It’s midnight, and 500 of your special event guests just left the ballroom. They spent the evening enjoying a festive cocktail hour; supported your organization through silent and live auctions; purchased raffle tickets or wine pulls, diamond drops and other variations; enjoyed an elegant gourmet dinner; mingled; and danced. Guests smile as they exit while the development team exhales and begins to wonder: “How did we really do tonight? How much money was raised? Did our guests walk away with a better understanding of our impact? Did we add new donors to our rolls? How are we going to sort through all details and information and have a solid report and opportunity to analyze for the future?”
Jim Alvarez is the founder and CEO of full-service fundraising technology company Gesture By Community Brands. Gesture has helped nonprofits across the country raise over $500 million since 2011 through the use of technology. Alvarez is the recipient of the Chicago Innovation Award and Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce James Tyree Emerging Business Leadership Award for his innovative idea and launch of Gesture. He is an avid speaker and author helping nonprofits to embrace mobile fundraising technology to increase fundraising efforts. Alvarez drives the growing company to make hope happen for nonprofits developing innovative ideas that embrace technology.