On This Day, The Stroller Runners Ruled

By: Therese Grohman, Event360

A couple weeks ago, I blogged about the upcoming debut of Strollers in the Front 5K Run/Walk. Well, the event took place on Oct. 28 — and we at Event 360 couldn't be happier about the results. (Check out the start-line video.)

Here's the back story: Earlier this year, I ran a race with my girls in a stroller. Afterwards, my husband Jim said to me, "That was great, but it's not really fair that you had to be in the back just because you have a stroller. We should do a race with strollers in the front."

Jim and I took the idea back to the team at Event 360 and decided to "run" with it. We then met with our nonprofit partner,Neighborhood Parents Network (NPN), which helps families navigate the challenges of parenting in the City of Chicago. NPN loved the idea and signed on. We had about three months to prepare.

Putting strollers in the front became the ideal metaphor for NPN. They're all about putting families and kids first, and that's what we were doing, both literally and figuratively with the race. NPN introduced us to amazing partners and sponsors, and extended the brand reach of Strollers to its membership base of over 6,000 families.

Lessons Learned
You learn something every time you work on an event — particularly if it's the first time. Here are two big lessons I learned.

Lesson #1:  Find a nonprofit partner that is really passionate about the event concept and has the reach in your target market. NPN passed this test, which made our brand feel big to the right people. At an NPN parenting event, we heard parents saying, "I've heard about this race everywhere!" Secret: We weren't everywhere — we were just everywhere parents were.

Lesson #2: Ask sponsors what they want and aim to create value. We had 24 sponsors involved in the post-event festival, providing things like a bouncy house, diaper-changing station, music and photography. By customizing inventory and experience based on what people wanted out of their sponsorship, we created value in the form of exposure to new parents and families. In turn, sponsors were great about spreading the word and getting their customers to come out.

It was really gratifying to see how much people enjoyed Strollers. Even though it was 40 degrees out, families stayed to enjoy the festival. I talked to a handful of runners at the finish line, and they were so thrilled to have a race like this — we gave them a race that they didn't even know they wanted. And now that they have it, they love it and I know they'll be back.

One of the best comments of the day came from a child in the parking lot: "Can we do this again tomorrow?" And with that, we'd won the toughest critic — a kid! And happy kids = happy parents.

Thanks to everyone who worked on and contributed to Strollers, including community volunteers and my wonderful colleagues at Event 360.

Lastly, some exciting news: We've added a new city to Strollers in the Front 5K! Join us in Atlanta on December 8, and run with your little ones to benefit the Rally Foundation. See our event page on Facebook. Or, if you’re a parent with a stroller, register to run today!

Therese Grohman is the director of marketing at Event 360, where she focuses on building Event 360's thought leadership platform and developing relationships with organizations through impactful and relevant communications. She has also worked directly with a variety of organizations to create and implement event fundraising strategies, drawing from her experiences working in the nonprofit sector.

Back to Basics

By: Shana Masterson, Event 360

This weekend was the annual “Scouting for Food” drive here in Rhode Island. If you don’t have this program in your hometown, it's a food drive organized by local Boy Scout troops. In my area, it has collected more than 7.8 million pounds of food over the past 25 years.

Essentially, Boy Scouts go through neighborhoods and distribute plastic bags for residents to fill with the requested food items. Once filled, the bags are then left outside to be collected about a week later.

My fiancé, Matt, is an Eagle Scout, so participating in Scouting for Food is a forgone conclusion in our household. We don’t go through the cabinets picking out old, unwanted canned goods to donate. Instead, Matt usually makes a special trip to the market and buys the products the Scouts have specifically requested.

As I pulled out of the driveway that day, I smiled when I saw the overflowing bags he had left by the mailbox. I then looked down the street and noticed that only one of our neighbors had also left out a small bag of food. Driving through the neighborhood, I saw more of the same. 

As a fundraiser, I started to think about how much more could have been collected for our local food bank by applying some fundraising basics.

When the bags were first delivered, they were left on our mailbox. I can only imagine just how many more people on our street would have been moved to donate if a young Boy Scout had knocked on doors to explain the need for food in our area and made a personal request for help.

People would be so much more invested in donating food if they could put a face on the program, especially if they knew that same boy would be back soon! Even if no one was home, a note from the Boy Scout with his phone number and email address is much more personal than just a plastic bag.

After the bags were collected, I found myself wondering – what if someone else came along and stole the food because they were aware that it was Scouting for Food day? I was also somewhat surprised to find that there wasn’t a thank you of some kind in the mailbox. I might be conditioned to expect a thank you, but in this case, not only would I feel appreciated, but I’d also take comfort in knowing that our gift was going to our local food bank.

Now I understand that these efforts would take more time and the Scouts may not be able to cover as much ground. I also realize that public sentiment towards the organization is a bit marred. However, I still have a vision of looking down our street and knowing that only two of us gave to support local food banks and think we can do better.

Next year, we’ll give again, but I hope to see more of our neighbors doing the same!

