Online and hybrid fundraising events help you stay connected with your supporters, even those who may live far away. Your organization can create more impactful virtual events to support its long-term fundraising goals using the right event management strategies.
Virtual events require careful planning, just like any other event. To improve your team’s event management practices, we’ll walk through six best practices, including:
- Create a streamlined registration process.
- Simplify the guest experience.
- Use real-time reporting tools.
- Add engagement opportunities.
- Promote your virtual event on multiple platforms.
- Integrate your software.
- Review virtual event data.
Ultimately, virtual event management has two primary components: your virtual nonprofit event software and the best practices you use to leverage it. We’ll explore both aspects of the planning process in the following sections.
1. Create a streamlined registration process.
Your registration process will inform your guests’ first impression of your event. An optimized registration process can increase attendance and useful data for determining critical aspects of your event. By contrast, a poorly designed one can result in page abandonment and potential drops in engagement.
The information collected through your registration forms will be necessary for your long-term donor cultivation strategies and your event planners’ immediate needs. You can add several core features to your registration process to maximize its value and create a streamlined experience, including:
- Accessible information fields. Forms are a common stumbling block for accessibility. When creating your virtual event forms, ensure that the page is navigable for visitors using screen readers and other assistive technology. You can do this by adding text instructions outside each information field and marking required fields with text.
- Secure payment processing. Your event registration forms should provide guests with multiple payment options, and all of them should be protected with a secure payment processor. Make sure you invest in a payment processor that is at least PCI-compliant and consider going the extra mile to find one that is PCI-certified.
- Option to donate. After your guests submit their event registration, you can follow up by asking them to consider donating on your confirmation page. By asking at this point in the process, you won’t increase the overall length of your form, and your guests will have already submitted their payment information, meaning they won’t need to re-enter it.
Add the information fields you need to get guests properly signed up for your virtual event, but be sure also to keep your registration process short and to the point. This will help you avoid page abandonment, while also showing your guests that you value their time.
2. Simplify the guest experience.
The most effective way to engage supporters is to offer a well-organized experience when they participate in your virtual event. Technical issues on your end can quickly turn guests away, and you’ll also need to be considerate of your less tech-savvy participants when planning.
There are numerous software solutions available to simplify virtual fundraising events, but you’ll best serve your guests by choosing an event-specific platform to meet your fundraiser’s unique needs. For example, set up mobile bidding software for your virtual auction or peer-to-peer software for your walk-a-thon.
Put yourself in your guests’ shoes by testing out the process. After placing a bid or purchasing an item, you’ll have a better idea of what guests will go through to participate in your fundraiser.
3. Use real-time reporting tools.
Live events are exciting and engaging for guests and add a degree of unpredictability to even the most well-planned events. Fortunately, with real-time reporting tools, you can spot potential challenges and opportunities as they occur.
Staying up to date with incoming information throughout your event is critical for dynamic event management. During a virtual event, keeping an eye on your data can help you maximize your fundraising potential by updating your attendees when key milestones have been reached or by creating a sense of urgency when there’s just a few moments left to give.
Most event software solutions are aware of real-time reporting’s importance and include these types of tools in their platform. Ensure the solution you choose integrates with the rest of your nonprofit’s software so you can manage your event from one centralized solution.
4. Add engagement opportunities.
When planning a virtual event, get creative about how you can keep guests engaged while they attend from home. Interactive opportunities can help guests feel more involved and make online events feel less like a static recording and more like a meaningful opportunity worth attending.
Modern virtual attendees expect a certain degree of participation at online events, and you can engage them with the right software support. These include tools like:
- Gamification features. Gamification features are designed to be engaging. They add additional incentives for participation, such as badges, leaderboards, and fundraising thermometers. These tools create a sense of anticipation as guests strive to see their rankings rise throughout your event.
- Live-stream chats. Encourage guests to start conversations with chat tools. Whether you’re hosting a webinar and want to answer attendees’ questions or are running a fundraising stream and want to shout-out donors, chat tools provide a logical and fun way to participate. If you’re using a chat feature, ensure that you have a staff member or volunteer on hand to help moderate the conversation and answer any questions that may come up.
- Text-to-give. You can encourage your guests to give in the moment with text-to-give. During your event, your guests will likely use their phones or have them close at hand. You can use this to add a social element to donating by announcing your text-to-give number and prompting everyone to contribute. Seeing other virtual attendees pull out their phones will encourage others to follow suit, helping your nonprofit earn a little extra from your event.
Even if your nonprofit is looking forward to transitioning back to in-person events in the future, keep these tools in mind the next time you launch an online campaign. As Getting Attention’s guide to nonprofit digital campaigns points out, online events will likely remain a staple of most nonprofits’ fundraising strategies due to their feasibility, accessibility, and unique ability to build communities despite of physical distance.
