Software Advice IndustryView: Best Fundraising Events for Your NonprofitTrends and best practices from the industry

Special events—such as galas, golf tournaments and competitive races—are a popular fundraising method used by 82 percent of nonprofits, according to the Nonprofit Research Collaborative.

Event fundraising, however, incurs higher upfront costs than passive fundraising methods, like email campaigns. We surveyed 99 nonprofit event planners to find out which types of major events are best for nonprofits depending on their size.

Some key findings include:

• Fun runs and walks are the easiest event to plan and generate a moderate to high return on investment for nonprofits of all sizes.

• A-thon events—bowl-a-thons and dance-a-thons, for example—have the lowest cost per dollar raised (CPDR) and are suitable for nonprofits with low budgets.

• CPDR, number of new donors and number of attendees are the most common metrics used to measure event performance.

Abstract

Fun Runs and Walks Best Event No Matter Nonprofit Size

While all major events are relatively difficult for small nonprofits to plan due to limited resources, fun runs and walks are the best major event for any size.

For any nonprofit wanting to host a major event, but that is also constrained by a small budget, a-thon events typically have the lowest cost per dollar raised.

A-thon Events Have Lowest Cost Per Dollar Raised

CPDR

Number of new donors

Attendance

ROI

Average donation amount

Number of new volunteers

Media mentions

Email/newsletter sign-ups

Website visits

0% 25% 50% 75% 100%

22%

31%

38%

40%

64%

65%

75%

80%

83%

Percent of sample

Eighty-three percent of respondents say CPDR is the most used performance metric, followed closely by the number of new donors acquired at 80 percent.

CPDR Most Popular Event Performance Metric

In our sample, 43 percent of respondents represent small nonprofits, 35 percent midsize nonprofits, 12 percent large and 9 percent are not sure.

Less than $1 million26%

$1 - $5 million17%

$6 - $10 million15%

$11 - $20 million10%

$21 - $50 million10%

$51 - $100 million6%

More than $100 million6%

Not sure9%

Respondents by Annual Operating Budget

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Read about our findings in more detail.Read Report