Organizing a charity event is hard work. It takes a team effort to coordinate logistics, participants, and presentations all while ensuring that the important fundraising goals are met. With all the moving parts, it’s important to also focus on the donor experience at the event. Not only making sure donors have a good time but that it is easy for them to support and promote your cause before, during and after the event.
The challenge with many of these events is the participant and the charity have to use many modes of information collection to drive success. Participants can sign up through an online sign up system. You use email to send pre-event messages. You may even be doing paper communications for your fundraiser. Advanced donations are done through a web portal.
At the event, you’re trying to raise additional money – so you may be handing out pledge cards or collecting cash. Then, after the event you need to follow up on the pledges, send receipts or thank you letters. You may be doing that through snail mail or through email.
While doing all of this you’re leveraging social and hoping that your donors and participants share your posts so you can increase your reach. You cross your fingers that your donors check social while they’re at your event.
Stop the Madness: Why a Mobile App Can Help
Whether it’s a golf tournament, dance-a-thon, road race or any other fundraising event – you can save a lot of headaches by incorporating a mobile app into your fundraising and event plan. Here’s how:
Sign-Up and Participant Fees
People can sign up their teams and pay the participant fees through their mobile phones. Because they downloaded the app and engaged with your app page, your organization now has a way to communicate with that person through push notifications and in-app news updates.
Pre-Event Donations
Any donations participants raise for their involvement can be sent via the app and coded to that participant. Participants and donors can promote the cause, the donation and the event with just a couple of screen taps because the app easily integrates with social networks.
- Event Donations
At the event, you use the same app to solicit any onsite donations (e.g., mulligans, additional pledges). Or, perhaps you’re showing a compelling video or having someone share a personal story. People who are compelled to give can donate in seconds as opposed to filling out a cumbersome pledge card that requires additional follow-up. Those mobile giving donations can also be promoted socially just like pre-event donations.
Tax Reporting
Instead of the donor combine mail and file for the thank you letter or tax receipt, the donor can easily log onto the app and view the tax dashboard and export it for year-end reporting purposes. The donor isn’t having to coordinate one letter for the participation donation, another for the sponsorship and then another letter for the money he/she gave at the event. Stop the madness!
When everything is done through the app – participating in your charity events becomes so much easier for the donor. Rather than maneuvering through separate processes, the donor has everything literally at his/her fingertips. Giving, reporting and promoting your cause is easy because you’re meeting your donors where they are – on their phones.
Learn how a mobile giving app can drive the results you want for your organization.
No Cost to Sign-Up. No limit on the possibilities.
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