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Non-Profit In-Person Events are Coming Back in 2022: How to Get the Most from Them (and the Virtual Ones, Too)
20 Dec, 2021
A recent article in Chronicle of Philanthropy shared some surprising statistics about plans for non-profit fundraising in 2022.
Half of nearly 2,000 non-profit organizations surveyed are planning events with both virtual and in-person components for 2022. In fact, the number of hybrid events has tripled since 2020. And despite another tumultuous year, both virtual and in-person events were still considered valuable sources of revenue, with most respondents reporting raising at least 20 percent of their annual operating budgets through events.
Perhaps most surprisingly, the number of non-profits whose event revenue exceeded goals more than doubled. But is it a surprise, necessarily? After 2020, non-profits learned how to cope with the new normal and got better at planning and running events to accommodate. Most are going back to holding 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.
Non-profit fundraising event and campaign success—virtual or in-person—requires the right infrastructure
When asked about their biggest challenges, survey respondents nearly unanimously agreed that crafting a fundraising strategy during a pandemic is still at the top of the list, along with keeping donors engaged and combating donor fatigue.
Regardless of the challenge–from tight budgets and limited resources to attracting and keeping donors by addressing their changing expectations like more professional and personalized experiences when making donations, you need a way to capture and utilize data. Technology infrastructures that provide a unified way to track donors, donations, and the impact they have on your programs and the people they are serving are key. These systems need to track and organize communications to help you analyze relationships to help you gauge the health of each relationship, which drives that personalization, especially for major donors. It can also help you determine the right people to focus on at the right time.
The right non-profit fundraising platform anchors a solid infrastructure–and sets the stage for success
With HSO’s Advancing Your Mission approach to solutions for non-profits, powered by the Microsoft Cloud for Nonprofit, you get a connected, flexible platform that offers what you need to successful fundraising. Specifically, there is Microsoft Dynamics 365 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.
Demo: Advancing Your Mission with Event Management in Fundraising and Engagement, Part of the Microsoft Cloud for Nonprofit
For managing events, the Event Management module in Fundraising and Engagement covers the spectrum of key event 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.