The Nonprofit Fundraising Solution by Laurence Pagnoni

Author:Laurence Pagnoni
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: AMACOM

After the party, one of the most often-heard complaints from donors and your event volunteers is, “No one even said ‘thank you.’” Make sure your organization takes the time to send thank-you notes to everyone involved, including volunteers, staff members, and vendors. Keep your donors happy. You are probably going to be asking them for another donation somewhere down the road.

CASEBOOK

The first time I ever threw a party with a purpose, we served donated breakfast and raised $75,000. I was delighted and amazed. Then, as if that opening salvo wasn't enough, one of the attendees offered to host a second gathering the very next week and we raised an additional $110,000. My amazement morphed into utter disbelief. In only two events we had successfully raised $185,000 of our $250,000 goal. Sure, the party was for an excellent cause—the opening of a new seventeen-bed residence as a transitional program for adolescents in need. But the real keys to our success were our two cohosts, a husband and wife team that everyone knew and held in extremely high regard. Not only did they avail themselves of a profusion of excellent contacts whom they invited to the gatherings, but they themselves were able to advocate movingly on behalf of our cause. They knew their audience and how to reach them. In fact, they in turn were so moved by their friends’ generosity that they donated the balance of the funds needed, and our renovation drive ended.

I wish I could tell you that every parlor gathering I've been a part of since had similar or better results than that initial home run. But alas, I can't. Still, that first experience speaks to how valuable the right hosts can be, and how infectious the act of giving can become at a well-hosted parlor gathering. Of the forty total attendees we had at the two gatherings, thirty-eight of them became new donors to our organization (the husband and wife were already donors). So not only did we raise money, we expanded our donor constituency and had thirty-eight new networks to explore for future giving.

Not all gatherings will be lucrative in terms of dollars, though all of them should be effective at identifying new potential donors. However, this is not to say that all parlor gatherings should go forward. On the contrary, if you can't arrange the necessary criteria—the right hosts, the right purpose, the right venue, the right kind and number of attendees—you'll be well advised to cancel the planning process and start fresh another day, rather than proceed with insufficient resources and momentum.

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