Events

Since 2001, …For A Cause, and its forerunner, Ride For A Cause, has been organizing cycling and walking events to raise money for charities that focus on AIDS and breast cancer issues. But that is not their only focus; they also encourage their participants to choose an additional beneficiary. This can be any non-profit organization that is meaningful to the participant. Some past participant beneficiaries have included the National Kidney Foundation, the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation, and the National Autism Foundation, just to name a few.

To raise enough money to participate in the Pan-Massachusetts Challenge, a two-day charity bike trip across Massachusetts, Rachel Gabriel started an unusual fund-raising event of her own, an evening of belly dancing performances. Her "Shimmy Fund" raised nearly $4,700 last year for the Jimmy Fund and put her in the Pan-Mass Challenge.

The ASPCA recently unveiled a new online network where supporters across the country can sign up as ambassadors for the organization, and register to organize and host events in their own communities.

Americans and nonprofit organizations are currently facing increasingly tough economic times. In light of these circumstances, The Larry King Cardiac Foundation (LKCF), a nonprofit organization dedicated to funding life-saving cardiac care for individuals with no health insurance, has announced that it is changing the way it does business in 2009.

Convio, Inc., the leading provider of on-demand constituent relationship management software and services to nonprofit organizations, today announced that ConvioTeamRaiser, a tool for organization-hosted event fundraising, powers five of the top ten fundraising events nationwide, as ranked by The Run Walk Ride Fundraising Council’s 2008 industry study. Convio clients generated 60 percent of all monies raised by the top ten events in The Run Walk Ride Thirty. Additionally, Convio clients using the TeamRaiser as part of their special fundraising events raised more than $1 billion in 2008 — an 11 percent increase from 2007 — outpacing the 7.6 percent average growth of the top 30 programs in the study.

As nonprofit organizations continue to face increased competition and economic stress, leveraging technology and special event strategies for fundraising and awareness can prove valuable in helping organizations successfully achieve their goals and more effectively move people to support their mission. Convio and Event 360, Inc., with support from the Run Walk Ride Council, compiled five best practices that nonprofits can implement to increase fundraising growth and event participation based on joint research into some of the nation’s most successful charity fundraising events.

One of our favorite resources about special-events fundraising is “Black Tie Optional: A Complete Special Events Resource for Nonprofit Organizations” by Harry Freedman and Karen Feldman. If your organization does special events or, more importantly, is thinking about doing special events, you really should own a copy. Among the really tasty bits in the book is a whole chapter dedicated to choosing the right kind of event for your organization, which includes page after page of sample events complete with descriptions, planning time, people needs and costs. It includes everything from pancake breakfasts to telethons to food festivals to cruises, and it is not

In her article, “How to Make the Most of Your Special Events,” Joanne Fritz, guide for the Nonprofit Charitable Orgs. site on About.com, talks about the fact that special events aren’t, for the most part, barn-burner fundraisers for nonprofit organizations. So, she says, it’s important to have other goals and benefits in mind when planning events. According to the article, “special events create other fundraising possibilities through ‘ancillary’ methods of raising funds.” Among those methods: * In-kind contributions such as donations of food, the venue or entertainment. In-kind contributions are easier to get from a business without a prior relationship and might be a

For nonprofits, the average online auction nets nearly $16,000 in merchandise bids alone. Significantly less time and labor are required to put on a virtual auction than a live event, and integrating online events into your fundraising plan can be a great way to whip up excitement around your mission — attracting the attention of potential supporters as well as providing extra enticement to current donors. The online auction makes it possible for nonprofits to reach out to supporters who might not be able to attend gala balls and other live events, while having the added benefit of “bringing together” constituents from across

When the Arby’s Foundation first approached Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Bluegrass, based in Lexington, Ky., about becoming a part of the Arby’s Charity Tour, the organization was skeptical and worried that the event would be too much work for not enough profit, and said, “No thanks.”