Managing a Fund Raising Event

Fund raising events not only bring in funds for your organization, but also raise awareness about your noble cause. However, managing a fund raising event requires significant energy and effort. Organizing these events needs correct planning, promotion and management. Here are few tips which will help you in effective management of fund raising events.

Establishing guiding principles and goals
Before starting a fund raising event, you need to be clear about the goals you need to achieve through the event. You need to know how much money is needed to fulfill the goal. Apart from this, you also need to be clear with your plan, course of action and scope of the fund raising event. Create a project plan with clearly defined goals; roles and responsibilities of each participant.

Choosing the right event
An appropriate event should be selected keeping the cause in mind. Some popular events include auctions, dinners, raffles, athletic events, arts and crafts exhibition, cheer leading contest, ball room dance contest, 5K run or walk and fashion shows. Also check how you will make money from these events - through sale of tickets, sponsors, sale of items, auctions, door prizes, etc. This will help you in designing your strategy in a better way.

Selecting event volunteers
It is very difficult to organize the whole event by yourself. Taking the help of volunteers makes the task much easier. Ask the members of your organization to participate. You can also get volunteers from the local community by contacting them, describing the purpose of the event and the ways in which they can help. Assign roles to volunteers such as treasurer, organizer, manager, etc. based on their strengths. Encourage participants to set and achieve personal as well as team goals.

Planning, budgeting and advertising
Fund raising events need proper planning and execution. Prepare a planning work sheet and instruct every volunteer to execute it properly. For budgeting needs, you can make sponsors as partners. Manage the money carefully that you receive from these sponsors. Allow them to bear the costs of hiring the venue, marketing costs, refreshments, etc.

You should market your event in such a way that your cause is highlighted. Make use of fliers, announcements at community gatherings, posters at local shops, internet, custom imprinted glow sticks, press releases, etc. to promote your event. Proper planning and promotion enhances awareness about the fund raising event and its cause.

Takeaways - cheap but attractive products
It is always good to offer takeaways at the fund raising events. They convey 'thanks' to the participants and donors for making the event successful; hence don't overlook them. Keep aside little amount of money to buy cheap but attractive takeaways, like glow products. You can offer various glow products such as, glow sticks, glow wrist bands and bracelets as takeaways at the event.

A well planned fund raising event has a very good chance of making donors open their purses. However, you need to be flexible, as things may not go as the way you planned. Be prepared for the unexpected also.