This document provides guidance on optimizing live fundraising events for success. It recommends catering events to the interests of target patrons and tracking past auction results. Effective marketing is key to attracting patrons through exciting promotions highlighting the cause. Proper planning ensures a fun experience through engaging auctions using mobile bidding and pre-authorization for easy checkout. Tracking results allows improving future events through an intuitive donor database integrating best practices for retention and communications.

1. How to Optimize Your Live
Event for Fundraising Success
Steve Roseman and Jay Love
June 27, 2013

2. Live Fundraising Event Success
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3. How do you produce a great event every time?
Cater to your patrons!
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4. Live Fundraising Event
Common Live Event
 Gala
 Awards
 Social Cocktail Style
 Awareness & Community
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5. Pre Event Decisions
Who do we want attending the event?
- Current Supports, Attract New Supporters, Affluent
Individuals, Etc..
- This tells us what type of items to acquire and how
much to charge for the event
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6. Patron Attraction
How do you market your event?
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7. Do we market our events properly ?
(Think Like Corporate America)
- Gala, Social, and Themed Events:
Fun and exciting on top of the cause
- Award:
Making your Award winner feel special and huge honor
- Awareness & Community:
Fun, exciting and family oriented
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8. Fun & Exciting Flyer
While stating your mission or cause!
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9. Making your Award winner feel special and huge honor.
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10. Improving Our Auction Items
 Treat our auctions like a retail store!
- People shop for what they like and others are attracted to the sales.
 Find out what our patron like and will spend money on.
- Auction Reporting and Tracking
- Call and ask
 What makes our auction stand out?
- Change up our items from year to year
- Put items together to create something different and higher value.
- More items do not always create more income
- Have price points for everyone in the room
 Current Must Have Item: Men's watches, Cigar Boxes, Pet Baskets, Candy Baskets, Sporting items during that
season, Sports and Celeb Autograph items, Classic Jewelry, Gift Cards to the top restaurants in your area, 3 Day
Vacations
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11. It’s Auction Time
Trends in Auction Functionality
 Mobile & Online Auctions
 Pre Launching the Auction
 Pre Authorizing Payment
 Silent Auction Closing After Live
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12. Mobile & Online Bidding
Patron Benefits
- Creates fun interactive activity for the patrons during the event
- See and bid on items before the event even starts
- Instant notification with they get outbid so they don’t forget what they are bidding on
- Allows patron to enjoy the event and not stand by the bid sheets all night
- Leave right after the auction is over without standing in a long line
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13. Mobile & Online Bidding
Organizational Benefits
- Start Raising money before event starts
- Patron does not have to attend to participate
- Less volunteers need to run the auction
- Allow the staff to interact with the donors and sponsors
- No stressful collecting of bid sheets and data entry
- Instant Reporting
- Fast and Easy Checkout process
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14. Why Pre Launching Your Auction
 This allows us to market and build excitement for
our silent auction and event
 Patrons can start bidding and donating before the
event starts
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15. Pre Authorization
 Eliminates the checkout process and patrons can
now pick up their items with no long lines.
 Your organization is guaranteed to receive their
funds and do not have to worry about collecting
after the event.
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16. Increase Auction Activity
 Promote bidding from the front of the room. Don’t rely on a text
message to move people.
 Create a large excitement as the clock ticks down
 Leave silent auction open for 10 minutes following the live
auction. (This allows those patrons who lost in the live auction to
jump back into the silent and bid more)
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17. Checkout
Fast & Efficient
- This is the last thing people remember at the end of the night.
- Pre Authorization create a pick up line with no payment
- Multiple line for credit card and one for cash/check
- Proper amount of volunteers to help patrons get their items
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18. Tracking for Our Next Event
Whether we use mobile technology or pen and paper we
must track the activity in our auctions.
- What items had the most bids
- What created the most amount of money
- How money people participate
- Who bought what
- Top donors
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19. Key Points
 We must know what type of patrons are attending our event and cater the theme
and marketing to them.
 Know what your patrons will be interested in purchasing in the auction
 Create a fun, enjoyable and easy way for individuals to bid
 Develop a fast process for our patrons to checkout
 Keep track of our results and data for the next auction (CRM)
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20. Step #1
Retention Success After Any Event
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21. Step #1
Retention Success After Any Event
(Requires a Top Notch Database
Which EVERYONE Can Use!)
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22. Step #1
Retention Success After Any Event
(Requires a Top Notch Database
Which EVERYONE Can Use!)
Even Fundraisers/Executives . . .
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23. How?
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24. How?
CRM or Database so Intuitive
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25. How?
CRM or Database so Intuitive
(No training needed, period!)
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26. Design Philosophy
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27. Simple and Clean
• Intuitive, just begin using!
• Use on any device
• Avoid features that don’t benefit a majority of
users
– Most NPO databases use less than 20% of the
functions within them!
– Avoid the classic “Feature Buying Mistake”
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28. Show Login Screen
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29. @bloomerangtech | 29

