5 Revenue Generating Games for your next Fundraising Event

So you are planning a Fundraising Auction! That is so exciting, and I know how much work that can be to get going. If you are like me, you are probably looking for all of the ways to increase revenue at your event besides the Auction and Fund-A-Need.

Lucky for you, I’ve rounded up my 5 Favorite Revenue-Generating Activities for Auctions.

Wine Pull or Whiskey Wall

This is an easy activity to set up and run. As the organization you will get wine, whiskey or spirits of your choice donated to your event.

See how to get booze donated to your event here!

Donors will pay a fixed amount to blindly pick a bottle of whatever you are serving up! Some bottles may be worth less than the given price and some bottles will be worth way more. Learn more about how to play The Whiskey Wall or Wine Pull here!

Punch Board

This is a great activity for nonprofits who have a lot of smaller gift cards or smaller auction items that wouldn’t bring in a lot of revenue during the silent auction. The guests get to pay to play. I recommend $50 to play. When clients sell $25 opportunities, it tends to sell out really fast, which isn’t a bad thing, but it’s a sign they could have earned more money. They will punch the board and find out what item they won. It could be a gift card or a physical item or literally anything that the organization had donated but didn’t put on the silent auction. See the best practices and full instructions of the Punch Board here.

The Dessert Dash

Would you spend $1,000+ on a cake? Me neither, but guess what? Your gala guests will. The Dessert Dash is a silent bidding system where the tables pool their bids together and submit them anonymously. When it is time to do the “dash” the facilitator will read the table numbers starting with the table with the highest bid and goes down from there. Each table will send their designated dasher at the time of the reading and they will literally run to pick out the dessert for their table. This is a profitable and fun way to bring in a lot of extra cash for your fundraising event!
Learn more here.

Heads and Tails

If you’ve ever been to a gala fundraiser, you’ve probably played “Heads and Tails.” This is a game that guests pay to play and the winner gets a prize which is either a donated item with broad appeal or something like half of the pot raised.
To play, the facilitator will flip a coin and guests will predict if it will fall on heads (by placing their hands on their heads) or Tails (by placing their hands on their booty). Those who guessed wrong are out and those who were correct stay in the game. You play until there is only one play staying. See the full rules, best practices and a video example of Heads and Tails Here

Golden Ticket

The golden ticket is a high end raffle where the winner gets to pick one of the live auction items from the auction prior to the live auction starting. The tickets should be priced high enough to accommodate an exclusive raffle so people realistically feel like they can win. Bidders will purchase the tickets like in any raffle and the auctioneer will pick the ticket prior to the live auction and ask which item they want. I’ve seen these raise $10,000 (100 tickets sold for $100 each) and then have the winner auction their ticket off raising an additional $5,000! See the best practices for the Golden Ticket so you can have a successful event!

What will you try?

I’d love to hear which of these you are most looking forward to trying at your event! Keep in mind that too many activities can spread your guests thin and end up losing you money in the end, so pick one or two of these to beef up your next fundraising event so you can raise more money!

How one nonprofit raised 50% over goal at their golf tournament

What if you could raise more money at your next event? What would that mean to your organization? Just think of all the amazing things you could do!

Like you, Lift Up, was grateful for their sponsor who chose them as their nonprofit of choice for their annual golf tournament. They were bringing in some extra money for their organization, but saw so many opportunities where they could engage donors better and raise more money so they could make a greater impact. This volunteer-run organization gives away 100% of the money they raise and tackle issues all over the world meeting the needs of people most other people don’t even know exist.

This year they set an ambitious goal of raising $80,000 to build a school in Peru. This was more than they had raised in the past, but they set themselves up for success so they thought they could do it. And they did, plus an extra $42,000 for a total of $122,000 raised!

So how did they raise 50% above goal at their event this year?

1. They took control of their event

   Instead of the golf event being a corporate event with a nonprofit benefactor, they turned it into a nonprofit fundraiser with a corporate sponsor. This allowed them to have more control of how the event was managed.

2. They invited the right people

   With having more control of their event, they were in charge of the guest list. So instead of stacking the room with corporate employees who knew nothing about them, they invited sponsors and business leaders in the area and created a higher end experience for the people who attended. If you are having a more intimate event and are unsure who to invite, check out this post I shared on hybrid events, but is totally applicable to any event where you need to be picky about the guest list.

3. The educated guests before the program started

   They had very short videos (less than 30 seconds) playing in the golf carts that would turn on when golfers pulled up to certain holes. This helped remind guests WHY they were there and educate them on the mission and the goal for the day. This helped keep golfers from being surprised when they showed up to the dinner and were asked to partner with them.

4. They added a Fund-A-Need brought in a Fund-A-Need Expert

   They brought in a professional auctioneer who’s expertise was in the Fund-A-Need ask. Yes, me. I’m the Fund-A-Need Expert. I was able to consult with them before the event to walk through their program and help them create a timeline that ensured we were doing the Fund-A-Need at a time when guests were most engaged. We had to make sure they were fed, but not lethargic. Energized, but not too drunk. So we created a short and sweet (5 minutes) lead up to the Fund-A-Need featuring the organization’s founder and then I stepped in and facilitated their very first Fund-A-Need, which raised $45,000 in 10 minutes. At this point we were at $85,000 for the day, but had not considered auction totals yet.