Shana Masterson has been working in event fundraising for national health nonprofits for the past twelve years. She is currently the National Associate Director for Interactive Fundraising and Engagement with the American Diabetes Association. Find her on Twitter: @npshana.  

5 Ways to Increase Revenue

Article by: Alison Finkel, Event360

With fall events in full swing, it’s likely that you’re looking for quick and actionable ways to boost revenue. Here are five proven ideas to give an extra boost to your fundraising results this season. These ideas don’t require a strategic shift or a lot of development time. But, they each offer great potential for deeper investment from the participants and donors who are already interacting with your event!

These tips are presented in order from the fastest and easiest to implement to the ones that may take a little more investment and integration on the part of your team. Good luck and have a great event season!

1. Bump up the suggested donation giving levels on your donation form
Take a look at most event websites and you’ll find the same pre-set suggested donation levels on every page. Usually in $25 increments, this is the default language provided by most event databases.

Event 360 worked with several organizations to see if we could increase average gift size per donor by simply bumping up the suggested donation amounts at each level. In other words, could an organization pick up an extra $5 or $10 per donor by simply changing the preset values on the donation form from $25 to $30 or from $50 to $60?

The answer is YES. In our test, we found that by changing the preset amount from $25 to $35, the percentage of donors choosing $25 fell 10%, but the percentage of donors choosing $35 increased 13%. So, 10% of event donors suddenly gave 10% more just by making this small change!

A word of caution, though: don’t get greedy! Changing preset levels from $50 to $60 gave a bump to average donation size. However, changing preset levels from $50 to $75 had a negative impact. In that test, the use of the $30 donation level increased by 33%!

There is also some question about whether listing suggested levels from high to low or low to high is best. Our tests have revealed that low to high generates better average giving. More important than the order of the suggested levels is having the ‘other amount’ box at the top of the section.

Finally, the use of case statements on the donation page did not show consistent results. A case statement connects the donation to the organization’s mission. An example of this could be “$100 funds the installation of a new toilet in three homes.” If you’re considering case statements, think about how closely they connect to your organization’s mission. If there’s a strong and direct tie in, you may want to include them. However, if it’s a stretch to make a fit, it’s better to leave them out!

2. Sweeten the Deal
Is there an opportunity to reconnect with your event donors for an incremental donation this season? The Susan G. Komen 3-Day offers the opportunity for donors to send a personal note and a custom chocolate to the participant they’re supporting in exchange for an additional donation.

The ‘ask’ with this program is extremely unique; the 3-Day isn’t asking for an additional donation to that participant’s fundraising account. Instead, they offer a highly personal and one-of-a-kind opportunity to connect with a loved one or teammate while they’re on the event. 

3. Ask Participants to Top Off Their Registration Fee
What percentage of your event participants visit the website exactly once when they register? Chances are, it’s somewhere between 75% and 90%. Make the most of this interaction because it’s the only chance you’ll have to connect with them, not just as a registrant but as a fundraiser!

Include a section on the registration form that provides the opportunity for the participant to make an additional donation when they register. But, like the pre-set donation levels, you can’t just throw in a generic box on the registration page and expect results. Be sure to include two important pieces of information:

• Make a strong and relevant ask: Why should this registrant also be a donor?
• Provide a suggested and relevant amount to give: What is the right amount based on the ask you just provided?

When Event 360 tested this with one of our clients, they saw great results! The percentage of registrants making a self-donation increased by 12% and the average (mean) donation increased by 5%. In addition, people who make a self-donation at registration are great targets for additional engagement and communications about fundraising.
4. Identify Existing Fundraisers with the Potential to Raise More
Turning registrants into fundraisers is the most difficult challenge for event fundraisers. Your participants who are fundraising have already cleared this hurdle. By raising funds for your organization, they’re demonstrating a connection to your mission and the desire to do more than just participate. Is your event doing all it can to promote fundraising among this dedicated group of participants? By segmenting your database and putting together corresponding communications and tools for each segment, you can get more from your fundraising program.

Here are some places to look for key fundraisers among your registrants:

• Repeat participants, particularly those who have participated three or more times.
• Team captains
• Key affinity (grantee, survivor or co-survivor, etc.)
• Anyone who has raised at least $1
• Anyone who has logged in to their online tool center/participant page
• Anyone who gave a self-donation at registration

On one project Event 360 consulted on, just by targeting specific communications and tools to anyone who was sending fundraising emails from their participant account, giving increased 17% in that segment.

Remember that putting together a segmented communication plan goes hand in hand with providing tools, tips and recognition that match each segment. Your organization needs to deliver both in order to maximize fundraising potential.

5. Treat Top Fundraisers Like Top Donors
Most organizations have a fairly robust stewardship program for major gifts and top fundraisers. But, surprisingly, those same organizations don’t carry those programs over from their traditional development activities into their event activities. Just like donors, among event participants, the top 20% of performers are raising at least 80% of the funds.

By setting up a clear engagement and recognition strategy for top fundraisers, your event could see fundraising improvement within this existing group of participants. One project we worked on increased total fundraising revenue by 6% even though registration only increased by 1%. They did this by focusing on providing better tools, recognition and stewardship to their top fundraising group. As a result, 50% of the incremental donations collected on this project came from those participants. This resulted in an increase of nearly $270,000 for the program.

