Does your association rely on fundraising events to raise money for the year? Or maybe your organization supports a charitable cause and hosts an annual meeting for its members to donate? Whatever the reason, many groups rely on fundraising as an annual event. This year, many organizations have had to put their events programs on hold or transition them to a virtual environment. For events that place a lot of emphasis on in-person networking and socialization, the shift to virtual has been a challenge. So how do you host a successful fundraising event in a virtual environment?
While nothing will replace the organic conversations and memories made at an in-person event, there are many creative ways to host a virtual fundraising event that can be just as successful. In this blog, we will walk through some examples of virtual fundraising events and how technology can help facilitate collaboration and community.
Virtual conferences
The most common virtual event is the virtual conference. While most virtual conferences are not for fundraising, you can repurpose these virtual events for charitable purposes. Find inspirational speakers who are related to the cause and can encourage donations from participants. Advertise their bios ahead of time through your registration page to create excitement and promote participation and networking during the event with Live Q & A’s during the sessions. Finally, have an excellent closing ceremony to reiterate the fundraising aspect of the conference and to drive home some of the most powerful messages presented throughout the event.
Virtual silent auctions
A silent auction is exciting. Often, attendees dress up, browse extravagant prizes, make their bids, and eagerly await the winners. While your virtual silent auction may consist more of sweatpants than ballgowns, a virtual event can replicate most of the other features of these popular fundraising gatherings.
With an advanced virtual solution, you can not only stream the live auction directly on the website, but also include other vital information. You can display your charity of choice prominently on the home screen and repurpose a survey as a bidding tool for your auction items.
To make the auction have that same classy feeling as its in-person counterpart, you should have an emcee or announcer present each prize and winner. Make it like a TV show or sports event to deliver the same great quality that your virtual attendees would have expected in-person.
Virtual talent shows
This event is a little less conventional but is equally entertaining. Your attendees can donate money during the show if they enjoy the performances. Performers can either pre-record their acts or livestream them directly to your virtual event.
Again, you should have an emcee to announce and commentate on each act to keep the event entertaining and flowing smoothly. You can have an agenda listed on your virtual event platform to let attendees know which performances are coming up, and you can list your performers with a brief bio on a separate page.
Virtual book clubs
One virtual event that Cvent’s Women in Leadership group has been hosting regularly is a book club. Virtual book clubs are a great way to keep members engaged and connected, and it is an event that can be regularly hosted and will maintain a loyal following. It also requires little to no extra funds, so you can put all of the extra money towards your fundraising.
Choose how frequently you want to host your book club and make that well known to attendees. Many groups host their events on a monthly cadence. Publish your book of the month on your event website, and if you are able to plan ahead, publish a calendar for the year so attendees can purchase all of the books in advance.
In terms of fundraising, there are a couple of different ways that you could raise money through this program. You could have attendees donate once when they register to become a part of the book club. Or, you could ask attendees to donate separately at each book club meeting. If you choose this option, you could even arrange a different charity to collect for at each book club meeting.
Virtual run/walkathons
One fundraising event that we have seen a lot of recently is the virtual run/walkathon. This was surprising for many reasons, but mostly for the obvious one: a run or walk MUST take place in person. You can’t exactly run virtually. However, you CAN share your exercise virtually.
After participants have registered for your race, you can share their photos and bios on your virtual event page. People can donate on behalf of the participants and contribute to the charity that way. Participants can organize breakout rooms amongst one another to talk about training and strategy.
During the race, participants can livestream their progress if they choose, and supporters can watch the race on the website. Participants can stay connected with one another through Live Q&A chats during the livestream to update their peers on their progress.
Virtual wine tasting/cooking classes
Fun activities that can be transitioned to both a virtual and a fundraising format are food and beverage sampling events. While before the pandemic we may have occasionally signed up for an in-person sushi rolling class with our friends or traveled to a winery with a loved one, we can still enjoy these tasty pastimes virtually, while incorporating a fundraising element.
To cut down on external costs, check with your association members to see if anyone has cooking skills, or advanced knowledge about wine. Once you have a volunteer to lead the session, you can simply market your event as usual. Email your prospective attendees with an invitation to the event, and if they don’t open the email, send them a reminder a few days later. They won’t want to miss this event!
On the registration page, instead of requiring an attendance fee, make it a fundraiser by leaving room for attendees to donate whatever amount they’d like to contribute. This will not only garner the goodwill of your attendees but may encourage them to give more money to the cause than they would have with a set cost.
Finally, get attendees excited by advertising your chef/wine connoisseur and their background experience on your virtual event’s speaker biography page.
Virtual art classes
During this pandemic, many of us have taken the extra time to channel our inner creativity through creating art, playing a musical instrument, or writing in a journal. For those of us who are not so gifted artistically, but who still like to get creative, a virtual art class would be a welcome fundraising event.
It doesn’t have to be complicated at all, and it is probably preferable if it is not. Have artistic members of your association lead classes on watercolor, piano, origami, or whatever other skills they want to share! You can create breakout rooms for attendees to join separate classes and have the last half hour of the event blocked off for the attendees to come back together and share their work with the group. Have attendees make a donation during the registration process where they will also sign up for whichever art class they want to attend.
Giving back during a pandemic
These past few months have been difficult professionally, mentally, emotionally, and financially. However, it is important to remember that there is always someone or some organization out there that is struggling even more than you. During these times of uncertainty and restlessness, it can help to know that you’re making a direct difference. It is important to keep these fundraising events going even in this virtual environment so your members and constituents can give back to the groups and organizations that they care about the most. After all, we are all in this together.
Looking for more virtual event ideas? Check out 26 Virtual Event Ideas and Examples.
