Independent fundraising events (IFEs) can be a serious moneymaker for nonprofit organizations. Each year, IFEs are some of the most successful fundraising campaigns for organizations of all sizes and causes.
While it’s a great idea to incorporate an IFE program into your overall fundraising strategy, it’s not a great idea to jump in without doing some planning. You must structure your organization’s campaign in a way that best fits your goals and cause, your potential participants and your team’s capacity to carry this out successfully.
What do you want out of your constituents? Answering this question will allow you to create a clear outline for your IFE.
The point of IFEs, A.K.A. ‘third-party events,’ is to energize constituents to fundraise for you (aha!). We can’t expect them to do the work without any guidance, or without doing any work ourselves for that matter. We have to provide fundraisers with tools, we have to make sure our team can provide these necessary tools and we have to make sure all facets of the process work together toward the overall goal.
Fortunately, we live in the digital age and our constituents are more willing to engage where it’s convenient. Online tools are of the essence here. Those who can be involved both online and offline will appreciate the ease of using an online portal or event page to fundraise and will have more time to focus on the event. Peer-to-peer goes a long way when it can be conducted both digitally and in person.
There are several ways to successfully carry out an IFE program. Be sure to consider your participants and your organization’s goals when planning your event and don’t forget the benefit of using online tools like Boundless Fundraising.
Read more about IFEs here:
Top 3 Recommendations for Successful IFE Programs
A Cornucopia of Ways to Support Independent Fundraising Events