A guide to organising a charity fundraising event

Do not make assumptions. Plan your event around what you know people want, not what you think they want. Take the time to do some research and build a clear picture of your supporters.

This groundwork will be the foundation for each and every angle of your event – from activity planning through to prospecting, bookings and donation mechanisms.

You will not be the first person to have been told you ‘should’ be doing an event. But don’t let this pressure you into doing something for the sake of it. Events are not cheap. Make sure you choose the right product for your audience, and that your event is backed by a clear rationale, vision and objective.

Ask yourself why you are doing it, and what you want to achieve. If you can’t answer these simple questions, then it is time to go back to the drawing board.

Aside from surviving the project management process, you need to consider what success means to you and your organisation. Are you looking to raise funds, create networks or build relationships

Set your standards from the start and take some time out to reflect on your progress before and after the event.

Each of your prospects will likely receive dozens of invitations from a number of worthy causes. Make sure yours stands out. From invitation to follow-up, you need to give people a reason to attend.

Avoid hours of speeches, keep your content relevant and fresh. It doesn’t have to cost a lot of money, or be too complicated. But what it does need to be is a memorable and professional representative of your organisation, and its values.

It might sound ridiculous, but the fact is you never know. If you are hosting an event for summer, have a plan for rain. If you’re asking people to get active, make sure you have a risk assessment. Chances are, it won’t happen. But you need to be prepared if it does.

You cannot get through any event without a project plan, budget and CHECKLIST. Don’t make the mistake of thinking you can ‘wing it’ or do everything on your own. Take time out to create a proper workflow and to delegate tasks. Cross-check guest lists, invites and RSVPs.

Think through data collection, consent and individual follow- up. And when the day arrives, make sure that final checklist has been triple-checked.

After months of planning, this is your time to shine. People are there because they want to be. There is no better way to get to know your supporters. The hard work is almost done, so be sure to let the passion of your organisation shine through. Give them an event to remember - and make sure you invite them to next year’s.

With every charity event comes a host of complex information, the management of which can overwhelm even the most experienced of teams. Whether you are planning an annual conference, fundraising dinner or charity auction, an effective CRM is there to help streamline the charity event management process.

From design, planning and management through to income tracking and reporting, a good ‘Events Module’ can help you handle:

• Attendee selections and guest lists
•  Booking management
•  Ticket payment and donation processing
•  Seating plans
•  Activity registration
•  Volunteer management
•  Web integration
•  Budgeting, financial tracking and invoices
•  Post-event analysis and reporting

If events are a key part of your fundraising strategy, you'll need a CRM with an events module that can support you fully and save you time.

Having a clear workflow and structure is the foundation of successful event planning. To support this process, the ‘Events Module’ in Access Charity CRM (formerly Access thankQ), is broken down into four stages - each with its own associated actions.

Event communications often need tailoring to different categories of ‘attendee’. Access Charity CRM makes it easy for users to create varied participant categories within single events. With most bookings and management completed on-line, web integration is a standard part of our events management package.

You can also build in varied pricing bands, expenditure fees and donation mechanisms – all filtered by attendee type.

All fields within our events module are reportable, making it easy to build an in-depth analysis of any event or series. When this information is logged against your contacts, Access Charity CRM will create a picture of event participants, their motivation, and how they can contribute to your organisation’s purpose.

It also makes it quick and easy to track actual costs and revenues so that you can monitor event success and see the return on your investment.