The right event pricing strategy is the key to hosting successful fundraising events. But how do you come up with one and put it into action? I'll walk you through developing a solid pricing strategy and provide ways to sell more tickets using psychology.
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Join the fundraising movement! Join the fundraising movement!If your organization has held events in the past, it may be easier to determine ticket prices. If not, you may feel lost and unsure of where to start. An event ticket pricing strategy should be focused on determining the right ticket prices for your target audience while ensuring that ticket sales are substantially boosted with each event.
In this article, I’ll provide a few questions you should ask when deciding on your fundraising event ticket pricing strategy. I’ll also break down how psychology can play an important role in pricing and selling your event tickets.
If you’ve been holding the same fundraising event but can’t seem to raise more money, these questions can also help you decide if you can and should raise the ticket price for all levels.
Bonus: Download our Event Ticket Pricing Guide to determine the best pricing strategy for your next event:
The first step to holding an event is to define your fundraising goal. Determine different ways to raise funds, such as major donor gifts, sponsorships, and planned gifts.
An event can help your organization win these gifts. In the early planning stages, look at ways your fundraising event can raise funds through ticket sales and determine where the ticket price falls in importance.
The primary reason to sell tickets to a fundraising event is to cover the cost of the event and then, raise money. There are several expenses with any event. See the following list –
When searching for a location, it is essential to get quotes from at least 3 different companies before finalizing the location.
Food can be the second most expensive cost of events. When determining event locations, you can see if there are ways to lower this cost. Does your location require you to use their kitchen, or can you bring outside food? Can you find a sponsor or donor for event food?
Marketing for a fundraising event can include mailed invitations, newspaper and social media ads, and flyers. If your event is held outside, marketing pieces may also have signs and banners.
If you hope to bring in a large crowd, a popular entertainer can help. Unfortunately, this also means high costs. Some entertainers are willing to perform for nonprofits for free, but other expenses must be included. Will you need to pay for your entertainer’s travel and hotel? Before signing any entertainment contract, make sure you account for all the costs.
After the 4 highest costs, there are still many event items that can cost your organization money. In many of these cases, you may be able to find in-kind donations. Others are requirements that must be included in your budget.
But remember, your strategy is not just about covering the cost of fundraising events and making no revenue for the nonprofit. Ticket sales should eventually help you raise money for furthering your mission, too.
Knowing what your competitors’ tickets cost for similar events will help you take advantage of competitive pricing. This is also useful when you’re trying out a new type of event. Analyzing other event ticket prices will provide insights into their ticket sales and pricing strategies.
By offering different experiences, your nonprofit can target different donor groups and create experiences that work for each. Determine which fundraising events fit your donors by segmenting them into different donor types.
Determine what donors in these groups have in common and how much they are willing to pay for an event. When deciding on your event ticket cost, research which donors will be interested in this type of event and how much they’d be willing to pay. This will drive ticket sales and help you create different ticket types for your event.
Check out the below example to understand the tiers of tickets they’ve created for different sets of audiences.
The answer to this question may seem obvious, but a nonprofit must hold a few free tickets for event sponsors, major donors, and other important guests.
Remember, a fundraising event should be used to promote the organization and connect with major donors who are likely to give larger amounts to the nonprofit in the future. Losing a few hundred dollars in ticket sales in exchange for thousands of dollars later in the year is wise.
Marketing professionals agree that psychology plays a significant role in selling products. The same applies to ticket sales. See how other companies use psychology, and if any of these tricks could help you sell more tickets.
Everyone knows this pricing trick. Pricing a ticket at $9.99 instead of $10 is a common marketing practice that gives purchasers the impression that they’re paying less, even if it’s just a penny. Most attendees won’t even notice, but if you’re interested in seeing if it can make a difference, change the price this year, and see if you sell more tickets.
Create different price points for your event tickets. You will always get a better response when offering different ticket prices targeted to the right donor groups. For example, you can have a separate, low-cost ticket level for your virtual event and 3 more levels for general admission, VIP admission, and group admission of your in-person event.
