Fundraising events are popular with nonprofits and charities for a reason. In addition to bringing in important funds, these different types of fundraisers can create great momentum with new and existing donors, leading to more event conversions. And they can be feel-good ways to connect with more of your community! In this article, we’ll look…
Fundraising events are popular with nonprofits and charities for a reason. In addition to bringing in important funds, these different types of fundraisers can create great momentum with new and existing donors, leading to more event conversions. And they can be feel-good ways to connect with more of your community!
In this article, we’ll look at different types of fundraisers and talk about how you can use each to raise more money for your organization. We’ll also tell you how Donorbox Events can ensure great success with each of these fundraiser types.
Here’s what we’ll cover –
Often organizations are intimidated by hosting concerts, but they don’t have to be huge to be effective fundraisers!
Organizing a concert with local musicians who have a following is a great way to connect with new donors and offer a fun event for your existing donors.
Because concerts are more intensive events, they can be difficult for smaller nonprofits to manage. However, you can leverage your community partnerships to secure a venue and refreshments for your concert, cutting upfront costs.
The Arizae Foundation used Donorbox Events to sell tickets for their Soul and Solidarity concert, featuring more than 7 artists and benefitting Ukraine. They sold tickets at a general admission level and VIP level, where VIP attendees get a meet and greet with the artists as well as appetizers and drinks.
For each ticket level, the foundation showed how much of each ticket is tax-deductible. This adds more incentive for people to purchase tickets since they can claim them on their taxes!
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Pro tip: Use text-to-give to receive even more donations during your concert. Put your Donorbox campaign ID and text-to-give number up on a screen behind the artists performing and have them encourage the crowd to give – and repeat donations which is even easier!
Run or walk fundraisers like 5K races, marathons, walk-a-thons, and relay races are all excellent types of fundraisers to boost energy for an event.
These fundraisers provide a lot of flexibility because you can host them in person, where everyone exercises together, or virtually, where everyone exercises on their own.
Both virtual and in-person events can be pulled off with a low budget, too, meaning this is a great type of fundraiser for organizations of any size.
Check out Power to Act’s A Call to Run For One virtual run event to raise funds for their mission of helping support women in need all over the world! This event page is created on Donorbox to sell tickets and leverage its other important features.
The organization opened their event up to any kind of physical activity – gardening, horseback riding, or even a gym session – so everyone felt like they could participate.
With their Donorbox Event page, they used multiple ticket tiers to collect t-shirt size information from their attendees, making selling tickets and sending out merch a breeze. People simply selected their size and checked out.
As a more traditional choice, galas can be excellent fundraising events. Galas typically include dinner, dancing, entertainment, and sometimes live and silent auctions.
Usually, these full-scale events are tailored to fit a theme relevant to a nonprofit’s mission. Ticket tiers for galas will include individual levels, along with corporate sponsorships and often the option to purchase whole tables.
Because these events require a lot of preparation and upfront costs, in-person galas are often not possible for organizations with smaller teams and budgets.
However, virtual galas are a new trend in the nonprofit world! Virtual gala fundraising means you save costs on food, beverage, and venue, but can still provide entertainment and a fun evening through live streaming.
Pro tip: Including a virtual silent auction in your virtual gala is a great way to keep the momentum going. You can also easily sell virtual raffle tickets using Donorbox Events and raffle off a high-value item, like a wine or spirits basket, to build momentum for your event.
Here’s an example of a Gala fundraiser event created by Quality Services for the Autism Community on Donorbox. This event has included ticket levels for sponsorships as well as individual participation as part of their event pricing strategy.
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Although art exhibitions might not be the most common example of a charity event, they are unique fundraisers that can be very attractive to donors.
There are two ways to host an art exhibit fundraiser:
Check out this art exhibit fundraiser from The Prison Dr. They are selling tickets to the art exhibition “My Friend, The Earth” by artist Bruno Zupan at The Millennium Gate Museum. This event page on Donorbox is created with timed ticket tiers, limiting the number of tickets available. Click here to view the complete event page including the ticketing form.
Parents probably don’t want to take their kids to a formal event like a gala…but they would love to take them along to something more family-focused!
Including the whole family in fundraising events is a great way to both sell more tickets and reach more attendees who might otherwise not be able to make it.
These events can vary but should be high-energy and usually include a fun activity that will get people up on their feet and active.
Some examples of family-friendly fundraising events include:
Whatever family-friendly event you choose, remember to keep the energy up so all your attendees have a blast – which will make your event more successful!
Check out this live example of a family-friendly event hosted by Iron Leg. It includes everything from DJ to balloons to food trucks to a cornhole tournament and a car show for all ages.
Donors love these events because they’re fun for all ages and usually bring a lot of value along with their donations.
Auctions are a great way to create excitement with your fundraising events. And if you have some solid auction items, they can also help increase your event attendance.
Live auctions take a little more organization because you’ll need an auctioneer to help get the crowd interested in bidding on your items in real-time. Live auctions also generally work better with higher-value items like trips, special excursions, and expensive merchandise.
Silent auctions are easier to organize. Instead of bidding live on items, your attendees write their names and their bids on a form in front of each item. You can also conduct a silent auction online. This is ideal for smaller items.
Either way, you can make a good amount of money by auctioning off donated items.
Check out how Rock Island County 4-H used Donorbox to sell tickets to their event, which featured a really creative silent pie auction! They sold tickets at 6 different levels and listed the tax-deductible amount for each tier to encourage more people to buy tickets.
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People purchase tickets to enter your raffle and win one large prize. Having an attractive prize can increase attendance since more will try to win!
Raffles are ideal for organizations of any size since they don’t require a lot of effort but still pack a fundraising punch. You can also combine it with a penny social (silent auction + raffle) to increase your overall funds from the event.
Nonprofits also host a virtual raffle these days. These are just as effective but be sure to live stream the drawing to capture the same energy as a life raffle event.
Check out this example of a raffle event page created using Donorbox Events to sell tickets. They have included some large items such as a TV, cooler, concert tickets, and more to encourage more participation. Their ticket pricing strategy depends on 2 ticket tiers – single tickets at $15 and couple’s tickets at $25.
No matter what types of fundraisers you want to try for your nonprofit, it will take a huge amount of resources – namely time and money.
So it’s important to use the tools that can help make your event as successful as possible – in simple and quick ways. That’s where Donorbox Events comes in!
It takes only a few minutes to set up your online event page and the ticketing form on Donorbox. Let’s check out some key features –
These features make every step of your fundraiser from idea to implementation run smoothly, no matter how large or small your team! Learn more about this powerful Donorbox feature in this video here –
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These 7 types of fundraisers will add fuel to your next fundraising event strategy. But using the right tools and coming up with an effective pricing plan are both crucial to your event’s success.
Donorbox Events is there to help – hundreds of organizations are already boosting their event revenue with ticket sales through this feature! You can start your journey today – sign up for free!
Donorbox offers a wide range of other simple-to-use features that are all built to take your fundraising to the next level. From Recurring Donations to Crowdfunding to Peer-to-Peer to Fundraising Pages to Memberships to Donor Management and more, learn about them on our website.
Get tips and ideas and find handy resources for your event fundraising at the Donorbox Nonprofit Blog. Subscribe to our newsletter to get a curated list of our best resources in 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