How To Organize The Perfect Fundraising Gala

Organising a perfect event is essential, but it requires significant time, effort and expense. And no matter the cause, it’s vital to create fundraising ideas that would not only generate profits but would also last for years to come.

Hosting a gala is one of the most popular events organised by charity fundraisers because it easily fits into all types of organisations, both big and small. It is a great opportunity to recognise your organisation’s success and to connect with your donors on a personal level.

When you organise a gala gathering, it can either be a formal and regal event or a casual social gathering with a small or large guest list. However, even with the resources online, devising the program flow can be challenging, especially if you are incorporating several activities. With that, it’s always crucial to engage with the best fundraisers to oversee the planning process.

Why Create a Fundraising Campaign

Two of the valuable reasons why organisations put so much effort in creating an event is to raise money and raise awareness. To do this, activities, such as dinners, auctions or tournaments, are planned carefully.

There are so many types of fundraising campaign initiatives that you can do to achieve your goals. Events like peer-to-peer fundraising, crowdfunding, online fundraising, text-to-give campaign and social media campaign are some of the creative ways to showcase your organisation’s brand.

1. Find New Potential Donors

Successful fundraisers know how to target the right audience to increase the organisation’s effectiveness. As an organiser, you have to know who your donors are so when you reach out to new supporters, your strategies will lead to a positive outcome. The more you know about your existing donors in the community, the more you will be able to come up with creative and strategic fundraising event ideas for your campaign.

2. Ensures Consistent Funds To Support Activities

Firstly, funds are the reason why you are able to run operations. Having a regular flow of funds sustains your organisation’s mission, vision and goals. If you can’t raise money, ultimately, the organisation will cease to operate. The good thing is that ideas for fundraising are truly limitless. Understanding your goals will provide you with numerous activities to include in your event.

3. Maintains Support From Existing Donors

Taking good care of your existing donors is just as essential as getting new ones. Supporters are the lifeblood of any charity or non-profit fundraising affair. Therefore, knowing what motivates them to give is vital to your lasting relationship.

To really create an impact on your supporters, your organisation must show good stewardship to the donor money. One of the reasons why donors give to your fundraiser event is their personal connection to your cause. When they can see the impact of their generosity, they will trust your organisation and will continue to give more.

How to Organise a Fundraising Gala

1. Devise a Program That Meets Your Fundraising Gala Goals

Your goals are important to ensure that you are heading in the right direction and to assess your event’s success. Whatever your goals are, they should be an essential part of the planning process.

2. Decide on Your Gala Theme

Deciding on a theme will bring fresh experience to your supporters. From the food, venue and decorations, you can spark more personality, enjoyment and excitement. Moreover, with your theme, you can narrow down your options, making it easy for you to go through the planning process.

If you are not sure what theme to use, get creative with some of the popular themes like Masquerade, Black Tie Event, Wild West, Tropical or even Hollywood theme.

3. Create a Realistic Budget

As with any other fundraising event, budget is crucial if you want a return on investment. A definitive budget must include actual costs of expenses, as well as the projected income.

Even a small gala requires a budget that would completely cover the expenses. It also means that while it is important to stay within the budget, it should not compromise the quality of the event. If your budget is limited, look for creative ways to make your gala event stand out. The best events are often a result of meticulous planning and innovative schemes which strikes the right balance between increasing donors and keeping the costs down.

4. Incorporate Creative Ways to Encourage Donations

In today’s technology, people have more access to donate a portion of their money to any cause. And as an organiser, you must adapt to this change because registrations and admissions are not just enough to earn profits. So, be ready to incorporate any method that would generate more contributions. Encourage donations through text-to-give, donation kiosks or social media links.

5. Include Several Fundraising Ideas

Engaging with your supporters is one of the key successes when organising a gala event. Therefore, you have to incorporate the main event that would draw people to your cause.

One of the great ways to highlight your gala is to include auctions because your guests can bid on their favourite items. Hosting an auction as part of your gala requires a professional team to procure items.

Helping Hand Auction Services

Although there are many ways to organise a gala fundraising event, the key to success is to always engage with a reliable fundraising event team.

Not sure what items to include in your gala auction? Let us help you. Helping Hand is a leading auction service that has already built a strong reputation throughout Australasia.

At Helping Hand, we provide auction ideas for fundraisers, credible auction items and services to take your event to the next level. More importantly, we have the right people with high expertise to run your event.

Why hire Helping Hand? Because our team can bring success to your organisation. This is our profession and with years of experience, we can provide you with the most comprehensive auction event service there is.

So, if you are looking for fundraising ideas in Australia for a large crowd or easy fundraisers for small groups, call us and we will discuss better options with you.

Opinion: Ballot Bidding® or Electronic Silent Auction?

Ballot Bidding or Electronic Silent Auctions for charity fundraisers

Ballot Bidding® or Electronic Silent Auction: Which format is best for your event?

Choosing the right auction format for your fundraising event is key to achieving your fundraising goal. Not sure which is the best format to raise as much money as possible for your charity? We can help! Here are some unique features of paper-based Ballot Bidding as well as technology-based Electronic Silent Auction systems:

BALLOT BIDDING®: Classic paper-and-pen silent auction format

Cut to the chase: Ask your guests for their maximum auction bid once and eliminate back and forth “penny bidding”. Keep them tuned in to your speakers rather than constantly checking their silent auction bids.

Maximise bids for your charity: This “blind” method encourages guests think about possible bids from other guests. It encourages bidding at or as close to as possible to their personal maximum bid. This helps to ensure your fundraising auction raises as much as possible.

Sell multiple auction items for your charity: When available, we facilitate selling more than one of an auction item to the top bidders. Yes, that means the amount you fundraise multiplies!

Let us do the work: Our team will design, print, and distribute our Ballot Bidding® forms to your guests’ seats at no cost. We seamlessly incorporate all items available at your event.

ELECTRONIC SILENT AUCTIONS: Electronic auction system using tablets, smart phones, and event screens.

Bidding on auction items without borders: We provide you with a link to an online version of your auction. Share it via email or social media and collect bids from contacts worldwide.

Flexible auction item list: Silent auction technology allows you to enjoy a limitless number of silent auction items. It is also designed to be in a flexible digital format.

Communicate and up-sell for your charity: Messages can be sent directly to your guests during the night via SMS. Use the electronic silent auction technology to promote higher bids by enticing competitive bidding. You can also use the auction software to remind guests about important information about the auction.

We believe that both electronic silent auctions and classic paper-based silent auctions are fantastic in their own way. They engage guests and both are effective at raising funds. However, we recognise that they are very different approaches.

Contact our team and let’s have a conversation about which format will work best for your next event. 

Helping Hand Group Ballot Bidding®: A Great Way to Maximise your Fundraising.

Let us do the work for you! We design and print Ballot Bidding® forms that include all of the items available for the fundraising auction of your event. This includes any items that you have amassed as well as any items supplied by our team. We integrate all items into a seamless, professional, presentation that is specially-branded for your event.

Guests are given one chance to lodge their max bid against the items that interest them and multiples can sometimes be sold! Our expert team is made available to assist guests with bidding, to answer questions, and handle all payments at the end.

Check out our other auction formats that may suit your next event: https://helpinghand.com.au/auction-formats/