30. Step #2
Build in Best Fundraising Practices
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31. Step #2
Build in Best Fundraising Practices
A. Donor Retention/Engagement
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32. Step #2
Build in Best Fundraising Practices
A. Donor Retention/Engagement
B. Prospect/Donor Communications
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33. CUE THE EXPERTS:
Dr. Adrian Sargeant
Bloomerang Chief Scientist
Professor of Fundraising at the Center on
Philanthropy at Indiana University holding
what is presently the world’s only endowed
chair in that discipline.
Top 10 Most Influential People in Fundraising
Renowned expert on Donor Retention and
Donor Loyalty
Mr. Tom Ahern
Bloomerang Donor
Communications Head Coach
One of the world’s top authorities on donor
communications
Author of 4 books on Donor Communications
Winner of 3 prestigious international IABC Gold
Quill awards
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34. “A mere 10% up in retention can increase the lifetime
value of the fundraising database by 200%”
“70% of All New Donors Never Renew!”
Dr. Adrian Sargeant
Professor of Fundraising at the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University holding what is presently
the world’s only endowed chair in that discipline.
Professor of Nonprofit Marketing and Fundraising at Bristol Business School (U.K) and an Adjunct
Professor of Fundraising at the Australian Centre for Philanthropy and Nonprofit Studies.
Top 10 Most Influential People in Fundraising
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35. To Fully Understand the Quote . . .
We Must Define Lifetime Value?
“The total net contribution
that a customer/donor
generates during his/her
lifetime in your database”
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37. @bloomerangtech | 37@bloomerangtech | 37

38. Dashboard
• More like your retention “cockpit”
• Show snapshot of current
– Retention rate
– Revenue
– Campaigns
• Frequently used reports and constituents
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39. @bloomerangtech | 39

40. Automatic Engagement Factors
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• Recency and pattern of
giving
• Cash donors vs.
sustaining donors
• # of years giving +
• Upgrade /
Downgrade + -
• Lapsed -
• Event attendance +
• Opens email +
• Click links in emails +
• Unsubscribes
from email -
• Has stated
communication
preferences +
• Has inbound
interactions +
• Has soft credits +
• Volunteers +
• Social Media
(coming soon)
• …and a whole lot more!

41. DONOR COMMUNICATION BEST PRACTICES
Mr. Tom Ahern
Bloomerang Donor Communications
Head Coach
"Successful direct mail appeals are quite simple. At
heart, they are love letters to donors &
prospects, woven through with clear cries for
help."
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42. What is the
donor’s
engagement
over time!
Highlight vital “communication” information
---
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43. @bloomerangtech | 43

44. Next Gen Database/CRM
Easy Enough for All (Even the CEO to Use!)
Enables Fundraising Best Practices!

45. Q & A
Steve Roseman and Jay Love
June 27, 2013