Leverage Your Gala for Major Gift Success
A gala can be powerful in raising major gifts long after the final paddle is lowered on the last auction item. It presents an exciting, urgent opportunity to initiate the qualification and cultivation of new major donor prospects, and the stewardship and cultivation of existing major donors. So, how can you maximize your gala for year-round major gift fundraising?
Consider your low-hanging fruit!
The gala is a great way to welcome the networks of your board, gala co-chairs, gala host committees, gala sponsors, top donors, and previous gala attendees into your nonprofit's community and educate them about your impact.
Empower these champions of your organization to invite and encourage the attendance of their personal and professional contacts.
Make it fun and easy for your nonprofit's champions to identify and invite their networks. Reach out individually to discuss specific people they know and can help secure the attendance of.
Plan, plan, and plan some more!
Thoughtfully devoting attention and time to major gifts, and major prospects and donors before, during, and after the gala allows you to work smarter and focus on your nonprofit's top donors and largest gifts. This increases the power of the gala in your organization's overall fundraising and promotes new major and transformational giving.
Before the Big Day
Prepare those who have purchased tickets to be ready for the evening through communication leading up to the event and consider personalized outreach to top donors and prospects to ensure their attendance, learn of anything to be aware of, and prepare them to have a meaningful and engaged evening.
Identify when and with whom to connect major prospects and donors who can further their knowledge of and grow their passion for your nonprofit's mission, programming, and community.
Orchestrate plans for interactions and design table seating to allow for conversations that align with your specific major gift plans and strategies, and help you and your champions learn more from your top prospects and donors to create or revise major donor plans and next steps.
Assign engagement tasks for your top staff and volunteer leaders. Provide briefings with information (a prospect's past auction winnings, giving history), donor plans/next actions (as is relevant and appropriate to their position and involvement), and suggested actions/talking points so they can be most impactful and specific in their communication with major prospects and donors.
The Day Of
Put in place the action items for staff, board members, and other insiders to facilitate introductions, conversations, and experiences during the event that connect to the next planned action after the event.
Alert your auctioneer, emcee, and other event staff of individuals to focus and interact with. Make these introductions so major prospects and donors feel comfortable and like insiders.
Direct the photographer and videographer to individuals and groups for images and footage to capture.
After the Event
Show gratitude to your volunteer leaders, nonprofit staff, and gala staff. Ensure they know they matter and you consider them critical to the success not only of gala night but also to major giving.
Create opportunities for celebration and reflection that are meaningful stewardship of your board and other volunteer champions who are major donors and cultivation for their next major gift or leadership gift!
In board and other reporting on gala outcomes, include some of the ways you incorporated major giving into your gala plans before, during, and afterward. Include the impact the gala had and continues to have on your nonprofit's major giving and major prospects and donors.
Formally debrief with staff (and with gala co-chairs and other high-level volunteers, as appropriate) not only on the gala, but specifically on major prospects and donors at the gala and any suggestions for next steps in their engagement or other intel/suggestions.
Review and refine major donor strategies and revise and add next steps. Leverage the energy and success of the gala and incorporate what you learned and observed from your top prospects and donors during the gala.
Congratulate and steward the highest bidders. Consider specialized next steps and outreach to top auction bidders who are new to the organization. Determine who now are major prospects, who need further qualification before being considered major prospects, and who are not major prospects for the organization and instead will be engaged in other ways.
These individuals now have a new relationship and your organization. Steward them and grow your organization's relationship with them.
Remember top prospects and donors who did not attend. With the gala recently having taken place, reach out to share specifics of the success and recap the magic of the night showing these individuals you value them as a part of the community and missed their presence.
Congratulate yourself!
With strategy and attention to detail, you turned your one-night gala into a year-round major gift fundraising powerhouse. You made the most of the gala and the auction to jumpstart relationships with major gift prospects and took action on cultivating and stewarding existing major donors!
We want to give a special thanks to Sarah H. Grebow for lending her expertise in fundraising in this guest blog. Our main author Mike is currently taking time to spend with his newborn and didn’t want there to be a break in blogs. Thanks for lending your expertise in Major gifts!