5. Promote your virtual event on multiple platforms.
The next step in the virtual event planning process is to market your event across multiple channels. Highlight your fun attendee engagement opportunities and the impact supporters can have by purchasing a ticket or donating to your cause.
To reach the widest possible audience, use a multi-channel marketing strategy that includes the following platforms:
- Email. Send email messages a few weeks before your event spotlighting the event’s fundraising purpose and goals, what attendees can expect, and the link to your registration page. Segment your subscriber list to send targeted messages to different groups. For example, you can create a separate segment for past event attendees to personally invite them to your upcoming event.
- Social media. Share your registration link on your social media platforms, whether Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, or Twitter. You can also create a Facebook event for your virtual experience that highlights the event’s logistics and provides a place to communicate updates to attendees.
- Paid search ads. Advertising your event using Google Ads can help you connect with a new audience of potential attendees who are searching for terms related to your event. Plus, with the Google Ad Grants Program, you can access $10,000 per month in free Google advertising to support your marketing efforts. Maintain Google Ad Grant eligibility throughout your event marketing campaign by targeting keywords that are relevant to your event’s topic and location, writing compelling ad copy, and keeping your account active.
- Direct mail. Just because your event is virtual doesn’t mean your event marketing must be entirely online. Sending out direct mail flyers or postcards can be an effective way to capture supporters’ attention. Direct mail open rates can be as high as 90%, increasing the chances that supporters will see your message. Be sure to include a QR code on your printed materials that supporters can scan to view your event landing page.
Maintain brand consistency across marketing platforms by including your event’s unique logo, tagline, and colors. This helps foster brand recognition for your event, which is essential if you’re planning to host the event annually.
6. Integrate your software.
Nonprofits can dramatically improve their ability to manage their events by keeping all their data together. When you integrate your software, information will flow smoothly between platforms and prevent critical data from getting lost.
Before investing in a new event management software solution, research the integration options to ensure they will work with your current tech stack. Doing so will reduce potentially time-intensive tasks such as manually importing data from one solution to another.
Here are a few types of integrations that can be beneficial for running virtual events:
- Email marketing platform. After your virtual event, you will likely want to send participants an email inviting them to a similar event in the future. However, if your registration and event management software is separate from your donor database, you won’t be able to note which supporters attended what events easily. With an integration, you can clearly note your event attendees and create a segment for these supporters to send relevant future messages.
- Donor database. Integrating your event management platform with your donor database allows you to identify donors who have participated in similar events in the past. Then, you can extend personal invitations to these supporters for your upcoming virtual experience.
- Matching gift software. Integrating your event registration and donation page with a matching gift software solution is an effective way to spread awareness of matching gifts throughout the event sign up process. As event attendees register or donate to your event, they can immediately check their matching gift eligibility and request a matching gift from their employers.
Another option is to consider a comprehensive, all-in-one solution. These platforms will have event management tools, registration features, and CRM functionalities, meaning you only need to research and invest in one solution.
7. Review event data.
Events produce a lot of data, and the first step to making your next virtual event successful is to review the data from your previous one. Doing so will allow you to note where your event succeeded and what could be improved.
Nonprofits should establish key goals and metrics before their event. This will ensure your team is conscious about what data you should focus on collecting and what information is most relevant to your organization’s overall goals. While the most relevant metrics will vary from nonprofit to nonprofit, many track the following metrics for their virtual events:
- Guest retention. Take note of your event’s attendance numbers and how many of your guests attended your last event. While guest retention will naturally ebb and flow based on your supporters’ interests and personal schedules, you may need to reassess your event practices if you notice a significant change in guest retention between two similar virtual events.
- Average donation size. How much do guests give during your virtual fundraising events? The social element of fundraising events can sometimes cause average donors to give more than they might normally.
- Guest engagement rates. How much do your guests participate at your event and do they take any actions to increase their support afterwards? CharityEngine’s nonprofit CRM guide recommends making a note of all activities guests perform at your event, including upgrading their tickets, buying merchandise, and making donations, allowing you to monitor engagement on a more personal, individual level.
Take care when recording this data, especially points relevant to specific guests. By doing so, you’ll position your event team to make proactive, data-driven decisions to improve your events that cater to your supporters. Then, you can even create targeted events to engage donors, move prospects closer to conversion, or generally improve the donor journey.
For the foreseeable future, virtual events are here to stay, and nonprofits can truly benefit from this trend. Review your current virtual event management practices and resources to determine if there are opportunities for improvement. If so, take the steps to start researching applicable best practices and software solutions that fit your unique needs.
