Virtual Events: How to utilize watch parties to engage donors and raise more money

As we move in to fall with no large-scale in-person events in sight, your organization may be gearing up to plan an epic Virtual Gala to raise money and connect with your donors. Many nonprofits are wondering how they can create better experiences for donors. We know many guests aren’t ready to step into a ballroom with 500+ other people (and there are currently no event venues that would allow it anyway), but at the same time they want to be social and join in a shared experience. So how can we offer a more hybrid virtual experience for guests?

Watch parties are a great way to engage donors are raise more money at your virtual event.

What are watch parites?

A Watch Party is a gathering of people who would watch your organization’s virtual gala together while meeting local guidelines for group gatherings.

What makes watch parties effective?

Watch parties are effective because they hold people accountable to watching your event live and it gives them something to look forward to. When guests are invited to a watch party, they are held accountable by the host to join (think it’s a lot harder to skip when you have to call the host and let them know you won’t be joining). It adds some social pressure. It also gives guests something to look forward to because they get to gather with another family or a group of couples or just as friends.

When people watch together, there is a buzz that’s created and a lot more excitement around the auction and giving moment. They cheer each other on and they encourage each other to give!

Watch parties are fun!

Watch parties add an element of excitement and energy to your virtual events. The galas I’ve done who have had virtual galas, have had the best responses - both in revenue and in guest feedback.

How to set up watch parties

Identify potential hosts

You can encourage anyone and everyone to host a watch party, but you will want to do some of the leg work to ASK some of your more loyal supporters if they would be willing to host a watch party. Have them sign up in advance to host them and empower them to invite their friends. Board members should definitely be encouraged to host watch parties if they can.

Think of Watch Party Hosts as the new Table Sponsor.

Train the hosts on the tech

Prior to the event, train your hosts on how to use the mobile bidding so they can help their guests give during the giving portion of the evening. During a live gala, you would have staff from the mobile bidding company or volunteers from your organization to help tech-challenged donors navigate the technology if they had trouble, but during your virtual gala you just won’t have that option, so use watch parties as a way to connect your more “tech challenged” donors and equip your hosts to help them! Certain organizations have even sent a volunteer to each watch party to help serve and keep things on track so the hosts could just enjoy themselves.

Make sure they have a link to view the watch party and a way to watch it so everyone can see whether that’s a large TV or a projector. Ask them if they need help setting it up in advance so there are no glitches at the time of the event. These watch parties will likely have some big hitters in the rooms, so you want to make sure they can actually see the event you are working so hard to produce!

Equip them to host a great watch party

Create a branded watch party guide. Send them a suggested timeline, invitation templates, a signature cocktail recipe and possible food ideas. If you want to charge tickets for people attending host parties, you could have catered meals delivered or available for optional pickup for the hosts to have and easily set up. This is a great option to offer (but not require). Many hosts will take you up on it, but some of your hosts will want to personalize their watch party and make it their own, which is so fun to see! We love when donors take ownership and partner with you in ways that fits their gifts!

Recognize the hosts during the virtual event

Take time during your virtual gala to recognize the hosts and watch parties! If they can gather prior to the virtual event starting, you could have them send a photo or video to share live during the event. The parties love to hoot and holler when they see their party recognized. It’s a great way to engage them and thank them as you put on your event. It also adds to the “live” feeling of the event. This recognition is so important in building community through virtual events.

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Start recruiting watch parties now!

You should be recruiting and creating buzz about your watch parties prior to even sending out invites to your virtual event (yes, send out physical invites for virtual events!!!). Allow this to be an integral part of your event because you can create a more unique hybrid experience. This is a fun way to empower supporters to bring new people into your organization in a more casual setting and open up their homes for a good cause.

What questions do you have about watch parties? Pop them in the comments below. I’d love to see your event be successful!!

How to Have a Successful Fund-A-Need and Live Auction in a Virtual Gala

When planning a virtual gala, we all know fundraising will be a key component of the short and entertaining virtual event. The goal of a virtual gala is to connect with your donors and offer them an engaging experience while meeting your organization’s fundraising goals.

Let me state the obvious: a virtual gala is different from a live event because you don’t have your physical audience in the room which means your approach to fundraising will be different as well.

