Welcome to Season 3! Episode 54: Is A "Friendraiser" a Waste of Time? Is A Friendraiser a Waste of Time? Are you wasting time and money on "friendraisers" that barely generate any donors or volunteers? In this episode, we are going to chat about the goal and purpose of a friendraiser. What is a Friendraiser Let's first define what a friendraiser is. It's a non-ask event. No request for funding. It's a way to educate guests on the great work your organization is doing but in a friendly way, a casual way. And what I am about to say is really important, there is no cost to attend a friendraiser. It's free. However, while I'm suggesting to you that the event be casual in nature, they do serve a very important purpose for your organization. And there are specific reasons you want to host this type of event. Do you know what they are? Well, i got good news. I'm going to tell you. There are 6 reasons you need to be hosting several "friendraisers" throughout the year. But first let's talk about what a "friendraiser" looks like in regards to how they are organized and logistics, etc. A "friendraiser" is typically a small, intimate gathering held in someone's home. Perhaps a board member or supporter host the event. The host invites friends, family and colleagues to attend. The list of attendees is usually small, 15 to 20 people. Maybe there are light appetizers, tea and coffee served. The event is about an hour in length. Fifteen to 20 minutes of the event is spent on someone from the organization, usually the Executive Director, addressing the crowd in an informal on the mission of the organization. Now that we know the logistics, let's dive into the reasons to host one that will clearly show why they are NOT a waste of time. Reason #1 Build awareness about your organization. I do believe with all my heart that this is the primary reason you should host this type of event. If you attempt to host one of these events with a greedy heart and mind, I think it will be evident to the guests. Your aim is to share your mission, stats, impact stories, and testimonials to those in attendance. The hope is the guests will learn about your organization and the values will be aligned. The next reason has to do with capturing leads to convert leads into donors and volunteers. This leads me to reason #2 Reason #2 Recruit volunteers to help support your programs and services This one is pretty straight forward. If your organization is volunteer run or heavily assisted, hosting a friendraiser can be a fantastic way to grow your volunteer base. During your presentation, you can talk about ways to volunteer and the impact volunteering has on the organization. Tip: Have a way to capture names of those showing interest in volunteering. It can be as simple as a sign-up sheet that gets passed around the room during the presentation. Reason #3 Recruit for board members For this one, it's not going to be easy to spot a potential board member in the room while hosting one of these friendraisers. For this, you'll have to rely on the host to provide you information about each guest and ask your host to be sure to tell you if there is a guest that's going to be present that's an ideal candidate for becoming a board member. Reason #4 Identify folks willing to host a friendraiser in their home Something I believe strongly is people want to help! There's no better or easier way for someone to help your organization then by hosting a friendraiser in their home. Again, during your presentation, ask who might be interested in helping to spread the word and host an event "just like this" in their home. Again, send around a sign-up sheet for those who are interested. Remind your potential host that the event they are attending tonight is a great example of how easy it can be and add that they may want to ask the person who invited them for tips and tricks on how to invite and host. In fact, sometimes a host will introduce the ED of

