Episode 2: What to do About Special Events
Episode 2: What to Do About Special Events
Glad to have you back on another edition of Around with Randall. And today I want to spend just a few minutes chatting about the chaos that COVID-19 has really pushed the idea of special events.
It’s no surprise to anybody that it's nearly impossible to gather in any type of setting. And that's really caused a lot of nonprofits challenges when it comes to their revenue and really what they're trying to accomplish. There's been some statistics in the last couple of weeks that I have found to be kind of staggering. I want to start with data collection that has occurred with special events and its outcomes.
So Chronicle of Philanthropy, again, one of my favorite publications - recommend it to everybody - had a great story in the last month talking about special events. And one of the statistics that they talked about was is that 44 percent of participants in a study that they conducted do not have a clear plan to handle losses from special events. That means 44 percent of the nonprofits in the United States are trying to figure out what exactly they're going to do to continue their service. And that is even more amplified when you get to the second half of that stat that only 16 percent said that they did have a plan. So that’s 44 percent who didn't and the 16 percent who did - which leaves 40 percent that aren't sure what they're going to do.
Kindful.com, in a blog, did some great work on a survey that was conducted with a number of nonprofits around the United States, 615, to be exact, about this idea of hosting events. 68 percent had said that they're canceling events while only just under 30 percent (28.9 percent) said that they were going to continue them. What I found more interesting is that much like the first study through, or the survey through the Chronicle of Philanthropy, only 50.6 percent had an alternative plan to raise money, which means 50 percent didn't have a plan at all. So very much along the same lines of a large group of people trying to figure this out.
Those that did have a plan. So the half in that study that was on kindful.com and their blog, 43.5 percent said they were going to do a virtual event; 22 percent were “shifting’” which we're going to talk about here in a second. And finally, 34 percent said they were trying to figure it out and had some other thoughts in mind.
So what does all this mean? So what I have realized and have seen with clients over the past eight or nine months is that there's a really bifurcated model that exists. There are those that really think that they're going to get back to normal in some way, shape, or form, or have tried in certain ways. I can't articulate this enough. They're not going to be special events for at least another year, year and a half. The news in terms of vaccines is phenomenal, but as a recent 60 Minutes demonstrated in an episode talking about the application or the distribution of vaccines, that one of the leaders in Pennsylvania said, they have 500,000 people that are on the first level of vaccination front---first responders, healthcare workers, the vulnerable---and they may get 50,000 doses very quickly. So it's going to be a while for the distribution to take place, which means the special events aren't probably going to happen.
The other group are the ones that have come up with alternatives. Those alternatives kind of fall into two major categories--a “shift” towards virtual, but we're seeing more and more that virtual events aren't generating the same level of connection to their donors. It doesn't mean you shouldn't have them, but you've really got a plan. They're going to be much shorter and they're probably not going to drive the same amount of revenue. A couple of anecdotal stories. I've seen it generate as little as 50 percent - 60 percent of what they're used to for even more work than they were accustomed to as a nonprofit.
The other alternative is to start moving toward changing the way we look at their fundraising and that's about building relationships. And this is where it gets interesting because in many ways. Great special events aren't actually about the event itself. They're about the pre-and-the-post planning. It's the building of the relationship to get people there and to be connected to the people that are a part of your team or on your board or a volunteer, or they happen as the follow-up. And there's a planning process that should occur. So in some ways, that's just like what we see in major gifts. It's the idea of building a relationship.
I have a client who's done this extremely well. They've had three individuals assigned to some very large fundraising activities. And they've basically said, these aren't going to happen. They didn't happen in 2020. They're probably not going to have a 2021. So they're shifting these individuals into what may be thought of as relationship-based philanthropy.
They're reaching out, they're doing things like making those corporate sponsors feel like they're the heroes. They're the people that are making the organization move forward and being able to support the needs of the community during COVID. They've asked more questions instead of, “Hey, do you want to come sponsor this event?” They're special events teams turning more like gift officers to say “why is it that you support us? What is it that we can provide that would be helpful in you continuing your support? Is this philanthropic, or is this marketing.”
Well, that leads to several different options that you can play toward in terms of keeping those individuals or entities a part of what you're trying to accomplish. Immense communication is taking place about the value of what the organization does and how those contributions are making a critical difference.
It's really about focusing on donor engagement. It's about focusing on using the best practices for finding people that are interested in what you're trying to accomplish. And it's leveraging really amazing skill sets and special events professionals.