How to have a successful Fund-A-Need in a Virtual Gala

Do the ask early and often

As soon as your event begins, you should be setting expectations for your virtual attendees. You will remind them WHY they are there. The formal Fund-A-Need ask should happen within the first 10 minutes of the program coming only after an inspirational storytelling moment (video, short speaker or testimonial). As you continue through the program, your auctioneer will tactfully remind people how they can give.

Enlist Momentum Donors

Having momentum donors is a key to success in any fund-a-need (you can learn how to acquire momentum donors in my post here). They are just as important in a virtual fund-a-need. Have conversations with your high level donors or sponsors who usually give to your annual fund-a-need and ask if they would consider being a momentum donor. This would mean explaining to them that when the ask happens that they be ready to add their donation right away so the fund-a-need starts powerful and quick. They can even receive extra recognition if they feel comfortable with it because the auctioneer can say, “Jon and Tammy Anderson have generously started us off with a $20,000 donation, if you can match their generosity at home with $20,000 please let us know right now by placing your donation in your mobile device through the link on the screen.”

Be flexible with donation levels

When conducting a fund-a-need in a virtual setting, you may still want to announce donation levels if you have secured momentum donors for those higher levels. You may want to have your auctioneer announce “now if you can give $20,000…$10,000…$5,000…” for a while, but based on experience I know that once people know they are in the fundraising moment, you’ll see donations of all levels coming in at once, so you’ll receive $200 donations at the same time as a $10,000 donation. At some point, your auctioneer will feel out the situation and stop calling out levels and start thanking the names that are showing up on the screen and continue to talk about the impact this money will have on your organization. it will feel more like a QVC sale than your traditional paddle raise. Your auctioneer will be working with the data she is given and being quick on her feet to continue to create a compelling ask as the numbers are coming through.

Keep it up beat

Keep in mind that a virtual gala will not have the energy of a live event, and it must remain upbeat and engaging. A fund-a-need during a virtual gala will go by much quicker than a traditional fund-a-need paddle raise or even a fund-a-need done through mobile bidding at a live event. Once the numbers slow down and there are fewer bids being entered, the producer will help the auctioneer and emcee navigate when to move on to the next segment. Remember, you can continue to come back to the ask throughout the program “you can give right now on your phone.” If the giving has slowed down, even if you have not hit your ideal number, do not spend time “pulling teeth” because you will quickly lose your audience and the chance to engage them on the live auction and in future asks.

Explain how to use the mobile bidding

As a part of the ask, your auctioneer should walk through the ease of entering bids via mobile bidding. If possible, add graphics to the screen to help them navigate the process. Sending out an email in advance to get donors comfortable with the technology before the virtual gala begins will help smooth out any possible glitches they may run into.

How to Have a Successful Live Auction in a Virtual Gala

The bidders will bid on live auction items via mobile bidding

The “live” auction items will be featured during the live program, but bidders will bid on them the same way they bid on silent auction items. The live items will receive more attention and praise. They will be higher ticket items with a broad appeal that will create competitive bidding, but they can be open for the length of the silent auction for donors to bid throughout the event.

Limit Auction items to 5 or less

Your virtual program should last about 30 minutes, so you do not have time to waste describing 8-12 featured auction items. Pick 4-5 of the best auction items you have and feature them during the live program. Your auctioneer will create hype around the item, call attention who the current highest bidder and encourage people to keep bidding.

Don’t spend much time on each auction item

The time during the program where you feature the “live auction” items will be to describe them, create a little hype, possibly engage the audience with friendly banter between the emcee and auctioneer and bring attention to the current highest bid. In a virtual setting it is not appropriate for the auctioneer to “sell” the item the way she would in a traditional in-person gala. The goal is just to create hype and excitement out of the higher ticket items, but to continue to move the program along in a peppy and upbeat manner!

Try opening the the auction earlier in the day or the week

With the option of having mobile bidding, you can open your auction as early as you want. By opening the silent and live auction items earlier in the day, it will help create more hype around your virtual event happening later in the day and give your attendees a chance to learn the mobile bidding technology prior to the event starting. Try opening the auction at 8:00 am and send a note out via email and social media that it is open and remind people throughout the day to bid on the items and to tune in to the live virtual event that evening.

Maximizing Revenue in a Virtual Gala

Your auctioneer will be able to connect with your audience from the other side of the screen using tried and true fundraising methods. Leaning in to your auctioneer for guidance will allow you to easily transition to a virtual event while still meeting fundraising goals.

Happy Fundraising

Benefits of hosting a virtual gala

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.