Here are some aspects to consider when developing a program to support top fundraisers:

• Set clear and simple recognition tiers for high fundraising
• Consider what kinds of perks or recognition is a good fit with the program you’re managing
• Increase awareness of top-performer programs
• Increase access to tools and support for this participant group all year round, particularly pre-season. Note that this could include additional investment in staff resources for this group or program.

Event Retention Rates

Post by: Jono Smith, Event360

It's Twitter question of the month time. Mandy O'Neill (@mandyoneill) of the Connected Nonprofit asks two questions: Is there an average benchmark for repeat event participants, and for event donors that convert to recurring donors. Two great questions!

Among the last seven run/walk/ride fundraising programs Event 360 has worked on, the average number of repeat participants was 34% and the median was 30%. This is consistent with Blackbaud's donorCentrics Events Benchmarking group where five walk programs averaged a 40% participant retention rate.  Blackbaud's study also reported that multi-year participants raised more than new participants.

When building a retention program, it's important to remember to segment your fundraisers and your $0 participants. With limited resources, it makes sense to focus your retention efforts on the people most likely to fundraise again.

To Mandy's second question about converting event donors to organizational donors; unfortunately, a benchmark doesn't exist here. What we do know is that the typical event participant secures a minimum of three to four donors for an organization, and on average over 80% of event donors are new to the organization.

While it is often the case that an event donor’s motivation to support an organization is secondary to that of supporting the participant, this is by no means a reason to disregard such individuals. In fact, such a donor is very similar to an individual introduced to you by a friend at a social event. The burden rests with you to further engage this individual if you wish to pursue a deeper relationship and, if you do not take the first step to engage, chances are the relationship will never move beyond the event.

Become an Experience Curator

Now Is the Time to Rethink Event Production and Become an Experience Curator

Social media and technology have had a profound impact on how we interact every day. We’ve certainly seen changes in event fundraising — people have migrated from emailing fundraising letters, to leveraging CRM systems like Blackbaud and Convio to benefitting from social networking and other integrated online fundraising platforms like StayClassy. As the fundraising side of our work is changing, so too are the expectations for the actual event.

Direct outgrowth of social networking is a big reason why more people are craving in-person contact, which makes a live event even more desirable. Social sites and an influx of portable gadgets have contributed to a loss of human interaction. As a result, we are finding that people want to maximize their face-to-face experiences and don’t want to deal with small inconveniences that distract from the event. JWT Intelligence’s “10 Trends for 2012” forecasts that to “balance out our increasing immersion in the digital world, people will embrace face-to-face gatherings and digital downtime.”

This trend impacts the most basic interactions we have with participants, like how to collect donations at an event, which is a simple transaction. People are now used to “anywhere, anyway shopping.” The best example is the Apple Store. Apple makes everything seamless from being greeted, to direct interaction with the products (touching computers and gadgets is encouraged) to a sales person checking you out anywhere in the store. Those of us in event fundraising need to learn lessons from such experiences and maximize the point of sale on event – making things quick and easy certainly helps. (See JWT Intelligence’s “2012 and Beyond” for more examples.)

Participants don’t want to spend their time waiting in line when they’d rather be out interacting with people and doing the activity. Ideally, registration should happen online before a participant arrives on site (for some of our events we allow participants to navigate registration self-serve online and even print their own credential to bring to the event). In cases when you offer check-in and registration on-site, that experience has to be unobtrusive. Kiosk or iPad systems allow us to make the process an easy self-serve task, registering a higher number of participants more quickly and efficiently.

I believe our future is going to be less about event production and more focused on being experience curators. What’s the difference? Event production is more of a one-way street: “We build it, they show up.” But experience curating is social: “We build it together, we participate together, and we communicate about it together.” Events will be about providing a venue with multiple experiences where people can move through focus points that we design. There will be a major emphasis on being able to meet with others to discuss what’s happening or just be social in various spaces, a focus on human interaction. Think Burning Man and South by Southwest (SXSW) — models for the next generation of events.

Socializing through Twitter and Facebook can start relationships that lead to positive in-person connections. So when people shut down the computer and show up at your event, be sure there are ways to grab their interest and make connections to grow. In this cluttered Attention Economy, events will need to provide more than one focus and plentiful peer-to-peer opportunities. Participants now expect to contribute to building the experience. Events need to be immersive and multi-faceted with elements of surprise. People need to walk away feeling like they learned something about themselves, a cause or others. And they want to get online and talk about your event and post photos and feedback via Instagram and Twitter. This combination of online and live buzz provides memorable experiences for event-goers, and also makes others feel they missed something big if they did not attend – they’ll be sure to get involved next time. Offer sharable content and never underestimate the power of a good photo opportunity.

As we adjust to “Event 2.0” as an industry and strive to be experience curators, the opportunities are endless since our participants will want to help us build the experience.

Article by Patrick Riley and Sarah Coniglio, Event 360