I think many people think of special events, at least the successful events, as being driven by, the night of the auction or the gala or whatever the event or a golf tournament. And that's really the driving force where really the success occurs beforehand and really moving these professionals more towards the idea of what is the best ROI makes sense in the first place. Many organizations are pulling back on special events because they know, and we'll use the Association for Healthcare philanthropy again and they're great study on giving on an annual basis, in healthcare. And it's very true across the board. We know that major gifts average gift is $105,000. A major planned gift, a subset of major giving, is nearly $350,000. A special event’s average gift is $2,100. So it takes 50 people on average at that average gift level to make one major gift possible.
What happens if you could take those special events people and turn them into people that are building relationships and worrying about the larger picture of the relationship, rather than just the event itself? Could they actually ask for more if you ask people what they were interested in? Could they bring more results in the door for less work?
The client I was mentioning earlier was able to capture over 90 percent of their special events money by making it relationship-based. You talk about an ROI - taking people instead of worrying about the event, turning them around and making those high-quality special events professionals realize that they're capable of much more and increasing the amount of time, excuse me, increasing the amount of revenue by decreasing the amount of time and eliminating the special events altogether. Tremendous opportunity to really evaluate where your organization is at right now.
So as we promise, we want to talk about the tactics. What are some things that you can do right now? Well, if you're a special events professional, what an amazing time to take an inventory of your skills. Is it possible that you've undervalued, haven't viewed the work that you do in a way that maybe some of us who watch you work, who can't do it, see the possibilities of more than just special events? You being some type of “gift officer?” Is it a good time to sit down with your leaders, your supervisors, and say, “how do you see this playing out?” “How can I bring value to the organization?” Because value is what's going to drive the end.
If you're a leader, it is more complicated and more challenging. It's about being proactive. If you are overseeing a special event area, or you are the President of the Foundation or an Executive Director or some type of leader, it's really your responsibility to get ahead of this. If you're reacting after the fact, then probably you're failing as a leader.
So what does that mean? That means some hard decisions. It means starting with your internal culture inside your foundation, talking as a leader. If you, if you have a bigger organization, what this means in terms of maybe diminishing special events in their importance, spending some time with your special events team or individual, and really getting them to a point where you can help them possibly look beyond what a special event is in terms of planning and building relationships. Do they have the skill sets? Can you tweak a missing 20 percent of someone's total skills to add the opportunity for them to grow?
And it's also about budgeting. Every nonprofit that I am aware of, whose depends on special events is really challenged by this budgeting process, what is it you're going to do when you have to put down a number on your revenue line for a special event, because we're going to put a hundred percent, it's going to be really hard. Is it 50 - 60percent? So what do we have to then do to find that additional revenue or cut expenses leadership is about being proactionary not reactionary. If you're the leader, you got to think about it, have important conversations with your constituents, all the way into your board. And if you're that great special events professional really wants to grow, what is it that you do? And can those skills be transferable to other things that you may not have thought of a year ago that you may be great at and allow you to grow in your, in your work?
Let me plug a couple of things. Number one, the blogs are up on the website. That's www.hallettphilanthropy.com. That's always two L's and two T's. H A L L E T T. Philanthropy.Com. The blogs are up to two or three. Now we're going to do two or three a week, 300 words, a minute and a half of reading about our profession and professional things that you can do.
The podcasts dedicated directly toward the tactical and what's going on inside our industry. And in those podcasts, we're still looking for those responses. If you are find something I've said to be a challenge, you can email reeks, R E E K s@hallettphilanthropy.com. Well in a couple of weeks, go back and look at those. And if you disagree with me or have an opinion, send it to me, reeks@hallettphilanthropy.com. A nod to my one of my great heroes in podcasts. Clark Howard. Want to make sure I give proper attribution.
And then the other one is if you have a suggestion for a topic podcast@hallutphilanthropy.com podcast@hallettphilanthropy.com. So check out the blogs, check out the website, send me an email to “reeks” if you have a concern or disagree… or to podcast@hallettphilanthropy.com if you have a subject.,
This is a great profession, noble, it's a vocational calling. I hope you have your head up. It's a challenging time that we're in. But what I have found is that nonprofits are filling gaps. we never dreamed possible. And you're a part of that, if you're in this profession, I hope that you feel like you're making a difference,
Don't forget my all time favorite phrase.
Some people make things happen. Some people watch things happen. Then there are those who wondered what happened.
If you're a leader, if you're a doer in the non-profit world, you're someone who's making something happen for somebody who's wondering what happened. And I don't know a better calling my professional life, than making a difference.
I hope you'll join me next week on Around with Randall. Appreciate your time today. Hope you found it helpful, and I hope you have a great week. Don't forget. Make it a great day.