Reimagine Events
From the first Olympics giving birth to marathons, to the invention of kitchen technology in the 1920s, leading to bake sales – real life events have shaped fundraising events for centuries. And now we’re experiencing another key milestone in history – Covid-19 has thrown fundraising a curveball, and just like our fundraisers of the past, we need to use our resources to make fundraising successful in a new era and set cultural tones for years to come
Our eventers are the culture setting generation. And with 34% of event audiences being millennials who thrive in social settings, whether online or offline, we need to make sure the event experience we offer in the new normal satisfies these social needs.
For the past 5 years, we’ve seen a shift in fundraising event activity from on-the-day to more flexible ‘DIY’ events such as bake sales or virtual challenge events. Doing this also saw the shift from on-the-day event presence from fundraising teams, to a stronger need for stewardship so supporters could feel supported wherever and whenever their event was. And this was tested to the limit when Covid-19 hit us, and innovation was a necessity.
We know that we’ve seen a behavioural shift in lockdown, from busy, hectic lives, to a life of slower hobbies such as knitting, cooking and gardening, less time commuting and a new trend of ‘city’ quitters who are swapping the fast lane for suburban peace. And in a time where everyone’s spent time locally, this is likely to stick. We don’t all need to gather in crowds to feel part of something. How can you take your event to people, rather than bring them to you?
So how will this all affect fundraising events?
Now is the time to take a look at how you can boost your events from old normal, to new normal. Learning from the benefits of virtual technology such as live streaming and talking to your audience whilst doing so, you can build a stronger, more intimate relationship with your supporters.
And this helps boost accessibility too. Take Hamilton’s Disney+ film release for example, they have managed to make something really hard to access to be accessible on a huge scale. And with more people streaming Hamilton on the day it was released on Disney+ than those who have seen it in the theatre in the last 5 years, this really opened up a whole new world for the viewer and the show. We’re not saying everything is going to go virtual, but there’s definitely a bigger appetite now for mixing up the physical and the virtual worlds.
The biggest way to reimagine an event – change it up and test it. Make sure you’re keeping up with trends and continually amending and testing new ideas in concepts and creatives.
But you might be thinking, there are so many fundraising events, how does mine stand out? One key to reimagining your event, is not to worry about what others are doing, but look at your event and make sure your supporters want to do it for you. Make sure your event is really mission led, and it fits in with your cause.
On top of this, make sure your supporters feel like they belong to something – they might be apart, or even together, but how can we create that ‘all in this together’ feeling? From merchandise, to an online community, there’s so many ways to do this.
If you’ve got an event brief you’re keen to discuss, get in touch on hello@goodagency.co.uk.
Posted by Caroline Brosnan