Episode 53: Why Your Fundraising Event ISN'T Generating 6-Figures! Year after year, you recruit volunteers, plan the party, rent the venue, send the invites, but for some reason you only seem to break even or come slightly under that goal of hosting a 6-figure fundraising event. What went wrong? Where did you fall short? Like me, many of you are members of fundraising groups on Facebook. I think I'm a member of 5 or 6 for sure. And, I've noticed a theme in the kinds of questions being posted to the groups in regards to fundraising. This prompted me to create this episode to help YOU hear first hand what it takes to host a 6-figure event. PREVIEW If your new to hosting events be sure to check out my FREE mini checklist on how to create a pipeline of new donors for your next big fundraising event. I give you some ideas on where to host mini events. If you haven't already grabbed it, the link will be provided below. SIMPLE BUT NOT EASY If I know you! I know you did everything I just mentioned and likely you did a ton more. I want you to know that hosting a 6-figure fundraising event is simpler than you think. Notice I didn't say easier so let's be clear about that. And for the next 30 minutes or so, I'm going to dive into three things you need to be doing in order to break that 6-figure ceiling. Here's the good news, these things are economy proof, doesn't matter what season you're in, these three things work for getting consistent revenue at your annual fundraising event. Now, many of you know who I am and that's why you tune in but for some of you, I'm new. For the newbies, I'm Lisa Clark and I've been raising money through fundraising events for over 20 years. Not only that, I've taught nonprofits how to host their very own 6-figure and high 6-figure fundraising events. So, I'm very excited about what I'm about to share with you right now. I want to help you break that darn ceiling! Step #1: Fundraising. This means you need to be focusing on revenue generation. I mean really focus and have a strategic fundraising plan for your event in order to reach those fundraising goals. Really, Lisa?!? I know you think that's obvious but if you're not reaching that 6-figure goal then you aren't focused ENOUGH on the fundraising. You're likely too busy planning the party. Now, I'm not sure if you have money blocks or think that simply because you sent out a few emails asking for donations for your event that the funds will appear. I'm not sure if you think because you're raising revenue on ticket sales the funds will come in. But, I'm here to tell you that while you are focused on the party, money is changing hands all over the world for those who are doing their part to ask for it beyond just a few email invites, a few underwriting letters. There are 4 reasons the money isn't coming your way: 1) You're not asking in ALL the ways you can ask for it. Not enough revenue generators. 2) You aren't presenting the right offer to the right people, the right donors. 3) You aren't asking ENOUGH people. You are making some money cause you are asking some people but not enough people. If your issue is you don't have enough people to ask, then stick around cause I'm going to get into how you can change that up. (pipeline events that lead to larger event) 4) You're simply not asking for more; hence, leaving money on the table as we like to say in the fundraising world. So, if I was to sit with you and if I was working on your event with YOU the first thing I would ask you is "What's your fundraising plan, your fundraising strategy" for this event and the next question I would ask you is "How many revenue generators do you have for this event?" Cause here's the thing, let's say you charge $50 per person for your event. That means you would need to sell 2,000 tickets in order to reach your goal of $100K. That's ridiculous. If you truly want to reach $100k at your event, you are going to have to ask for more per ticket. $100

The #1 Thing I Did to Reach Our Annual $5.2M Budget! You did ALL THE THINGS that you do annually to reach your revenue goals but somehow fell short of reaching your annual budget. For some reason all those ideas that were buzzing around in your head at the beginning of the fiscal year that you wrote into a high-level strategic fundraising plan didn't work! Why? Strategic plans are fabulous. They're a great way to put all those fundraising ideas down on paper. And, let me guess, you likely did more than just write-up a plan. You likely met with your ED to go over ideas and got his/her approval on moving forward with your ideas. And the board likely approved the ideas, too! If you designed this high-level strategic fundraising plan right, it probably included the following: Securing Grants Securing Individual funding such as annual gifts and major gifts Hosting a new fundraising event Participating in the annual online giving campaign of some sort ALL THE THINGS! They were there on paper ready to be……. Executed Upon! Ding, ding! Let's take a deeper look at the word "Execute." First of all, It's a verb! The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines it like this: 1 : to carry out fully : put completely into effect execute a command. 2 : to do what is provided or required The cat is out of the bag. The #1 thing I did to reach my annual fundraising goals was "EXECUTE." Let me ready you some famous quotes: "A Good plan, violently executed now is better than a perfect plan tomorrow." - George Patton "Most leaders would agree that they'd be better off having an average strategy with superb execution than a superb strategy with poor execution." Stephen Covey author of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People "To me, ideas are worth nothing unless executed. They are just a multiplier. Execution is worth millions." -Steve Jobs And for this episode, I want to use the word "try" and "execute" interchangeably. So back to how I met my annual fundraising goals. I wrote the strategic fundraising plan and all I did was try! That's it folks. I worked the plan! I executed. To help me make sure I stayed on task, I created tracking sheets and dashboards that I used to track my progress. I used the dashboards to keep my boss up to speed and used the same dashboard to update the board of directors. Now, I'll remind you that the larger and more detailed information was inside my high-level strategic fundraising plan document that I'd created at the beginning of the fiscal year. It had all the details! And it was inside that high-level strategy document that I wrote down all the ideas, all the plans that I would execute upon throughout the year! Now here's the thing. Did I accomplish all I set out to do? Was it easy? Truthfully, no. I recall setting a goal to host 10 small mini events between the months of September to the end of November. The hope was to create a pipeline of new prospects that would get funneled into attending our annual marquee fundraising event. I didn't end up hosting 10 but instead hosted 8. Not bad! Right! Some of the events had 75 people in attendance but one event in particular had 3 people show up. That's it. Overall, these events averaged about 50 attendees per event. That means these small events added up to about 400 people into our donor database. I was pretty proud of that number! But, hosting an event where 3 people showed up isn't something I'd call a success. Did that stop me? No way. I kept going. I kept executing on my plan. I kept trying! I want to end by saying I can give you all the tools like tracking documents and dashboards and all the fanciest strategic plans but if you FAIL to execute on these plans then quite simply you might FAIL at reaching your annual fundraising goals. So this next year do me a favor and do 1 thing - Execute! Try! Plan your work and work your plan! Bonus Tip: When I wrote the annual budget, I wrote it for more than our goal knowing that I would lik

