What's this?

[Mr. Barlow]

FARE Food Allergy Ball

I mean what in substance is this?  Not what is a ball, what is a fundraising or awards event.  Feel free to break this down for me like I'm 5 years old.

Thanks in advance.

[gvmom]

I'm thinking it is rich donors getting a thank you party and maybe somebody gets an award to feel good about themselves.

With, possibly a few note cards worth of food allergy anecdotes thrown in between courses to allow some expense write-offs. 

I mean, maybe you get more money out of people if they get a chance to put on a fancy dress or tuxedo?   

[CMdeux]

I'm pretty sure that FAAN, FEAST, and yes, now FARE-- have done gala events periodically for fundraising purposes.  This sort of thing tends to be to cultivate large donors/sponsors. 

[Macabre]

In fundraising/development for a nonprofit or a university, there are typically several types of ways to fundraise:

Events like balls or galas (at these, you typically dress up, maybe in a tux and gown or depending on the theme in other attire (like western wear). There is usually a dinner. You buy tickets to attend. Tickets could range  anywhere from $50-$250 for most nonprofits (political balls/galas would be more typically). Not all of the ticket is tax-deductible, as in the US, you can only deduct what is on top of what your ticket actually pays for.  These events usually have corporate sponsors or individual sponsors who contribute $5,000 or $10,000 or more and they get a table full of seats to distribute to employees or friends. Yes, someone is usually honored, and most of the development work I've done hasn't been around galas, but some has (I do nonprofit fundraising for a living).  Yes, someone is often honored, and it's a real thing.

But this is not a thank you event for donors. Those donezost but typically within Annnual andnmajir Giving, which I outline below.  Those stewardship and cultivation events are very important in getting larger gifts--and having an impact on Food Allergies or whatever the cause is.

Back to balls and galas. Gala donors are not often philanthropic toward the org outside of events, and their "conversion" rate to be a real donor is typically low. So an org know it has people who will really only come come to events like this and you have events like this to engage them.

In many communities, the social calendar is made up of galas/balls. The southern town I moved from was like this. It is what it is.

Oh--if I didn't mention it, there is usually dancing and other side activities. At one ball I went to, there was adult face painting. It was very cool and after having a couple of drinks a very sensual process.

Other events may serve as fundraisers like 5Ks. Man--most of those people never become real donors, but the revenue from events like that is also important for many orga.

Annual Giving/Fund--involves direct mail, email, etc where you ask donors to give money throughout the year. This is what I do. It can include mid-level giving. For instance, I currently am responsible for gifts up to $2,500. This is bread and butter stuff and often covers operational expenses.

Major Giving--giving officers ask individual donors to make larger annual gifts (say $10,000-$200,000) or very large gifts for a special capital campaign.

Grants--request gifts from foundations, familiar foundations or corporate  foundations through grant requests.

Corporate requests

PLanned Giving--asking donors to give through their will or another option. There are giving vehicles that allow a donor to make angiftvwhule alive and receive money from the gift to live off of. Many options are available.


This is more than you asked, but I thought context might be helpful.

[Macabre]

I will clarify that universities don't really tend to have galas/balls. But they very often have an annual fancy dinner for their President's Society donors (typically the lower level giving for that is $1,000-$5,000.  That is a thank you event.

Having worked that kind of events or other donor cultivation or stewardship events, what I do as staff is get a profile of each donor in advance of the event and study it. I learn about the donor and make sure I have several things to talk about with each donor at my table or whom I am assigned. I spent the evening talking with them and during cocktail hour beforehand walking up to donors, introducing myself, and engaging them in conversation. Over and over.  I am an introvert by nature but simply get into this role when innerd. I am exhausted the next day!

[Mr. Barlow]

MORE.  Teach, teach, teach.

You will find me a willing student on this.  Your Padawan learner.

[gvmom]

What is it that you are trying to learn from this Mr. Barlow?

It is just another avenue to try and get money.

I actually am sort of revolted by these things in general, and think that the money they spend on putting these things on shouldn't be spent on a grand party if the cause is that important.... it should be spent on the cause. 

If it matters to you as a person and the cause is just, then really you should always want every last penny possible to go to support whatever it is, not to throw a party or make a statue for someone to put on a shelf collecting dust with all the other bits because of the size of their check. 

[CMdeux]

Yes-- but the event does serve an additional purpose beyond the obvious pay-to-play, which yes, doesnt' sit (morally) right with me either.

That purpose is networking-- events like this can bring patient groups, industry folks, and docs all together in the same room to TALK to one another.  Small talk often leads to additional connections, and serendipitous additional networking.  It's not only about the $$.

My little medical NPO goes to patient conferences for this reason, too. 

[Macabre]

Oh god, y'all.* You don't pull money out of thin air. It costs money to raise money. Period. I costs me money to send appeals or to have a calling program. It costs money to meet a donor and for coffee or lunch.

The important thing is what the org NETS. And we don't always look at netting in one fiscal year; we look at lifetime value.

