Your nonprofit has decided to host a fundraising event. Great! Now…where to get started? One of your first steps is to create an event committee that will think through every piece of your fundraising event. In this article, we’ll help you define what a fundraising event committee does, who serves on it, and some steps to create an effective one.
Whether you’re a seasoned fundraising event pro or just getting started, chances are you could use some help with one key area: creating your event committee in a way that will ensure it serves its purpose.
If that sounds daunting, don’t worry – you’re not alone! We’ll share some key insights and tips to create a fundraising event committee that will stick to their responsibilities and help you plan stellar events that bring in more money for your mission.
Let’s get started!
First, let’s establish why these committees even matter. Although starting another committee might sound like a waste of time, your event planning committee comes together to manage every aspect of your fundraising event so you don’t have to do it alone. Whether you’re hosting a formal gala or a golf tournament, your committee will help you make crucial decisions to ensure your event’s success.
Your committee members will make decisions about the following elements:
And more. Your committee members will also help secure event sponsorships and spread awareness.
Your event committee is partially responsible for choosing your event ticketing platform (if you don’t have one already). This decision is crucial to ensure you have the best possible tools to generate the highest return on investment for your event.
Donorbox Events helps organizations of all sizes take the stress out of ticket selling and management while empowering them to crush their fundraising goals.
With Events, create unlimited ticket tiers, set ticket buying deadlines and limits, and ask for additional donations on top of ticket sales. Plus, highlight the tax-deductible amount of every tier to encourage your supporters to purchase at a higher level.
Use promo codes to boost sales by offering free or discounted tickets. Plus, make event check-in a breeze with a unique numerical and QR code for each ticket that you can simply enter into your Donorbox account or scan using your smartphone before confirming the ticket.
Learn more in this short video or check out our guide to creating an Events page on Donorbox!
Create your own Event - Sign up!
This answer will vary depending on the type of event you’re throwing, the size of your organization, and the interest level of your supporters.
Typically, a fundraising event committee will include the following:
These people will work together to make your fundraising event the best it can be!
Remember, you want your fundraising event committee to have a variety of skills, interests, and experience. This will ensure a well-rounded group that can help with a variety of event-related needs.
For example, you’ll want to have at least one person skilled in the following areas:
You have two options for securing your committee members. You can either ask for applications from board members, volunteers, donors, and others. Or you can actively recruit committee members.
Just remember that this is a volunteer position for anyone outside of your staff – so if someone wants to help, try your best to find a place for them to do it!
Once you have your list of interested and committed members, it’s time to establish any officer roles for your committee.
The most important role on any fundraising event committee is the event chair. This person makes final decisions about the event and steers the committee. Typically, this is someone with a long-time relationship with your organization as well as vital connections within the community so they can help secure sponsorships and generate interest in your event. You may also choose to have co-chairs, who split this role.
Otherwise, you may have vice-chairs to support your event chair or co-chairs. They will take on some of those responsibilities listed above and they help run your committee as needed.
You may also choose to establish a secretary, logistics coordinator, volunteer coordinator, or something else depending on your needs.
If you have a large event, you may find yourself working with a large event committee – one that would benefit from being broken up into smaller sub-committees. Too many cooks spoil the broth, after all!
Some common sub-committees include:
And more. You may not need to have separate committees for each of these categories, but consider creating a sub-committee if you find yourself with an overabundance of tasks in a certain area – and enough committee members interested in taking those tasks on.
No group can be successful without SMART goals – those that are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound.
Of course, your fundraising event committee’s ultimate goal is to host an event that raises money for your cause. But how much do you hope to raise? And what steps will your committee take to ensure that goal is met?
A fundraising goal for your event committee might look something like the following:
“We plan to raise at least $10,000 through our live auction with 20 high-value, donated items and $30,000 by selling 150 tickets, 5 tables, and 5 sponsorship packages for our third annual gala.”
This goal tells your committee that they need to do the following:
Check out how Chattahoochee Hills Charter Schools used Donorbox Events to sell tickets at several different tiers – helping them meet their goals!
Pro tip: Our SMART Goal Setting Worksheet is free to download and can walk you through crafting the perfect goals for your next fundraising event.
Regular committee meetings are the key to making fundraising event planning as smooth as possible. How often you meet will depend on how far in advance you’ve started planning, but it’s a good idea to go ahead and set the schedule as soon as possible. This will mean your meetings make it onto busy calendars and don’t get lost in other obligations.
Each meeting, leave time for the whole committee to give updates on the progress of the event. This should include sharing any planning decisions, fundraising updates (to keep them pushing for those goals!), or new ideas.
Pro tip: Use our free, downloadable Event Planning Checklist to help your committee stay on track. The first item on that checklist is to start your committee – so you’ll be in good shape!
A great fundraising event committee is the foundation of any successful nonprofit event. This group of dedicated individuals comes together to choose how your event will look and feel to ultimately help your mission.
Donorbox Events makes creating and selling tickets easy, so your committee can focus on crafting the perfect event and getting the word out. Sign up and create your Events page for free!
For more event planning tips and tricks, check out the rest of our Nonprofit Blog. Subscribe to our newsletter for a curated selection of blogs delivered to your inbox every month!
Lindsey spent years wearing many hats in the nonprofit world. Whether she was helping arts nonprofits with their messaging and content, planning a fundraising gala, writing an NEA grant proposal, or running a membership program with over 400 members, she learned how to navigate – and appreciate! – the fast-paced world of fundraising. Now, she loves sharing those hard-earned lessons with the Donorbox community.
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Lindsey Baker Bower