The sun is shining, everyone has optimistically donned their flip-flops and sunglasses and all are feeling good about the world after a drizzly winter. But….

Are you making the most of the good mood and good weather?

Do you have a summer event plan?

What can you do?

Be realistic about the resources you have (both people and financial). A big idea executed with little allocated resources will cause frustration and disappointment. You might want to organise a huge fun run with balloons, t-shirts and big crowds.. but you are unlikely to reach your vision without enough dedicated resources. If what you can achieve is a small family barbeque, then make it the best family barbeque it can be – and plan to grow the activity as your resources increase.

How will you do it?

Spend the time planning your event properly. What materials do you need? Where and when will it take place? How will you make sure it is well attended? How much will it cost? Plan target milestones to make sure you are on track to deliver successfully.

Is it a profitable and sustainable idea?

What will it cost to run your event? How much will you raise from the event? What activities will you include to raise this money? How can your idea grow in the future to become a good source of fundraising profit? How can you move this event away from using staff resources to become a volunteer led event?

How will you measure success?

How will you know if your event has been successful? Ultimately, if this is a fundraising event then it needs to make some money. If it’s the first time you have run the event, it’s not realistic to expect it to earn a fortune – but it should make a small profit at least and have potential to grow in years to come. Evaluate the event once it has taken place, critically review the activities and results and refine your model for the next time.

To summarise:

Plan (properly), allocate enough resources, measure your success, refine your model.

If you need some help to plan your summer fundraising strategy, just get in touch.

Our first meeting is completely free!