A smart org knows that you have to have a variety of approaches--a diverse portfolio of appeals--to attract as many donors as possible.

We can want every single donor to simply give altruistically, but not everyone gives the same way.

If you ever responded to a public radio pledge drive, you essentially became like the gala donor. Even if you didn't take the mug. If you respond to pledge, you are pledge-responsive. You have a lower retention rate than if you are direct mail responsive. And a far lower retention rate than if you just call an org you love and say "I will give you $15/month because your work is important."

If I waited for people to just be moved to give without giving them vehicles for giving other than our website, my org would have to close its doors.

We all have something inside that makes us respond to different things.

Events like this are in fact great for networking. And the visibility they raise is really substantial. When I first saw FARE have a gala in 2012 I think, I realized that they were trying to become a nationally recognized organization on par with American Cancer Society, Easter Seals, etc. inthiught, goodnfornthrm! There will be people who normally wouldn't give FAs the time of day would now be more empathetic because they had gone to a gala. FAs became a larger part of the conversation in part because FARE stepped up their fundraising game.

Galas are not my thing. But they have their place.

I do like donor recognition events, though as an introverted staff member working them, I get exhausted. Seriously, my job at them is to go up, introduce myself to strangers, and start talking. They cost money, but they serve a really good purpose and make the donor more connected to the mission of the org. They also give donors access to the Executive Director or President.


Back to spending money to make money: I set a budget every year, and I project to the penny what I expect an effort to raise. I know that for every direct mail piece (and for every segment within that piece, say, active donor, lapsed donor, prospect) what it will cost me to raise a dollar and what it will cost me to raise a donor. I know it will cost me more to get a new donor from my prospect/nondonor than one who gave last year. I know I might not raise net revenue from a prospect (I will lose money bringing in a new donor) but if I can bring in a new donor from direct mail, I will have a fairly good chance of retaining them. I know that I must always have positive net revenue in mailing donors from last year, or I don't do it. 

With an event, I will project revenue and expenses. If I don't net on it, I don't do it.

For a phone campaign, I know I better net on most segments but again may lose revenue on nondonor segments in order to gain a donor (and there I calculate lifetime value, not the value of the first gift alone).

There are various fundraising strategies at play, because one strategy doesn't work for everyone.

Okay--I should get back to fundraising, lol.  Lunch break is over!



*Said lovingly.


I accidentally hit post too soon. Oops. And I have tried to correct typos. 

[Mr. Barlow]

Why learn?  Because I'm a stakeholder even if I'm not invited.  Also, we have a resident guru that can give a master class on this with a cherry on top.  Cheaper than tuition if you want unvarnished truth.

[Macabre]

BTW, gvmom, I love donors like you who are passionate about the mission and just want to support it and don't care about anything else. Donors like you are golden.

[Mr. Barlow]

Mac's expert context can challenge presuppositions, provide facts, and lay a foundation of industry standards.  Plus, GI Joe told me on Saturday mornings knowing is half the battle.

[gvmom]

I get the idea that it costs money to make money.  I just don't think it needs to cost so much money to raise money.  I think these fancy deals are pretentious.  I also get the aspect of networking.  I just think it can be done cheaper or for free. 

Why not a hot dog BBQ in a park instead of a 17 course meal in a tux?  You can network while passing the relish and tossing a frisbee.   

And, why not just an appointment at the person's office rather than an expense of coffee or lunch?  It is a more efficient use of time during the day and it costs less.   

See, for me, I actually feel more generous the more things I know we aren't going to get hassled for.  One donation we make every year, well, I felt like I wanted to give way more when they announced they weren't doing one of the yearly fundraisers they used to do.  I was very excited to realize that I wouldn't get emails asking for donations or tons of emails about the particular event. 

Honestly, another donation we make, I thought they cancelled this one particular yearly event for this year, and was seriously excited that we might not be getting hassled about donations for it this year.... but then it turns out it is still happening.  It actually made me wish we made a smaller donation than we already did to them.

And, donors like me though can end up getting turned off if starts to look like our donations are going more to fluff and less to what we actually think is important.  We follow information disclosures about how much money gets spent on what.... including administrative costs.... parties.... etc.

[Mr. Barlow]

I'm not sure the event in whole or even part was paid by FARE.  Sponsors most likely come into play.  Nonetheless, understanding its place in our ecosystem is still important because we represent in numbers the primary consituent stakeholder.

[hedgehog]

In a perfect world, people would give money to good causes just because. I know some do, but not enough to keep those causes afloat. Some people don't give a cr@p about good causes. But some of those people like to go to nice dress up events. Some of them like for other people to see them being generous. Events like these make it possible to get donations from such people. Some charitable events are picnic style gatherings, as you suggested gvmom, and attract a different crowd. Some are more physical endeavors, like the one I did for 10 years. Some are charity concerts. The list goes on. But there is no one type if fundraiser that will appeal to everyone, so organizations have to diversify their efforts to raise money to keep going. If they are raising more money for a worthy cause than they are putting into a fancy event, then it accomplishes something good.