3 Ways Your CRM Can Influence Your Fundraising Events

Fundraising events are attended by 81% of U.S. donors, making them the ideal outlet for reaching a broad audience and garnering support for your cause. However, between securing event sponsorships, recruiting volunteers, and marketing the fundraiser, event planning is no easy feat.

It won’t surprise you that software built for events can simplify planning and execution. Nonprofit constituent relationship management (CRM) systems, long known for donor management and fundraising tools, often include modules specific to different types of fundraising—including events.

It’s up to your nonprofit to choose and invest in the tool that will best support its unique fundraising goals. However, it’s important to understand the potential benefits your organization could experience to understand why this tool is pivotal to your event planning efforts. Let’s break down three ways your nonprofit CRM can improve your fundraising events.

Data-driven planning

CharityEngine’s guide to nonprofit events explains that developing an event plan, or a blueprint for your fundraiser, is critical to making sure your event supports your overall fundraising goals. The data from your CRM can guide different aspects of your event, such as:

• Ticket pricing: What’s the average size of donation your nonprofit receives? A smart strategy is to keep your ticket price in the mid-range of where your donors typically give to ensure they’re comfortable with the price. 
• VIP invitations: Who are your biggest donors? Consider offering VIP tickets with premium seating or other perks.
• Marketing plan: What audience are you trying to reach? Use donor data to create segmented donor lists and plan marketing materials that align with potential attendees’ preferences. If you run into any gaps in donor data, such as missing contact information, conduct a data append to collect all the information needed for highly detailed segments.

Your CRM can also provide data that will help you set fundraising goals. Look at past campaigns and see what was the most successful, then set goals just a little higher. For example, how many tickets did you sell to your event last year? How many people came? How much did you raise at the event? Figuring out what worked and doubling down on it, while avoiding the things that didn’t work, can help you achieve data-driven success.

Enhanced event management

When shopping for nonprofit fundraising software, you’ll want a solution that manages both the fundraiser and the data generated by it. A solution with unified data—data from different sources in one place—that also offers robust reporting and analytics might provide more value than one that simply helps you plan an event.

The data that is housed by your fundraising software will help to guide future event planning. For example, alongside a full suite of fundraising tools, your CRM might gather data on:

• Registration and ticketing: Your CRM should be able to automate registration, payments, and ticketing and then quickly show you real-time numbers. This way, you can forecast future event attendance and adjust your plan to increase those numbers.
• Seat assignments: The right software will group donors and take the guesswork out of table assignments or other seating. Understanding which donors enjoy socializing with one another can reveal similar characteristics that may guide your donor segments in the future.
• Attendee communications: Keep all communications and questions in one place by creating a channel through your CRM. Then, look back on your communications to evaluate donors’ questions, the most engaging messages or language, and other details that can help you plan future communications. 

Finding a CRM that stays up to date with the latest advancements in technology, like AI capabilities and automation, is also essential for streamlining the event management process. Such tools can help your nonprofit increase its return on investment (ROI) by saving team time and improving your event logistics.

Attendee and volunteer engagement

The top fundraising platforms can improve event planning and execution as well as the guest experience. If your donors can register for an event, pay for their tickets, and even download a tax receipt on your website, you’ve made supporting your nonprofit easy!

You can ensure you’re optimizing every opportunity to engage attendees by automating communications at different stages of the journey:

• Pre-event engagement: From publicizing your event across channels to setting up event registration and ticket sales with the click of a key to reminders as the event approaches, there are countless opportunities to reach out to your audience in the weeks before the event.
• Real-time interaction: Setting up a dedicated event SMS channel gives your nonprofit an ideal space to engage with your audience. Sharing event updates, communicating relevant news during the event, and answering questions in real time can help you track donor engagement, identify any areas of weakness, and respond quickly. This attention to donor care is one of the best ways to deepen donor relationships.
• Post-event follow-up: It’s easy to automate personalized thank-you messages and remind donors of how they’ve helped your mission. After that, send a follow-up email that talks about how successful your event was and how it’s impacting your efforts. Keep the conversation going!

Keep in mind that your event guests aren’t the only ones contributing to your nonprofit through the fundraiser—your CRM can even help you thank volunteers by providing a holistic view of their involvement so you can create personalized and engaging thank-you messages.

Planning and executing any event can seem overwhelming, but when you’re also trying to weave in compelling messages and communicate with a diverse donor base, it can seem closer to impossible! The good news is that a robust nonprofit CRM likely contains tools that can make the process painless.

From automation and personalization to ticket sales and tax receipts, choose a system designed to make events a breeze. The best ones ensure your event is a hit and bring new donors to your doorstep!