A wine tasting fundraiser is a great way to raise funds for your organization and make strong connections with new donors. Since wine is such a popular choice, a wine tasting is also an excellent add-on to generate more excitement around your event. In this article, we'll walk you through everything you need to know to host a successful wine tasting fundraiser, including some creative ways to raise even more money.
Did you know that wine is the go-to alcoholic beverage for 31% of Americans? As a popular alcoholic beverage with many interesting features to study, wine tasting makes an excellent fundraiser for nonprofits and charities.
If you want to learn more about how to host a wine tasting fundraiser – and how to raise money – this is the article for you! We’ll walk you through how to do a wine tasting fundraiser, creative ideas to raise even more money, and how Donorbox Events can help.
First, let’s look at how wine fundraising works.
Typically, a wine tasting fundraiser involves an organization partnering with a wine merchant. The wine merchant provides wine tastings and expertise and usually ends up selling wines at the event. While the nonprofit benefits from the tickets sold for the event.
Selling tickets to a wine fundraiser is great because it’s a stylish and fun event that many different people are interested in. More than just donating, purchasing a ticket to an event gives donors an immediate sense of value – and can be a great first step in a long-term donor relationship.
Donorbox Events is a nimble, powerful platform that fully streamlines the online ticket sales process for your wine tasting fundraiser. You can create customizable event pages and ticketing forms with unlimited ticket tiers and leverage other conversion-optimized features to boost ticket sales.
Check out this example. Friends of the Lower Grand Coulee used Donorbox Events to sell tickets to their elegant wine tasting event. Please note that the ticket sales have ended for this event, so the ticketing form is not available on the event page.
Create Your Wine Tasting Event on Donorbox
Now let’s dive into the eight steps to plan and host the perfect wine-tasting fundraiser.
Goal-setting is an important first step for any fundraising event. If you’ve never hosted a wine fundraiser before, it might be tricky to set a goal that’s both realistic and ambitious.
Start by thinking about your needs. Are you fundraising for something specific? If so, that might be a good goal to focus on.
Pro tip: If you have hosted a similar event or campaign in the past, you can use Donorbox Donor Management to review how much you raised to help determine your current goal. Simply go to the “Manage” section of your Donorbox account and check your supporters and donations data by applying filters for a specific campaign and segmenting data.
Need more guidance? Check out our guide to setting and meeting fundraising goals.
Your goal will in part help you determine your budget. Your budget will guide you through the rest of your planning, as you’ll have a better understanding of what you can afford.
Think about your absolute needs for the event. For example, if you’re a nonprofit without a physical location, you know you’ll need money for a venue.
Remember, the lower your budget, the more beneficial this fundraising event will be for your organization. However, that doesn’t mean you can skimp out on the experience! That’s where sponsors come in.
Sponsors can be wine merchants, vineyards, local restaurants, and more. They’ll provide free or discounted products in return for exposure to your audience.
To find sponsors, start with your network. Do your board members have any ties with the wine business? Or any of your top donors? These types of connections will be easiest to forge since you’re starting with someone who is already passionate about your cause!
We love how this organization partnered with a local winery for a super fun event featuring “land” boats and delicious wine to make the event even more valuable for attendees.
For more help finding sponsors, check out this article about how to get sponsorship for fundraising events.
Speaking of people passionate about your cause – your planning committee will help you bring your wine tasting fundraiser to life!
Typically, planning committees include dedicated board members, volunteers, staff, and sponsor representatives. They provide guidance and suggestions to ensure the event is high quality and runs smoothly!
Start by surveying your board members to determine interest.
If you don’t have a physical space of your own, you’ll need to find a venue to host your wine event.
Depending on your sponsorships, this might be at a winery, local restaurant, or hotel. Remember to refer back to your budget if you need to pay for a venue.
Finding an easy and secure way to sell tickets online is an important step in planning your wine-tasting fundraiser. With an efficient tool like Donorbox Events, it’ll be a breeze.