Episode #51 The Weirdest but Coolest Fundraising Event I ever planned! What I'm about to share with you on today's episode is NOT about ANOTHER GALA ( insert eyeroll ) Let's face it, trying to come up with a cool and unique fundraiser to help your nonprofit raise funds can be challenging. And if you're like me and you've been in this game for a while, you've likely hosted or at least attended a big Gala, or a casino night or golf tournament. Am I right! You and I probably agree that there's nothing wrong with these types of fundraising events. Done well, they can be quite fruitful. But, when I decided to add a second fundraising event to our annual fundraising goals, planning the "go to" gala or casino night didn't feel quite right. So, what type of event did I come up that was weird and cool and different? Hold UP! I HAVE A GIFT FOR YOU Before I dive into the weirdest fundraising event I ever hosted, I have a gift for you. If you're trying to build up that pipeline for new donors, I have a free guide to help you get started. I've included a link for you in the show notes. https://raisingwithlisaclark.lpages.co/donorchecklist/ THAT'S RIGHT NOT ANOTHER GALA BUT INSTEAD A GOLF TOURNAMENT OR SO WE THOUGHT.. So here's how the story goes. It was decided that our organization would tack on a second fundraising event during the second half of the fiscal year. I had presented a strong case for the organization being able to host a second event and assured the board we had the budget, the time, and the staff support. I had sold them on hosting a golf tournament. We had a board member who was a member at a very prestigious private golf club. And, he was willing to allow us to use his membership to host the event. I did my due diligence and spoke with the golf course organizer and was able to come up with an entire budget. It would include 90 golfers, lunch and dinner in the private dining room. I convinced the board that it would be easy for them to recruit for foursomes and highlighted the opportunity get sponsorships and have a silent auction. They got VERY excited! The approved it with a very enthusiastic YES! I CHANGED MY MIND That's right. All the time I was trying to "sell" the board on a golf tournament, something wasn't quite right. I couldn't connect how we would educate golf foursomes about the work we do. There was no connection between golf and at risk youth. Something felt off so I started to try to understand how or why a golf tournament was a good fit. This involved me asking myself and others some critical questions. I asked myself these questions: 1) How would I educate golfers about the work we do? 2) Would our donors and volunteers even be interested in underwriting for a golf tournament? 3) What does golf have to do with incarcerated youth? If I feel a strong disconnect between the event and our organization, would others feel it too? And, just because I know how to plan a golf tournament that could likely do very well, doesn't mean I should. It doesn't mean it's right for the organization. COOKING, 49ER SOUS CHEF'S, VOLUNTEER AWARDS, SILENT AND LIVE AUCTION, PROGRAM EXPO So privately, behind the scenes I began masterminding another fundraising event option. And I came up with a list of things that were important to the organization, important to the values of the organization and were aligned with fundraising goals. In line with our donors and volunteers. I also intervIewed some of our closest funders. I needed to learn what made these funders attend fundraising events they had been invited to in the past. What was their "why" for attending? I also wanted to know what a successful event looked like and what it didn't look like for them. Their input and guidance helped me to create the weirdest but coolest event I had ever planned. Here's one thing I knew for sure, we had donors and volunteers and foundation supporters that got invited to some very cool fundraising e

Episode 49: Help, My Board Won't Fundraise for Our Annual Event! Raise your hand if this is a problem in your nonprofit: Your Board doesn't invite guests to the annual fundraising event, and they don't fill a table. They don't contribute to the auction by donating an auction item or purchasing an auction item. Worst yet, you schedule all of these fundraising event planning meetings, and they don't even come! They simply don't do their part to help your nonprofit succeed. Does this sound like any of you? Does this resonate with you? If this is you, let's hear it. Now, I'm going to help you figure out what to do next.

Nobody is buying tickets to your fundraising event! Why?? Tune in to learn why no one is showing up and what you can do to turn that around!

What Comes Before The Ask? Tune in to learn about the 4Rs of the cultivation cycle and how much time you should be spending on each R!

Creating a Story Bank! Ever wondered how to capture stories and images of all the great work your organization is doing? Then check out this episode on how to create a story bank for your organization!

