We are in the heart of Gala season, but right now there are no galas. Over the past month we have seen the horrific impact COVID-19 has taken on the lives of people, but also on how we meet and communicate and gather. With public events banned and citizens being asked to stay home and limit contact to people outside their immediate home, events like fundraising galas, just cannot happen. So what do we do? Do you cancel? Do you postpone? Or do you go virtual?
What is a virtual fundraising event?
A virtual fundraising event is a way to host what would normally be your fundraising gala, using an online platform like YouTube or Facebook Live, engaging your donors right from the comfort of their own homes. Your program would feature a similar layout to that of a live program during the dinner portion of your event. The virtual program should include speakers or inspirational videos educating and engaging your online audience, a fundraising portion which could include a “live” auction and/or fund-a-need, and the entire program should be no longer than 45 minutes and should be able to hold your audience’s attention the entire time.
Why should you host a virtual fundraising event?
Aside from the obvious fact that hosting a virtual fundraiser is better than cancelling an event alltogether, there are many other benefits of hosting a virtual gala that come as added perks!
You will engage more people with a virtual gala
With a traditional fundraising event, you are limited to the number of people who are able to fit in the room, or who are geographically near to where your event is being hosted, or just those who can afford the ticket price. By hosting a virtual gala, you can reach anyone who has internet access. Not only that, your biggest supporters - the ones who normally attend your live event year after year - can now invite everyone in their own network to join and learn more about YOUR organization.
You have lower overhead costs to produce a virtual gala
By hosting a virtual event in this socially-distanced culture, you are going to have much lower overhead costs. Expensive things like catering and venue rental are no longer needed. While you will likely want to pay a professional AV company to manage your live streaming tech (the alternative would be purchasing all of the equipment yourself and paying your current staff to figure it out on the cuff).
You can easily integrate social media (aka free marketing) into your event
With everyone joining from home, you will be using new and creative ways to engage your community. Whether it be by using a special hashtag or by tagging your organization in a post. Try creating a specific call to action to your virtual attendees to have them all share a story or message with their own social media communities. This not only spreads your message further, but it gives your virtual attendees a sense of purpose within your organization.
Virtual Galas are short and sweet
While your traditional gala may last 4 or even 5 hours between the cocktail reception, silent auction, dinner, program and live auction, a virtual gala should last only about a half hour (45 minutes if it’s REALLY engaging). This is because people do not have the attention span to sit through a long presentation. They have many other things competing for their attention, so with a virtual gala, you get to keep your message on point, entertaining and inspiring. You get to focus on what matters most and therefore keep your donors engaged (aka ready to give).
Virtual galas can be successful ANY night of the week
Traditionally galas are a Friday or Saturday night affair. When you are thinking of a virtual gala, you can host it any night of the week, especially when people are consciously socially distancing. They are already home and looking for something new to engage in. As we move into warmer weather with spring and summer quickly approaching, weeknight galas may even fare better than weekends because potential attendees won’t have weekend outdoor activities vying for their attention.
You can still raise money even when events are banned
The biggest benefit is obvious. In a time where large gatherings (or any gatherings) are banned, you don’t need to miss out on the revenue that your organization relies on to keep things going. You can still engage with your donors and offer them a wonderful experience that helps them connect with you and the work you are doing. These events can be profitable. Even though we are all navigating the virtual event space, industry partners are sharing that clients who opt for virtual galas are still able to meet their fundraising goals during this time of social distancing.
Can we still host a virtual event and have it be successful after the COVID-19 passes?
This is a great question and one we’ve been exploring. This season of virtual events is teaching us a lot with how to engage with an audience on a larger scale in more creative ways, but will it fully replace in-person events? Absolutely not. After COVID-19 passes and people begin to feel more comfortable communing in groups, I believe we will see traditional events return, but they will likely be integrating some virtual aspects in the future. Nothing can replace the energy of a live audience coming together for one purpose, but being able to extend that energy through the lens of a live stream to those who are unable to attend, may be a way to grow communities and strengthen nonprofits.