   As a fund-a-need expert, I’ve learned exactly what audiences respond to and how to build connections to the organization. This allowed me to take the key points and data shared by the founder and make it personal. Rather than $68,000 to build a school for a 1,000, I asked them to send 10 kids to school for $680, which had hands in the air faster than any $500 ask could have done. I was able to take their mission and make it personal. This allows for an ask that is shame-free and inspiring. Guests left the event feeling accomplished and impactful - which they were.

5. The had very specific goals

   Going into it, they were not just going to “see how much they could raise.” But instead, they picked 3 projects they wanted to fully fund, which came to $80,000. As we got closer to closing the gap, the audience was not willing to give up. As we surpassed our goal during the Fund-A-Need, I asked what other projects we could fund, and used those as new benchmarks for the audience as we moved into the live auction and closed out the evening.

Mission Success

Bringing in a Fundraising Auctioneer and Fund-A-Need expert will most definitely raise more money at your event, but the only way to have true success is to do the leg work first. The room needs to have the right people and they need to be prepared and educated about your mission. So how can you make your next event profitable? Consider these questions:

Does this guest list have capacity (or interest) to give?

How are some ways I can share our mission with them before the event even starts?

Do I have someone who can clearly communicate our mission and make an impactful ask?

Start with these questions and go from there.

As always - Happy Fundraising!

6 Ways you will raise money at your Hybrid Fundraising Event

When my cousin got married, she decided she’d have a small intimate wedding and follow up a few weeks later with a larger reception. My uncle said it was great because he got to pay for two different weddings. Okay, he is very sarcastic, and it was less than ideal for him (but my cousin was so happy and got to wear her dress twice, plus she is still married with a beautiful family).

As you consider planning a Hybrid Gala, you might be feeling like my uncle. Oh, YAY! Now we get to pay for 2 events!

Well, I have some good news and bad news for you.

The Bad News is that your expenses will go up a little bit depending on HOW you approach your Hybrid event.

The Good News is that you are opening up your event to new donors and ways to bring in revenue for your event.

Here is how you will make money at your Hybrid Event

Ticket Sales

Unlike the strictly virtual events we experienced throughout 2020, you can start charging ticket prices. Because the events will be more exclusive, you might even want to raise the ticket prices a bit. If you’re not sure how to price your tickets, make sure you check out this post. They Virtual portion of your event can still be free, which will open you up to new donors.

Sponsorships

You get to involve sponsors in your event, and with your Hybrid event you can offer them MORE opportunities for exposure. There are so many ways to engage them, and if you are not sure what levels should include what perks for your donors, I have this sponsorship guide below for you. Previously this has only been available to the students in my DIY Virtual Gala Course, but I know it will help you so I’m going to give it to you for free. This will break down different sponsorship levels and include recommended offerings for each level. You can copy this directly or add to it add to it as needed based on what your organization ha to offer.

Get my Sponsorship Level Guide for Free

Grab this sponsorship level guide that was previously only available in my DIY Virtual Gala Course

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Silent Auction

Did you know that in 2020 silent auction items were consistently selling at 150% retail value with my clients. This is a huge increase in what the average was at live in-person events just a few years ago (60% retail value). Why did this happen? With virtual events, more people were able to attend and bid which quickly drove up the auction prices. The mobile bidding technology made it so easy to automate those bids and the push notifications made sure they didn’t miss out on the things they wanted. As we move into hybrid events, I recommend keeping the silent auction open to both the live audience and virtual audience and open the auction about 3-5 days prior to the event to create hype.

Live Auction

One thing that did not do well with virtual galas was the Live Auction. Those large ticket items that normally go far above and beyond retail value were selling for value could not gain the momentum they normally do in a live crowd. Partially because during most of 2020 people were hesitant to bid on travel or group experiences when they didn’t know if they could use them, but also because there is no perfect way to reproduce that energy in a live event. So the exciting thing about Hybrid events is that we’re anticipating seeing the silent auction items stay high due to the broader audience reach while the Live Auction revenue will be increasing again. Make sure you check out this post to see what 5 auction items you should be having on your Live Auction

Fund-A-Need (Open Donations)

This is likely going to be your largest revenue generator of the night. This is the moment your event is working towards. Your whole program should crescendo to this moment. The speakers you choose. The stories you tell. All your pre-event marketing materials will be designed to set this moment up for success. In the live portion of your Hybrid Event, you can go back to a traditional paddle raise OR opt to have your live audience enter their bids through their mobile device with the at-home audience. My preference is the traditional paddle raise with a live audience because it creates an unbeatable energy and holds donors accountable and allows for public recognition among their peers. While the live audience is raising your paddles, your auctioneer can also recognize donors who are giving from the comfort of their homes.

Revenue Generating Activities

Now that we’re going back to in-person events, we can bring back in-person activities like the Wine Pull, Raffles (check your local laws about how to integrate these with the at home audience), Golden Ticket, Heads & Tails and other games and activities that will boost revenue at your in-person event. With the smaller head count, I recommend picking one or two activities rather than stacking the night with games. Remember, we want most of the focus to build up to your fund-a-need.

In summary

You’ll have lots of great ways to bring in revenue at your event, and when you add the virtual option to your in-person event it opens up your event to new donors or out-of-towners who attend and are able to give.