There is tons of information out there in the vastness of the internet. There is so much free content out there that can really be helpful to get you started. But that's the thing. It's there to get you started. If you're someone that is constantly consuming free content, you might just be addicted to the free swag. The free swag will only get you so far my friends. It's time to think about if it's time to invest in yourself and your organization!

But Who Am I? Hi! I'm Lisa Clark and I help nonprofits and fundraisers like YOU raise money through events so you can meet your annual revenue goals! I'm also the host of a free Facebook Group, Raising with Lisa Clark, a free group for fundraisers, NPOs, development team members, volunteers, and supporters. I included a link below so you can request to join right away!

Link to Join Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/112148672944584

What Is Swag? We've all received some sort of swag. From little stress balls, cooling packs, to pens, we've all gotten little freebies from different organizations or businesses. Companies push out swag in order to attract people to them. They want to attract you so that they can get to know who you are and pitch a product or service to you. Others use it as a thank you and they want to be the brand in your home and in your life. It's a way to get their name in front of your face so it stays in the forefront of your mind. Sometimes you get things that are super useful and practical. Other times it's just a bunch of junk collecting in a corner that you never look at. A lot of it just simply provides you very little value.

Soaking In The Free Content I know there are a lot of you out there that are taking in a lot of free content or swag out there on the internet. You watch the free webinars, watch all the videos, but don't commit to buying the product. The free content that people are posting online is to attract you to their community or product, where you'll get even more tools. Something that will give you incredible value. This free content that you are consuming is great to get you started, but is it really the way to go?

Piecing This Together Take all the free content in the world, can be beneficial. DOn't get me wrong gaining knowledge is something that I can only commend. However, if you're trying to piece together everything in your nonprofit from free content, it's going to show. It's going to be apparent that you've pieced this together, and while it has some value it needs more.

Investing in your Organization If you're stuck in this "free zone" within your organization, I have to encourage you to invest in it. Putting money into your organization to move it forward can result in a bigger payoff for your organization in fundraising, or just help you move the needle to make it better. Looking to the experts in this field will help you build strategies to continue to grow and become bigger and better! Also, it'll take the stress off you feeling like you are missing that missing piece you keep searching for.

Look to the people that have been in this game for a while now. You don't have to make the same mistakes. You can learn from them. You don't have to keep feeling alone in this. You can invest in yourself and your nonprofit to take the next big step.

If you've been thinking about investing in my course "Fundraising Events that Deliver" now is the time to do it! The price right now is $497, but that is going to go up SOON! New material and resources are going to be added soon that you will get access to, but once it's there, there will be an increase in price. Now's the time to get access to my full system to create successful events, and have the opportunity to pick my brain when it comes to your specific event. I can't wait for you to join me!

Click here for more info: https://raisingwithlisaclark.lpages.co/fed/

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Want to learn more? Be sure to check out my blog! https://www.raisingwithlisaclark.com/blog

Don't forget to connect with me on other social media platforms as well!

Blog: https://www.raisingwithlisaclark.com/blog Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/raisingwithlisaclark/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsGyPtskQ-BVPVDoMcRnNaQ Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/raisingwithclark/

 We started planning this back in September so it's been a massive undertaking for everyone involved. This particular event went towards remodeling and making homes safe in the San Francisco Bay area. This includes changing out plumbing, re-roofing the home, fixing the electrical or whatever might be necessary. This is an organization that has been around for 30 years, and this particular event has been hosted by the Stanford Shopping Center for 17 years. Needless to say, there are many key takeaways you can incorporate into your events to make them successful like ours was!

Hi! I'm Lisa Clark and I help nonprofits and fundraisers like YOU raise money through events so you can meet your annual revenue goals! I'm also the host of a free Facebook Group, Raising with Lisa Clark, a free group for fundraisers, NPOs, development team members, volunteers, and supporters. I included a link below so you can request to join right away!

Link to Join Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/112148672944584

I had the honor of helping with this event this year, and I am so proud of the success that we've had. Historically, they have used the same set-up and on average has raised $400,000 to $500,000 run by volunteers. There are usually around 300-400 attendants. It didn't start this way, but this is a longstanding successful event that has slowly evolved to be as successful as they have been. They use five different revenue streams in order to achieve their fundraising goals:

• Ticket Sales
• A Raffle
• An Auction
• Fund A Need
• Underwriting Packages

They have a great partnership with Stanford Shopping Center and the auction items that they promote. The main feature is life-size playhouses that are absolutely huge and gorgeous. Some even have to be moved by crane! While this is quite an undertaking, this is an incredibly fruitful event for this organization.

