Working with a Nonprofit Event Planning Company: 3 Benefits
Whether you’re planning a golf tournament or a formal gala, events are powerful tools for furthering your nonprofit’s work for a number of reasons. They help you increase exposure for your cause, pull in fundraising dollars, and strengthen your organization’s reputation in the public eye. Events can also provide the perfect opportunity to build lasting, quality relationships with supporters as you engage in these memorable experiences together.
Despite all of the good that can come from nonprofit events, the fact is that events aren’t easy to plan or execute. This is evident by the extensive list of planning tasks provided in CharityBids’ guide to nonprofit event planning, which covers everything from building an event planning committee to recruiting and managing volunteers to marketing. These tasks may take time, energy, and resources away from day-to-day operations. Additionally, many nonprofits lack the experience needed to bring their vision for their events to life.
These challenges can make nonprofit event planning feel like staring across an endless chasm and wondering how you’re going to get across. Luckily, there is one surefire way to bridge the gap between all that you hope your next event will be and making it a reality—working with a nonprofit event planning company!
In this post, we’ll walk you through the benefits of working with nonprofit event planning and production experts. Ready to learn how to take your next event to new heights? Let’s begin!
1. Craft a genuinely memorable experience.
If you were to close your eyes and picture a traditional nonprofit event, what would you see? You might think of a gala-style event with speeches, a few fundraising activities (for example, an auction), and a shared meal. And while these events have earned their place in the fundraising world, modern nonprofits want something more—something refreshingly different and memorable that their supporters have never seen before.
After all, a memorable, one-of-a-kind experience stays with people, leaving a lasting impression while keeping your organization top-of-mind as they wait to see what you’ll do next.
A nonprofit event planning company brings the expertise and resources you need to give attendees a unique and seamless event experience. Here are a few ways a nonprofit event company can help you make your next event memorable, whether it be in-person or virtual:
- Give your event an interactive edge. Instead of having your attendees sit through a series of presentations and speeches, why not play an interactive game or have a side-splitting comedy performance? A nonprofit event planner can help you come up with unique and fun ideas to engage your audience and keep them involved and excited.
- Leverage video. According to NXUnite, “Videos give you the opportunity to tell your story in your own words, using compelling imagery and footage to explain your mission and impact.” Videos can help break up long speeches or presentations, demonstrate the human aspect of your mission, and evoke emotions in your attendees. The right event planning partner can help you create quality video assets that will share your organization’s story in a way that resonates with your attendees while leaving you with digital content you can reuse for years to come.
- Personalize the experience. Personalization is critical to making each attendee feel seen and valued. Your event planning partner can help you personalize the attendee experience based on what you know about your donors. For example, your team might personally welcome attendees as they arrive and provide special awards or gifts to top donors and volunteers throughout the evening.
A fresh perspective can do wonders for nonprofits looking to breathe new life into their events. The beauty of working with nonprofit event planning experts is that they bring an objective, third-party perspective to the event planning process, along with a wealth of knowledge, and you bring all that you know about your community of supporters and your goals for the event.
Together, you can come up with fun ways to grab your attendees’ attention and keep them fully immersed in the event from start to finish, setting them up to not only register for upcoming events but also to engage with your organization in other ways, such as donating, volunteering, or simply following you on social media.
2. Gain access to your partner’s network and resources.
Finding the right venue, selecting quality entertainment, engaging the best caterer, and other event planning tasks can feel overwhelming when you don’t have the right connections. You may feel like you’re settling for the same options again and again simply out of convenience.
That’s where another benefit of working with a nonprofit event planner comes into play.
Partnering with a planner gives you access to their extensive network and resources, allowing your event to reach new heights you could not attain alone!
Here are some examples of the connections your nonprofit event planning partner may bring to the table:
- Venues: The setting of your nonprofit event matters, so having more options than your local hotel ballroom is an absolute must. The right venue should create an appropriate atmosphere for your event, but it’s also important that it accommodates the number of attendees you’re anticipating, offers adequate parking, allows room for any activities you’re planning, and is accessible to people of all abilities.
- Vendors and suppliers: From catering and audiovisual equipment to high-quality decor, it can take a lot of third parties to ensure that your event will be spectacular. Let your event planning partner help you find the vendors that will offer the highest caliber of customer service and deliver quality products and services, all while being mindful of your bottom line.
- Auction consignment: If your event includes an auction, you’ll need an auction catalog full of items and experiences that will appeal to your audience and stand out for being inaccessible elsewhere. The right event planner can help you tap into auction consignment services at no risk to your organization so that you can offer things like luxury travel experiences, celebrity meet-and-greets, high-end alcohol collections, and more.
- Celebrity connections: Chances are you’ve seen a commercial or social media post where a celebrity has attended an event to support a specific nonprofit. Some nonprofit event planning companies can help you procure world-class talent, and adding star power can draw more attention to your event and cause and extend your reach to new potential donors.
Not only will your event planner know who to call to help get your event off the ground, but these experts will also have established relationships with different vendors, venues, suppliers, and event industry professionals. They may even get special deals and discounts through their connections.
3. Save money
At first glance, this benefit may sound counterintuitive—won’t working with a nonprofit event planning company deplete your budget?
In reality, no. Partnering with a nonprofit event planner is a wise investment that can actually help you save money over time. This is because events planners:
- Are well-versed in nonprofits’ needs and will understand the importance of sticking to your budget while creating a high-quality event experience.
- Can help your organization sidestep costly event-planning mistakes.
- Have the right connections to help you get special deals on various services and products.
- Help you create marketing assets and event content that you can repurpose in the future.
- Handle the heavy lifting so your team can focus on other aspects of your operations.
The right company will act as a true partner to your organization, working to understand your organization’s budget, needs, and vision for the event—and they’ll respect the parameters you set forth.
They’ll then develop a tailored approach to your event that is entirely unique to you and your supporter base. When you host a truly memorable event as a result, you’ll see a return on your investment not only in fundraising revenue but in the supporter connections you forge and strengthen as well.
As you prepare for your organization’s next event, consider the benefits we’ve outlined and explore your options for working with a nonprofit event planner. The return on your investment will be well worth it!
