feature that makes it easy to donate. How is that done?

   Jake Haigis, Coordinator for Special Events at UNICEF USA said, “Our top priority when selecting a platform was one that made it as easy as possible for donors to give during the event. Our goal for the event was $2 million and 600 viewers, and we ended up raising over $4.7 million with 1,300 viewers. Our platform [Brandlive] made it easy to integrate giving platforms and offers guests an easy pathway to give during the program.”

   Ask your potential events platform partners what they use to make it easy for guests to donate.

1. Include a Virtual Component to Increase Donor Attendance and Geographic Reach

   Virtual means your guest list is no longer dictated by the number of people who fit in a conference room, hall, or even auditorium. This wider reach translated into very pleasant surprises for several nonprofit event organizers. So it makes sense, even when you return to in-person fundraising galas complete with a live band, ball gowns, and caterers, to include a virtual component. Yes, we’re talking about hybrid events here.

   Meincke at The Royal Ottawa explained, “The advantage of doing the fundraiser virtually was that we weren’t bound by one dining hall. It allowed us to expand … Since it was virtual, we reached a broader range of donors, and the result was close to double our fundraising goal.”

   Haigis at UNICEF said, “Using the [Brandlive] platform allowed us to connect donors from around the country. As opposed to the nine separate in-person events we do each year, this was the first time we were able to have a major event ‘moment’ with a wide array of our supporters.”

   Stephanie Carpenter, Program Officer at Hamilton Wood Type & Printing Museum said, “Pivoting to a digital conference was not ideal, since letterpress printing is such a tactile art form and our conference benefits from learning and networking in-person. However, it became clear early on that a silver lining of being online is that more people could experience the event. Since we had never hosted an online event of this scope, our goal was to double the number of attendees, which we achieved.”

   All three of the above touted the importance of the virtual component of the fundraiser, creating a simple way to drastically increase the number of people in their respective communities.