Tag Archives: fundraising

Press at nonprofit galas

Every nonprofit does events. Events are a great way to show your supporters what you do and how you are changing the world for the better.

At the same time, every nonprofit believes what they do is so newsworthy that the press will come out in the evening and cover their event.

Often they do, particularly if celebrities are involved.

While we have an enviable track record for press turnout at our client galas, we at the same time know that press is not, and should not, be the primary objective of a fundraising event.

Your target audience is people who are engaged with your organization, and your financial supporters. Those are the people who will attend your event and write checks. Having camera crews there adds to the glitz, but in a media world where news items are 15 seconds long at best, in more cases than not you are not going to grab attention from viewers who won’t remember your organization’s name, and who probably get most of their news from social media anyway.

Keep your eye on the end game. That’s raising money and deepening the involvement of your core supporters who will spread the word to others with similar values and with the financial means to lend a hand.

Promote your events on social media which is just as effective, if not more because it is so targeted. If you get on the evening news that’s great to repost, but should not be the primary focus of your fundraiser.

Is nonprofit PR the same as fundraising?

We often get calls from nonprofit organizations seeking fundraising help.   It’s only normal, because all nonprofits need funding.  And many seem to believe that nonprofit PR is synonymous with nonprofit fundraising.

Over the years we have represented well over 50 nonprofits of all sizes.  I can’t think of one that didn’t need fundraising help.  But when a nonprofit agency talks to us about fundraising, we need to explain the difference between a PR firm and a fundraising firm.

Public relations and marketing  can support fundraising efforts.  But PR and marketing alone is not fundraising and it has his own .  We have had many situations when we were able to land an article in a major newspaper or network news program and that resulted in funds coming in.  That’s what we call fundraising support.  Our efforts in the PR sector are not to come out and ask for money.  It is to make people aware of the mission of our clients so when the fundraising plan is implemented, they will have heard of the organization and know to whom they are giving.

Many of our clients have fundraising firms or internal fundraisers on staff.  We work hand in hand with them — preparing materials, writing text, promoting special events, everything that supports the “ask.”  Sometimes we do direct mailers and set up giving stations at special events, but all these activities are in conjunction with a fundraising strategy that is put together either by the client, their fundraiser or the client and us.

So when seeking fundraising assistance, make PR a part of that process, but it is not the entire process alone.  One works with the other and supports the other.