In the past, the organization would auction off 12 of these houses, but this year they implemented Fund-A-Need due to the decline of the number of funds raised from auctioning off the playhouses. Decreasing the number of houses on auction, and creating these Fund A Need options allowed there to be more opportunities for people to donate who otherwise couldn't have. Creating this new source of revenue paid off!

Any large auction that I have attended has an option for everyone's pocketbook. While you could think that it could be overwhelming for your guests, having more options that can appeal to any budget will only bring you more funds for your organization. People will donate if they have the option. Opening up this new revenue stream, allowed the attendees to donate even if bidding on the playhouses wasn't something that they could afford.

In the past, this event has been run heavily by volunteers with the Director of Development overseeing things. There were different chairs that took care of the playhouses and maintaining the relationship with the Shopping Center and the builders. Then there were two people that oversaw the decor. There would also be a committee chair that would oversee the auction to make sure that it all ran smoothly and the auction items were organized. The Registration Team would also be in place to get people signed up, pass out name tags, etc. This year, with Fund A Need in place, there was a pre-registration option for people's credit cards for when they would bid on the playhouses. A team would also be assigned for recruiting auction items and sponsorships from shops within the center. The final team would then go to restaurants to solicit for catering options for the event. In our case, we were able to get McDonald's french fries, Sprinkles Cupcakes, California Pizza Kitchen and more. Having these different team can sound like a lot, but having different teams assigned to these teams really helped to ensure that things were planned.

As this event was mainly run by volunteers in the past, this year they brought me on because there were many volunteers that weren't able to return to help. This changed things up, but in the end, recruiting help was necessary to have this event run smoothly this year. It was also beneficial to bring help on, as Fund A Need was a new thing they decided to put into place. Sometimes getting help with your event can pay off in a big way!

In partnership with the Development Team and the Executive Director, the Underwriting Chair made a home run with selling underwriting packages! This package includes being featured on all the possible places that the event was being promoted. In our case, there were banners in the shopping center, on the event's website, social media, and more. Not only that, these sponsors received perks that were exclusive to these packages. The sponsors get tickets to invite their own guests, have a VIP table, had access to  Champagne and Wine(Thanks Tesla!), early check-in, and front row access passes to the auction.

These kinds of packages are really appealing to businesses and big spenders. Offering them are a nice way for people to be able to simply help your organization and have you thank them for being involved!

This organization took advantage of both the old fashioned and new ways of generating interest in the event. This included:

• Email Marketing
• Social Media
• Facebook Ads
• Advertising Banners in the shopping center
• Hard Copy Invitations
• Local Publications

While I don't have access to the stats from the Facebook Ads, they were able to attract attention to the organization through them. Without these ads, the event may not have reached the locals that it would have otherwise not been in front of. Taking advantage of social media is a great way to get in the face of new people for your organization.

If you would like guidance in how to promote your event through social media be sure to check out my course: https://www.raisingwithlisaclark.com/offers/DhnDgrxn/checkout

The full scope of this event was huge! Seeing 500 chairs dropped off by a rental company can seem crazy. Then there are the catering fees, beverage fees, etc. to tag on top of everything else. This event cost the organization around $60,000, but they raised $470,000. What I'm here to tell you is that if you invest in an event, you will see the return on investment. I encourage you to make a bold move to try something new!

What I also want to point out, is don't be afraid of the numbers that I reference. My numbers are going to be different than yours. While I might have had to spend $2,000 for a venue, you might only need to spend $300. Get out there and start getting quotes. Know what's available to you and don't be afraid thinking an event is going to cost you a crazy amount! This will be different for each event, based on location and time of the year.

This is an established and fairly successful organization, but things have to change with the times sometimes. WIth the lack of available volunteers and then having volunteers need to fulfill other obligations in their life, there was a lot of pressure put onto the event board to help this fundraising event come together. The choice this organization made to get the help they needed, was essential in my opinion to help this event continue to be successful and fruitful. While I think we all are self starters who want to do it all, there are times when changing up how you run things can keep you from floundering in the end.

If you've been thinking about investing in my course "Fundraising Events that Deliver" now is the time to do it! The price right now is $497, but that is going to go up SOON! New material and resources are going to be added soon that you will get access to, but once it's there, there will be a an increase. Now's the time to get access to my full system to create successful events, and have the opportunity to pick my brain when it comes to your specific event. I can't wait for you to join me!

Don't forget to connect with me on other social media platforms as well!

Blog: https://www.raisingwithlisaclark.com/blog  

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/raisingwithlisaclark  

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsGyPtskQ-BVPVDoMcRnNaQ  

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/raisingwithclark/