Part of our Virtual Fundraising Event and Gala series, view more articles here – Virtual Fundraising Events
Dedicated to sustainable forestry and ecological resilience, Conservation Northwest usually holds its annual gala in the spring.
This spring, however, these plans were hindered by the emergence of the coronavirus pandemic. As states began to close down and large gatherings were no longer possible, Conservation Northwest took the plunge and created an online fundraiser in place of their live event.
Contacting our ticket holders, we offered to convert the price of the ticket into a straight donation. All but one readily agreed. We hosted our live stream on Zoom and kept the online auction and paddle raise open for eight days. We converted our online registration to a Zoom event registration, which gave us both a headcount for the event and contact information for attendees. By switching to an online event, we were able to open up the fundraiser to all their supporters, even those who had not been able to attend in the past. Read about how we were successfully able to transition to a virtual event in our client story.
With 120 viewers during the live stream and over 200 people participating in the online auction, Conservation Northwest actually surpassed their online revenue goal! Since we also saved on expenses, we ended up with a net income similar to our live events.
One tip that Conservation Northwest wants to share is to ensure that you are able to encapsulate the same message you would have had live with a captivating and engaging appeal video to be shown during the virtual event.
Check out our appeal video here –
