Party with a Purpose

For a lot of us, the holidays bring with them a hectic social calendar. Company parties, holiday parties hosted by friends and other types of gatherings fill our schedules.

Your organization might be able to take advantage of this idea by partnering with board members, volunteers, or other supporters to turn an existing event into a fund raising party for you.

Author Morrie Warshawski contacted me recently about about his book "The Fund Raising Houseparty" (now in its 2nd edition) on this topic. It's certainly not a new idea (I've been to several parties like this myself), but it's good to know there's a straightforward how-to available as a reference for organizations looking to raise funds this way. Events can be tricky things, and one can never be too prepared. (For those of you in the Bay Area, he's also doing a workshop through CompassPoint on February 29th).


The book outlines five basic steps for a successful party:

• people receive an invitation to come to a private home.
• the invitation makes it clear that the evening will be a fundraising event for a specific nonprofit organization.
• participants arrive and are served some refreshments.
• participants sit through a brief presentation.
• a peer--someone articulate, respected and enthusiastic--steps up and asks everyone present to make a contribution.

Both large and small organizations can benefit from a successful event because it serves as both a fund raising, as well as a branding, opportunity. Not only does the organization have the opportunity to walk away with funds it probably would have missed, it also has a chance to tell its story to a captive, and pre-screened, audience. Better still, it's a relatively painless way to get Board Members to participate in the organization's fund raising efforts.

If your organization is considering a house party, I would add these ideas to the book's suggestions:

• Start with storytelling. Your stories are your main assets - if there's a way to have them displayed around the space so attendees can absorb them throughout the evening, do so. Incorporate them into your live presentation. Create small take-away items that attendees can share with others after the event.
• Discourage anonymity. Peer pressure is a powerful tool in these types of settings. If each donation is publicly visible (donors might get a sticker on their lapel, or may be asked to stand for applause), those who have not yet committed to donate will feel pressure to do so.
• Identify new donors. The room will likely be filled with some who are familiar with your organization and some who are not. Create a visual way to distinguish between these two groups so newcomers know who to ask if they have questions, and staff can easily engage new prospects.
  

Have other suggestions, ideas or success stories on this topic? Add a comment to this post to share your ideas with other readers.

January is National Mentoring Month

Most calendar months have several social causes associated with them. By integrating a nationally celebrated month into your annual communications plan, you might be able to create publicity for your organization that you may not have otherwise gotten. (For a great list of commemorative dates, try this page on wikipedia.)

Since January is right around the corner, and since there are so many organizations out there that focus on kids, I thought it might be nice to highlight National Mentoring Month.


National Mentoring Month is a project of the National Mentoring Partnership and will mark its seventh year in 2008. It is designed to focus national attention on the need for mentors as well as how each of us—individuals, businesses, government agencies, schools, faith communities, and nonprofits—can work together to increase the number of mentors.

Any organization that works with kids could:

1. generate a press release calling for new volunteers that could serve as mentors,
   
2. could include stories and photos on their website or in their newsletter highlighting mentor/mentee relationships that already exist in their organization, or
   
3. could schedule an event honoring key volunteers that have served as mentors within the organization for a long time.
   

Any of these ideas, among many others, could generate great coverage in local press. Of course, if you have other ideas, please feel free to comment below to share them with other readers.

Gift Giving 2.0: Give the Gift that Keeps On Giving

Techsoup (a technology site for non-profits) will be hosting an online forum all day on December 13th called Gift Giving 2.0: Give the Gift that Keeps On Giving, taking place in TechSoup’s Technology for Fundraising forum.


It's a great opportunity for any non-profits who are looking to make a last minute push for seasonal donations. Now that the number of shopping days before Christmas are running out, people are beginning to look for quick and easy ways to give gifts online. The two hosts of the forum, Robert Tolmach of ChangingthePresent.org and Caroline Bernadi of Maatiam, will be on deck to explore how non-profits can benefit from using cause-related shopping sites. They’ll discuss how your gift giving sites can be a fundraising boost not only during the holiday season, but all year long.

The free all-day, asynchronous (not-live) online event will discuss issues such as:

• What gift giving sites are out there and how do they work?
• How your nonprofit can make the most of cause-related shopping sites
• Are the benefits of gift giving sites worth the time investment?
• Tips and suggestions for using gift giving sites as part of your fundraising strategy

To join in the forum, go to techsoup.org/go/giftgiving. No registration is needed, just show up and post your questions - or browse the questions and answers that are already there.