Using 4 Online Tools to Inspire Volunteers and Donors, Part 1

Event marketing tools can help you do that. They allow fundraisers to look professional, capture registrations and payments with ease, and work smarter by tracking event progress in real time. The benefits include:

• Promotion: reinforce brand identity, bring awareness to your events, encourage attendance, fill seats and provide social proof — the basic premise that people will do things they see other people doing. (For example, showing a list of attendees during the registration process can help drive attendance and fill seats at your events — people may recognize attendees they know or want to know.)
• Capture: know who's attending and collect fees in advance. "Don't be afraid to collect fees in advance for your event," Mintz said. "There is evidence to show that the word 'free' may communicate a lack of value!"
• Tracking: reporting results and organization.

"Face-to-face meetings are an effective way to build relationships and trust with your customers," Mitz said. "It's the many intangibles you experience when interacting with people in the same room that make hosting an event such a worthwhile effort."