A gala is not major gift fundraising, nor does it really have anything to do with philanthropy. A gala is a way that non-profits bring in cash. And in rare cases, it provides enough net revenue to justify having one.
A gala is almost 100% transactional in nature. In other words, it’s not about connecting a donor’s specific passions and interests with the need you’re addressing. To be honest, it’s creating an avenue for you to invite donors and their friends to, for one night, feel good about what you do.
That’s not Philanthropy.
Can it be useful for cultivating major donors? Yes, in some cases. Can it inspire some folks to become donors? Yes, in some cases. Is it possible to make more net revenue by doing a gala than by cultivating major donors? No.
If you’re currently working for a non-profit that has a long history of an annual gala event and it makes enough net revenue to justify it, then it’s pretty hard to get off that hamster wheel. But please don’t involve your major gift team to plan that event or be involved in the logistics that would take them away from the day-to-day work of cultivating and stewarding their portfolio.
And if you don’t have an annual gala event and you’re thinking of starting one, Richard and I would strongly suggest you put that time, energy and money into building up your major gift program instead.
Why? Because building relationships, understanding a donor’s passions and interests, and helping a donor find joy in their life through alleviating a need you are addressing will produce much more net revenue, for a longer period of time, than what you’d get from an annual event gift.
What gets Richard and me all fired up is when the development and major gift team is stymied in their work for 2 months because the gala becomes an “all-hands-on-deck” event for your non-profit. That’s a huge chunk of time.
When we look at major gift data and see high value attrition, this is one of the causes. Major gift officers have been diverted away from their portfolio to help pull off a gala. I cannot tell you the scores of major gift officers that have talked to Richard, our team and me about this serious problem.
Quite frankly, we believe creating or continuing a gala that doesn’t make significant net revenue is hurting your relationship with donors, and you’re hurting your long-term return on investment. If you want to be a good steward of your organization’s resources (which I know you do), then putting in the hard work of building strong relationships with your donors will pay off way more than creating or holding that annual gala.
If your board really feels they need to have an event, let them cover the cost and the logistics for that party without involving the development team… especially the major gift team.
The bottom line is this: There is no easy way to do major gifts. Many times, a gala is thought to help make it easier. But it’s actually killing major gifts. It’s not connecting the donor’s passions and interests to the many programs and projects you have that are changing the world. It’s asking for cash.
Is all that time, labor, energy and months spent away from your portfolio worth the measly net revenue your organization is going to come away with?
Build relationships, do that everyday hard work – the result is so much better.
Jeff
PS — Be sure to download our free White Paper on Events and why to avoid them. If you feel you MUST do an event, we give you some suggestions to maximize it. Click here.
Related Posts
-
What Would You Call the Annual Fund?
March 13, 2017
Thank you so much for sharing! I have been pegged at my organization as “anti-event” for expressing a similar sentiment. I always respond with “An event is a great excuse to ask for a gift. If you are doing your job as a fundraiser – you don’t need an excuse to ask for a gift.”
I have been fighting this battle since I came into this position three years ago. I am new to Major Gift Fundraising but not the organization. I’ve been involved with the organization for almost 30 years at some level. I was hired as the Major Gifts Manager to raise money for the new Foundation and planned giving. My work cannot conflict with the Big Gala or the Walk/Run or Annual Fund Drive where a member of the community writes a letter on behalf of the organization. I have to make my moves between all that. I did get $150,000 commitments to the Foundation last year. Now, we are in the middle of a building campaign which takes some of our major donors in that direction. All that to say, I think your blogs are so very helpful but they seem to work better in a university or hospital or private school setting. Do you have any insight for me?
Great, passionately written article. I do, however, disagree with the statement that a gala/special event is not philanthropy. I believe philanthropy is defined by the giver, not the receiver. Some people will only interact with an organization through special events, raffles, auctions, etc. and feel they are making a difference (and they are). So while a gala/special event may not be a good development practice, those who participate are expressing their philanthropy in their own personal way.
Amen! If we’d spend less time on events, we could spend quality time with our donors.
Great article and oh how I would love to give up our TWO major events, however our Board would never go for that. Boards like Gala’s because they can SEE the money, they can invite their friends and feel good about their philanthropic efforts as a Board Member. I think of Gala’s as “Donortainment” for that donor who likes to be entertained into giving a gift. As a Senior Director of Fund Development & Communications I am very much pulled away from major gift cultivation in order to ensure our events are successful. I know my time and the time of my staff would be much better spent on major gifts, appealing to mid level donors, increasing our sustaining monthly gift base and developing a robust legacy giving program, however until boards believe that we will continue to run events.
Thank you for this article. I like your blogs-however you seem to assume all groups have MGO..Could you address those groups as well? Thanks.
We’ve re-shared this post on Swell Fundraising. Although we have technology dedicated to events, We agree completely. We would welcome a deeper, more strategic conversation about the following: Swell was started because of our focus on leveraging events to be the donor acquisition step (1st gift) and leveraging events to expand the pipeline of donors into a nonprofit as well as cause awareness. Needless to say, we are measured by revenue and talk about revenue increases for more than expanding the donor pipeline because that is what most nonprofits care about but at the end of the day we know the substantial value is in the new donor names/prospects and the potential to expand reach.