Non-Profit In-Person Events are Back for 2022: Here’s How to Get the Most Benefit from Them (and Virtual Events as Well)

A recent article in Chronicle of Philanthropy shared some surprising statistics about plans for non-profit fundraising in 2022. Out of the almost 2,000 non-profit organizations surveyed, half are planning events with both virtual and in-person components, and overall, the number of these hybrid events has tripled since 2020. And in spite of yet another turbulent year, both virtual and in-person events were still regarded as important sources of revenue. Indeed, the majority of respondents reported that at least 20 percent of their annual operating budgets were raised through non-profit events.

The number of non-profits that saw their event revenue exceed their goals more than doubled. This may seem surprising, but is it? After 2020, non-profits figured out how to manage the new normal and improved how they plan and operate events to adapt. The majority are returning to both virtual and in-person events in 2022 and will continue with online fundraising, which respondents agreed were successful in 2021 in terms of raising more funds and reaching more first-time donors.

Whether virtual or in-person, non-profit events need the right infrastructure for success

Survey respondents were asked what their greatest difficulties were and they concurred, virtually unanimously, that creating a fundraising strategy during a pandemic was still at the forefront. This was followed closely by keeping donors engaged and combating donor fatigue.

Running a non-profit can be fraught with obstacles. Everything from dealing with tight budgets and limited resources, to attracting donors and retaining them by responding to their changing expectations such as more professional and personalized experiences when making donations. Irrespective of these challenges, you need to be able to capture and utilize data.

Technology infrastructures that deliver an integrated way to monitor donors, donations, and their impact on your programs and the people they serve are essential. It is vital for these systems to track and organize communications so that you can analyze these relationships and gauge their health, which drives personalization, especially for major donors. They can also assist you in determining the proper time to focus on specific people as well as where and when to have a non-profit event and who to put on the invitation list.

The right non-profit fundraising platform supplies the right infrastructure

HSO’s Advancing Your Mission approach to solutions for non-profits, powered by the Microsoft Cloud for Nonprofit, provides you with a connected, flexible platform that offers everything you need for successful fundraising. Namely, there is Fundraising and Engagement – technology that addresses the most common fundraising scenarios non-profits deal with:

• Attracting, retaining, and strengthening donor relationships
• Increasing credibility with donors
• Modernizing communications to improve donor engagement
• Streamlining processes to free up time for more strategic initiatives.

On the administration side, the Event Management module in Fundraising and Engagement extensively covers the crucial elements to help support your organization from managing registrations to full setup of events. We know it is hard to visualize this without seeing it in action, so we created a demo series to share the key functionality. View part 3 of the Fundraising and Engagement demo Series, Event Management.

The post Non-Profit In-Person Events are Back for 2022: Here’s How to Get the Most Benefit from Them (and Virtual Events as Well) appeared first on CRM Software Blog | Dynamics 365.