Difference between revisions of "Special events"
From NGO Handbook
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In terms of printed materials, get the “Save the Date” card in the mail at least six months before your event. An invitation is great. Ideally, you want that going in the mail six weeks before the event and definitely no less than four weeks before the event. And a printed program is great. It is a great take-home piece and it is a way to highlight your honorees. You can put biographies in it, you can highlight all of your benefactors, you can offer special thanks to all of your auction donors in it. It is also another way to generate revenue because you can sell add space in your program. | In terms of printed materials, get the “Save the Date” card in the mail at least six months before your event. An invitation is great. Ideally, you want that going in the mail six weeks before the event and definitely no less than four weeks before the event. And a printed program is great. It is a great take-home piece and it is a way to highlight your honorees. You can put biographies in it, you can highlight all of your benefactors, you can offer special thanks to all of your auction donors in it. It is also another way to generate revenue because you can sell add space in your program. | ||
| − | You can also put together an auction | + | You can also put together an auction catalog or brochure. An auction catalog is time consuming; it takes a lot of paper and a lot of printing. We actually stopped doing this at one point because we noticed that guests were not picking them up when they walk into the gala. So now we actually just do a quick little brochure with a little one-liner about each item and it has the lot number on it. That has been much more successful and we do not spend as much money on it or paper. |
Solicitation mailing: Get those letters in the mail to your donors and constituents. Pre-sell as many tables and tickets prior to the event as you can. Do not be shy about using the Internet and E-vites as you can. | Solicitation mailing: Get those letters in the mail to your donors and constituents. Pre-sell as many tables and tickets prior to the event as you can. Do not be shy about using the Internet and E-vites as you can. | ||
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Media sponsorships are very helpful. A lot of times this is a sponsorship you may need to build up to. But you can get advertisement space donated in newspapers, magazines, trade journals, radio, and television. Granted, radio and television sponsorships are a little bit more difficult but sometimes you will end up with an honoree that garners some radio or television coverage, which is great. As an example of media sponsorships, we have a wonderful relationship that we have developed with National Geographic and they donated a two-page spread for us. On the left-hand side, it features the gala and on the right-hand side, it talks more about the general information of the organization and helps to drive people to our website. Do not dismiss your local news publications just because they might be small or might not have a very big distribution. Any advertisement you have for your event is good advertisement and it is great if it is free. So do not neglect any of your community newsletters. | Media sponsorships are very helpful. A lot of times this is a sponsorship you may need to build up to. But you can get advertisement space donated in newspapers, magazines, trade journals, radio, and television. Granted, radio and television sponsorships are a little bit more difficult but sometimes you will end up with an honoree that garners some radio or television coverage, which is great. As an example of media sponsorships, we have a wonderful relationship that we have developed with National Geographic and they donated a two-page spread for us. On the left-hand side, it features the gala and on the right-hand side, it talks more about the general information of the organization and helps to drive people to our website. Do not dismiss your local news publications just because they might be small or might not have a very big distribution. Any advertisement you have for your event is good advertisement and it is great if it is free. So do not neglect any of your community newsletters. | ||
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Get the word out in E-newsletters. Does your organization have an E-newsletter? Make sure that you include even a one-liner about it. Do any of your partners or your donors have E-newsletters that you can tap into? If you can get a photographer for a local E-newsletter that would be great. Create some buzz that way. | Get the word out in E-newsletters. Does your organization have an E-newsletter? Make sure that you include even a one-liner about it. Do any of your partners or your donors have E-newsletters that you can tap into? If you can get a photographer for a local E-newsletter that would be great. Create some buzz that way. | ||
Revision as of 08:12, 16 October 2011
This presentation by Staci Pierson, Manager of Special Events for the Rainforest Alliance, primarily focuses on the gala held by the Rainforest Alliance every year. This event encompasses a large number of special event components. The Rainforest Alliance is an international nonprofit organization dedicated to the conservation of tropical forests. It was founded in 1987 to conserve biodiversity by transforming land use practices, businesses practices, and consumer behavior. The first annual gala was held in the spring of 1990, with the goal of raising unrestricted funds, create awareness, further its mission, and attract new members and donors. This first gala was successful event, attracting approximately two hundred guests and raising about $20,000. By 2010, the gala drew about 600 guests and raised more than $1.5 million for the organization, with the costs about $250,000.
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