Please, not another event!

When the annual operating budget is being stretched, we can count on someone suggesting that we add another event. And all the development people cringe. With the lowest return on investment of any of our fundraising activities, events seem like a necessary evil.  How can we have more productive events that don’t bury staff members (and not just development staff) under tasks? How do we analyze events to see if we’re really making money and find sweet spots where revenue can be increased? How do we nurture relationships with people who only attend our events but don’t contribute? How do we make certain our events promote our mission, increase our visibility, and draw people more deeply into our work? We’ll analyze categories of events, discuss trends in event fundraising, and suggest ways of staying sane while eventing.