Donorbox Events lets you add an unlimited number of ticket tiers to your event-ticketing form. You can also input the fair-market value and tax rate to determine the tax-deductibility of all ticket tiers. Showcasing this information on each ticket type ensures that your potential attendees have transparency.
Here’s an example of a fundraising event that has two price points for tickets:
Offering free or discounted tickets is an easy way to attract a new audience. Find a way to use free tickets to encourage more participation and get something in exchange. The best way to do this is to create a contest for people to win free event tickets.
After you’ve picked the winner of the free tickets, send a special invitation to every email you received. Offer a discounted price and a special note to say how you hope they’ll join you for the event.
For example, Orthopaedic Relief Services International does it a little differently. The range of multiple tickets includes drawing entries to an attendance contest. Whoever wins the drawing would receive a giveaway prize of a unique assortment of 12 bottles of Italian red wines delivered to their place.
Only 3 more days to get your tickets!
Creating a sense of urgency is one of the best ways to use psychology to sell tickets. You can keep this urgency at the top of your supporters’ minds by adding a countdown timer to your event form and all online marketing appeals. This is more effective for last-minute ticket sales.
Do you have supporters with a significant online following? Are any of your donors online influencers? Leveraging online influence can help you attract new people to your virtual and hybrid events.
Choose a few supporters with large online followers. Create and send them a referral code and ask them to encourage their audience to attend the event. Creating a different referral code for each influencer will help you know which individual had the best response. This can be useful in case of your future events.
Offering discounts through early-bird pricing is another simple way to use psychology to sell more tickets. Sell discounted tickets online or to any early-bird ticket purchasers. If your organization can sell most of the tickets to your event early, it makes the planning process much more manageable. Here’s an example:
Promo codes are a great way to get your audience to purchase more tickets. Offer a discount as a percentage to encourage your supporters to purchase more tickets (for a larger discount), or a dollar amount to encourage people to check out with their tickets.
With Donorbox Events, you can use both types of discounts and create unlimited promo codes. Activate and deactivate your promo codes at any time to offer a limited-time discount – which will inspire urgency and help you sell more tickets.
Use promo codes to track certain outreach channels by using codes for specific channels. This helps determine if you’re reaching the audience you want to reach – and how you might change your strategy for your next fundraising event.
The best way to sell out fundraising events is by selling tickets to groups. Segmenting and creating ticket types that appeal to groups of people can help your organization raise more money.
Does your audience prefer virtual events? Will bundling multiple tickets together encourage more participation? Look at your audience to find out.
If you’re planning a concert or speaker series, your audience may want backstage passes or a question-and-answer session after the event. If you’re trying to target families, you may get a better response by discounting tickets sold in a bundle.
VIP experiences can range from selling prime tables to a gala to extra services offered before or after your fundraising event. You may also hold an exclusive event for major donors and corporate sponsors and offer them an extraordinary encounter they will remember. Below are a few things you can include with your VIP tickets:
In the below example, the Christian community in Egypt holds an event for the premiere of their documentary-style film that depicts the life and struggles of people from the community across the country. Their event has a VIP admission ticket in addition to three other tiers.
Family-friendly fundraising events, outdoor festivals, and concerts can all be excellent opportunities to offer bundled tickets at a discount. If most of your nonprofit’s supporters are families or younger, discounted group tickets are the best way to encourage participation.
If you’re hoping to fill a larger auditorium or larger space, discounted ticket packages are also the best way to reach larger groups of people who don’t already have a connection to your nonprofit.
Here are some ideas for offering bundled offers:
Check out this example of a Donorbox Events form to see how ticket packages streamline checkout for supporters while helping you increase support for your cause.
Increase Ticket Sales with Donorbox Events
Effective ticket pricing strategies and early planning for nonprofit events can ensure reliable financial support throughout the year. After you’ve decided on your ticket prices and started to sell, track how people respond to each of these strategies. By learning which techniques work and which don’t, you can use that information for other events throughout the year.
Donorbox is dedicated to creating powerful fundraising features that help you raise more – both online and in person.
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Kristine Ensor is a freelance writer with over a decade of experience working with local and international nonprofits. As a nonprofit professional she has specialized in fundraising, marketing, event planning, volunteer management, and board development.
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