During the pandemic, you’ve likely had to change up a number of strategies and your appreciation strategy should be among them. Read this guide to learn more.

Set your virtual fundraising events up for success by leveraging technology. Learn about 3 strategies any nonprofit can use for successful virtual events.

Amid all the challenges and disruptions that 2020 has already thrown our way, tackling a new kind of virtual event might feel like a major undertaking for your nonprofit’s team. However, now is the perfect time to try new strategies to keep your donors engaged while raising support for your mission. Audiences are eager to continue supporting the causes they love in new ways, and virtual fundraising technology has made it easier than ever to update your strategies. Besides, virtual engagement is now an integral (and necessary) part of keeping up your fundraising momentum despite the pandemic’s effects . By now, your nonprofit has likely already taken steps to pivot more fully towards online and virtual fundraising . But have your events fallen through the cracks? While engagement events like discussions, parties, and announcements can be easily adapted to live-streamed settings and can generate donations, more strategically incorporating fundraising into your virtual events has probably proved to be more challenging. Keeping donors engaged remotely with fundraising-centric virtual events will be critical for your nonprofit moving forward as social distancing guidelines don’t appear to be going away. Let’s walk through the essentials of planning a virtual auction: 1. Set guidelines for your event. 2. Review your toolkit and virtual strategies. 3. Assemble your virtual auction team. 4. Begin procuring and pricing auction items. 5. Develop an event marketing strategy. 6. Encourage early engagement. 7. Doublecheck your plans and host your auction. These core steps will give your event planning team a solid structure upon which you can build your auction strategies. Even if planning virtual auctions is new to your nonprofit, in many ways they’re easier to plan than traditional, in-person auctions. With the right strategies and tools on your side, you’ll be launching your first virtual auction in no time. Let’s dive in.

“What if we offend people by asking for donations right now?” “We have enough funding from our savings and/or grants to hold us over for a while.” “We have so much going on right now – how can we even find time to fundraise?” “Our board thinks we shouldn’t be asking for donations right now…” These are all direct quotes from actual conversations I’ve had with nonprofit friends and clients over the past few weeks.

Since 2015, Facebook has steadily rolled out new donation tools to support nonprofit fundraising efforts. With features like Facebook Birthday Fundraisers, Instagram Donation Stickers, and Instagram Profile Donation Buttons – it is becoming easier for nonprofit supporters to give through social media.

With the rise of COVID-19, more and more people are staying home to practice safe social distancing, putting a pause to almost all in-person events. No one could have predicted the impact this global pandemic has had so far, especially for nonprofits. Events that were supposed to bring in fundraising revenue are now cancelled and supporters who might have given before are likely reconsidering.

With the end of the calendar year comes a new tax season. As a nonprofit, the last year has consisted of great fundraising campaigns, new projects, and new growth. Throughout it all, you probably weren’t thinking about where to categorize data and how new fundraising will impact your tax forms.

Your association thrives as a direct result of its membership program. Your members make up the foundation of your organization and its fundraising endeavors, which is why it’s important to sustain association membership as much as possible.

Planning an auction takes a considerable amount of effort for nonprofits. Between procuring items, finding a venue to accommodate all of your guests, picking up bid paddles, and getting people to register, it can be hard to juggle the different parts of a great event.