Donorbox Events lets you create fully customizable event pages and embeddable ticketing forms. You can add multiple ticketing tiers with tax-deductible information, a ticket quantity limit, a deadline to buy tickets, and more. You can also select the currency in which you want to sell tickets, allow buyers to cover the processing fees, and share a QR code to quickly access your ticketing form. Plus, when someone buys tickets to your event through Donorbox, they’ll automatically receive their receipt and tickets via email.
This really streamlines your workflow for event planning because you don’t have to worry about getting information to guests – they’ll receive it automatically! Donorbox also lets you easily manage the data for purchasers and sold tickets at the backend. Learn more about this powerful Donorbox tool on our website. Sign up to get started today!
Once you choose the right ticket sales platform for your event, you need to determine your pricing and ticket tiers.
Because it’s a more high-end event, tickets to your wine tasting fundraiser can cost a little more than other types of events. However, you don’t want to price your tickets high enough to turn people away. Review your goal and your budget and figure out what price point will help you reach your goal.
With Donorbox Events, you can create unlimited ticket tiers to have a variety of pricing available for your guests.
Pro tip: Showing ticket purchasers that part of their ticket is tax-deductible is a great way to encourage them to buy more tickets. It’s a win-win – they get to attend your fun event and they get a tax benefit. Here’s what it looks like when you easily calculate this information on Donorbox by just entering the tax rate and the fair market value of the ticket –
Check out our guide to creating and selling fundraising event tickets for more help!
Finally, you’re ready to spread the word about your event!
Share your event through –
If your organization has an in-person component, you can also share a QR Code to your event page so people can simply scan and buy tickets. Your automatically-generated code for your events on Donorbox can be found on your Events dashboard in each event box. All you have to do is download (and customize if you want) and share!
Boost Event Ticket Sales with Donorbox!
Here are some wine fundraiser ideas to help you get creative and raise even more money!
A silent auction with art, wine, experiences, and more is a great addition to your wine fundraiser. People can make their bids as they mingle and sample wines. At the end of the night, announce the winners, collect their payment, and send them home with their items.
Check out this list of other kinds of fundraisers to raise even more money at your event! We also have a dedicated guide to help you host a silent auction – read it here.
Selling raffle tickets for wine baskets or other high-value items is a great way to boost your fundraising.
This church included raffle tickets with the price of admission and then listed the pricing for additional raffle tickets right on their Donorbox Events page. That way, attendees knew what the raffle would cost and could plan on buying more tickets at the event!
A donation kiosk is a great way to capture more donations during your event. As people gather to taste the wines and engage with each other, talk to them about the significance of the event in helping further your mission. Encourage attendees to leave a donation at your kiosk.
You can easily set up a donation kiosk at your event venue. All you need are an iPad or Android tablet and a card reader device when you’re using the Donorbox Live™ Kiosk app. It will quickly turn your tablet into a donation kiosk and help you accept swift cashless donations. Any donations made using the app are automatically connected to your Donorbox account, so they flow directly into the Donorbox database to help you keep track of kiosk fundraising.
A great way to raise more money at your wine fundraiser is to sell more expensive tickets at a VIP level. These tickets should include special perks before, during, and/or after your event.
These perks can be relatively inexpensive for your organization but should be appealing to buyers so they’re willing to spend more upfront.
Donorbox Events is an all-inclusive online event ticketing platform that will help boost ticket sales for your wine-tasting fundraiser. You can easily – and quickly – set up an online event page and a ticketing form to promote the event and sell your tickets.
Key features include:
Follow our step-by-step guide to get started now. Watch this short video to learn more about Donorbox Events!
Wine tasting is a popular activity that makes for a fantastic fundraising event. Your fundraiser can be upscale or more casual but with the right sponsor, it will definitely be lucrative for your organization!
Ensure your event is a success by following the planning steps outlined in this article. The wine fundraiser ideas listed above will help you raise even more money!
Make Donorbox Events your partner for your wine-tasting fundraiser. Its streamlined, easy-to-use tools make selling tickets for any event a breeze. Learn about Donorbox Events as well as other products and features on the website. Sign up to start fundraising right away!
Want more tips on event ticketing, fundraising events, ideas, free templates, and more? Check out Donorbox Nonprofit Blog. Subscribe to our newsletter to receive a handpicked collection 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