After one year of live-streaming events of all types and formats, we’ve come a long way to also support the needs of so many non-profit organizations that needed to pivot back in March of 2020 in order to keep supporting their critical mission through the means of virtual/digital fundraising. Remember that one first pivot in March? It feels like decades ago now!
Many nonprofit organizations and many schools have had all fundraising events postponed or cancelled since March 2020 and so their need for financial resources has become greater than ever.
To say that the climate of events has been challenging is an understatement as most organizations became focused on minimizing exposure to expenses. And yet, against all odds, we’ve had tremendous success with virtual events and virtual fundraising.
We shared three other case studies here that exceeded expectations for these non-profit organizations both in revenue and engagement with their supporters, and so, in this post we’d like to share three more case studies in the evolution of what virtual fundraising could look like, especially for organizations that are still hesitant to spend a good amount of dollars on an in-studio or a hybrid event production.
If you were to ask anyone in events, they would 100% say that in lieu of producing an in-person event virtually, an in-studio production is ideal because it’s basically headache-free (for the most part, depending on the partners you associate yourself with) and it’s also beautiful as you, the client, along with your event’s Emcee, Auctioneer, and support staff show up about an hour before the event is scheduled to go LIVE, and everything’s is setup, it’s safe, and ready to go. You do one last quick technical run-through, and you’re set.
No hassle, no bustle, no drama. A turn-key solution without you needing to worry about any of the behind the scenes technology and the production elements and logistics, because there’s a mighty team of professionals that have already tested the technology, have already set up the production, and are now ready to be fine-tuning to your event, turning the knobs, adjusting on the fly – if necessary, and running the show so you don’t have to.
Now, as you can imagine, that team of superheroes normally does not volunteer nor work for free. Expertise comes at a cost and valuable studio time comes at a cost as well.
And this is where the reality check comes in. In this age of virtual events you can put on a very sophisticated production show that looks amazing on the front end, but at the end of the day, unfortunately, your bottom line, your net profits will tell a different story.
Not only did you not come net-neutral from your amazing looking event, you came under.
Not only did you not raise the funds you so needed to raise, but in some cases you ended up having to pay out of pocket for that awesome show that felt amazing up until the moment you realized you’re not bringing in the funds you hoped you will.
We get it because we love listening to our clients and their pain points, and this one common theme comes up more times than we would like to.
In light of that stark reality, the need to come up with a different solution, a different broadcasting model, a more budget-friendly solution without compromising on the quality of the live-stream has become our main priority. We wanted this solution to be affordable to the smaller nonprofits that can’t afford the big name studio productions, yet are still able to take advantage of the reach and engagement the live-streaming of their event provides, only, if possible, at a fraction of the cost of that fancy studio, and still benefit from the experience of a highly produced virtual event, while netting on positive.
This seems too good to be true, doesn’t it?
How can you have the cake and also eat it?
Well guess what, now you can. This is where this virtual live-streaming model comes into place.
At its core, it’s a very simple model with just a few main ingredients:
- A benefit auctioneer comfortable with live-streaming from their in-home studio location (C.A.L.L.S. certified) such as Patrick Siver, BAS of gEvents LLC
- A live streaming virtual studio such as StreamYard
- Easy to use cloud-based auction platform with an app option such as Auctria – Fundraising Auctions Made Easy
- A virtual event producer running and executing the behind the scenes production with the highest level of detail and expertise, such as Tree-Fan Events
These four ingredients supply the “secret sauce” to planning and production a virtual fundraising event that now won’t break the bank while providing you with an unparalleled professional broadcasted production, complete with branded graphic overlays, lower thirds, tickers, comments, chat, wheel of names giveaways, and of course content (live and pre-recorded).
If you’d like to hear Patrick talk more about the reasoning behind this model and WHY it works, check out this video here.
Using this model, all “four ingredients” working in close collaboration, we were able to creatively provide a cost effective solution to our clients and the results were outstanding, with one school doubling their net from their last gathering event, another netted twice their goal and the third exceeded their overall fundraising goal. It felt great to help these nonprofit clients with these tried tools that we have successfully used for live-streaming virtual events in the past and that now we’ve applied to virtual fundraising events.
Video Showcase
These four case studies showcased in the videos above(for the link, press on the image above) are just a few to highlight how great it feels to be able to “help the helpers” by assisting these nonprofit organizations secure the revenue they desperately need to further their missions.
If you’d like to learn more about our model and what that might look like for your upcoming fundraising event, schedule a short 20 min call with us, commitment-free.
We won’t try to sell you, we love sharing our experience and it is ultimately your decision to apply our experience and expertise to your event and help serve your organization in any way we can.
