In the 25th Episode of Fundraising Superheroes Donor Curve shares how they were able to raise $100,00, get 10x the amount of people than expected from their in-person event and have the steam viewed around the world.
Preston and Laura Cone are wizs when it comes to digital marketing. The husband and wife team got themselves hooked into the nonprofit industry when a friend asked them to help pivot their knowledge for the nonprofit space. They were able to raise $90,000 and get 90,000 signatures in their first fundraising campaign.
They recently were working with a nonprofit organization who were originally planning to hold an in-person event and stream it for people to view online. Like everyone else, their plans were disrupted by the Corona Virus and the venue cancelled on them before they had a plan on what to do next.
Luckily, Preson and Laura are used to rolling with the punches. Preston explained that as digital marketers they are constantly adapting to new situations. "That's kind of the digital world that we operate in all the time. Things are constantly changing so we are used to pivoting quickly”. When the cancelation happened their client was scared that they would lose their deposits and food, as well as their sponsors cancelling.
That wasn’t the case. They found that people were still very interested in the event and have continued support from their sponsors. When hearing how they adapted the in-person event online people were excited to get involved. Preston explains that it all boils down to why people sponsor in the first place: "a sponsor wants people to view them. They want to support an organization, get behind them and they want the people in the community to know this is a business or organization that sponsors whatever the topic is”.
There are also benefits to moving online
- You can save money on a venue and use it towards getting a bigger speaker and invest in online advertising for the event
- Reach a larger audience in a larger area. You are no longer limited to people in a select area, anyone with the link can tune in!
Laura suggests that every organization should take the jump and try a live event if you haven't already. "It’s a fun way to engage with your audience, get your board involved and get your volunteers involved”. She also recommends teo always have at least two streams going at a time incase of a technical failure. During the event they helped with the Facebook link glitched but luckily they also had it streaming through YouTube "we were able to redirect everyone to issue, it was nice we had two streams going on otherwise we would have had a really big issue”
Preston and Laura shared a TON more tips and information on how they successfully raised over $100,000 online in their interview with me on the Fundraising Superheroes Podcast. So if you are looking to launch an online event this is not an episode to miss!
