The snow has turned to rain in the Northeast and my allergies are a constant frustration, which can mean only one thing: we’re heading into gala season!
As you may know, many cultural organisations hold their galas or fundraisers in the springtime. A bookend to season launch events in the fall. Many smaller organisations may not put on elaborate events with dinners, shows, and auctions. However most arts groups do implement some kind of fundraiser in their year. These can take many forms: simply adding a reception onto a regular performance; a cocktail party-style event with mission-oriented elements involved; salons, meet-and-greets, or sneak preview events; and awards ceremonies, to name a few.
COMMON MISTAKES
Events can very easily become overwhelming and pull the staff’s focus away from your more important activities. BUT! They can also generate large amounts of much-needed income if done right. When a group we work with is planning an event, we see a few common mistakes across the board:
- They do not provide themselves with enough time to plan. We’ve had groups come to us in March who want to plan an event for May and have not yet started. While smaller events, like adding a reception to an opening night performance, can be implemented quickly, a robust fundraising event that will secure you the income needed to make it worthwhile takes months of planning. We suggest starting at least six, if not nine months, ahead when planning a full fundraising event.
- They have not done the math. Perhaps a number was put in the budget without much thought: “we can raise $50,000 at our benefit!”. But when we talk details, we discover that they can’t charge over $100 per ticket and the space only holds 150 people. That is a base amount, then, of maybe $15,000. How will we raise the rest? Perhaps last year’s auction only brought in $5,000, and they’ve never had much luck with sponsors. Suddenly, what seemed simple now seems completely out of reach.
- They do not have a committee or, if they do, it is only made up of board members.
Let’s dig into that last point more thoroughly.
WHY EVENT COMMITTEES
Fundraising events should serve multiple purposes for your organization. Yes, they help you raise much needed money for your programs, but they also should do things like create a tent pole in your year around which you can program. Celebrate your mission in different ways than your programming allows for, or introduce you to new people. This last point is where committees come into play.
We often see organizations who create an event committee for their fundraiser made up only of people from their board of directors.While this may help you make decisions about the structure of the event, your board is already engaged and bringing new people to your organization. In most cases, they do not need the structure of an event committee in order to fulfill this obligation. Additionally, because of the amount of work they already do in supporting the organization, including them on the gala committee can often become quite a burden.They may have tapped out their community and resources throughout the year.
Don’t get me wrong! Board members absolutely must participate in the gala through the purchase of tickets, the inviting of guests, and ideally the solicitation of sponsorship. But you cannot rely on their communities alone in order to make your event successful.
When creating an event committee, we want to think about who in our community might be a supportive participant in the send ever. There are a few questions you can ask yourself:
- Who has shown up as a volunteer or donor that we have not gotten to know very well, but has been a consistent presence in our organization?
- What communities do we feel would participate in our event, but that we do not have contacts in at the current moment?
- Are there people in our community that we are courting to be board members, and could we test out our relationship by their participation on this committee?
- Are there people we know whose names, if added to the event invitation, would inspire others to participate?
Event committees should be filled with people who introduce you to new communities. Or increase the visibility of your organisation, or are ready to be further cultivated as a partner in the future. In this way, event committees should help you to be more successful in your event fundraising while also deepening relationships with the people on those committees.
TYPES OF COMMITTEES
In addition to determining who might be a good committee participant, you must also consider what kind of committee is right for your event. There are three distinctive types of committees that we might consider:
- Working Committee: A working committee is going to help you put the event together. These might be people who have connections to sponsors or in kind donors, or people with event or fundraising experience who can help you make decisions. They send out invitations, and perhaps even set up and tear down. Many groups that we have worked with choose to have a working committee alongside another kind of committee. In this way, they secure the Manpower needed to make the event happen while also cultivating relationships with people who might be major supporters but wouldn’t be interested in actually working on the event.
- Gala Committee: A gala committee is typically made up of people who are sponsoring the event. Perhaps they are buying large blocks of tickets or a table, and also inviting their friends and colleagues to join them. These individuals will need support in the form of invitations, timeline, and perhaps even help with their outreach and sending of invitations. Often, these committee members are secured long before invitations go out so that their names can be included. They form the foundation of the income that you will generate for the event.
- Honorary Committee: An honorary committee is typically made up of people whose names may drive interest in your event. This could include sponsors, overlapping with a gala committee, but it could also include celebrities, honorees, and important people tied to your organization. As with our other committees, we want to secure these names early so that they can be included on all marketing and invitations. A word of caution around this committee: it is incredibly rare for you to hit fundraising goals based only on the representation in an honorary committee. Do not fall into the trap of thinking that a famous name will sell you many tickets! Unless they are performing, this is likely untrue.
STEPS TO TAKE
One of the reasons it is so important to start planning your event 6 to 9 months out is so that you have plenty of time to develop these committee relationships. So while it may be too late if your event is in May of 2025, it is the perfect time to begin this process if you are planning on a fall fundraiser this year.
The best next steps to take include:
- Creating a budget for your event so you understand what kinds of income lines you are going to depend on and, therefore, what kind of committee you might need. If you are planning on selling many tables, then you definitely want a Gala committee and may also want a working committee. If your event is very community based with a modest income goal, then perhaps a working committee is all you need.
- Create a list of potential committee members. Who are these people, why are they important to your organization. What skills or connections do they bring to the table? This could drive your decisions on what kind of committees to have. Then begin recruitment. This can happen through email, personal meetings, or even mailed invitations, depending on your relationship with each individual.
- Clearly outline what is expected of your committee or committees. Are they required to purchase a certain amount of tickets or solicit friends to purchase tickets? Are they required to sponsor or bring in sponsorship? Will you need them to attend meetings and how often are those meetings? You want to include all of this in your invitation to join the committee.
While creating and managing committees can take a lot of work, events are far more successful with an active and diverse committee than they are if the responsibility for fundraising falls only to you and your board. If done well, your communities will expand your event’s ticket buyers, provide you with important financial and incline resources, and help you build strong relationships with future board members and donors.
Good luck and happy fundraising!
