Making the Most of Your Special Events

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Making the Most of Your Special Events

• HINT You DONT Have to Work Harder or Longer
  Hours!

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Why do special events?

• Raise money for your CASA program
• Promote CASA to your community
• Make new friends for CASA
• Recruit volunteers

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How do you feel after events?
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Events not the best fundraisers?

• Money raised vs. time spent (including staff
  time)
• Cost to raise a dollar .50
• Source James Greenfield, Fund-Raising
  Evaluating and Managing the Fund Development
  Process
• Best practice expense ratio is 10 - 35
• Lots of details to work out
• BUT

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The Benefits of Events

• Community recognition and awareness
• Great point of entry or introduction to your
  CASA program
• Excellent way to involve CASA or community
  volunteers and donors

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How to Make the Most of Your Events

• BEFORE YOUR EVENT
• Outline everything that needs to be done
• Organize into committees with responsibilities
• Build a budget dont forget about the cost of
  staff time
• Decide
• how much to raise from different revenue streams
  (sponsorships, ticket sales, on-site
  opportunities) and
• levels of gifts (gift table)

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How to Make the Most of Your Events

• Build a cohesive and diverse team
• Planners
• Do-ers
• Recruiters
• Promoters
• Use your event committee as an opportunity to
• Connect your CASA program to people in community
  you havent reached before
• Involve current donors and CASA volunteers who
  want to take a break from casework
• Involve lapsed donors or former volunteers

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How to Make the Most of Your Events

• Key points
• Be strategic and smart about what you ask your
  team members to do
• Maximize their talents and interests
• Keep your mission at the forefront

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How to Make the Most of Your Events

• BEFORE YOUR EVENT
• Focus on sponsorships
• Majority of money is raised through sponsorships
  -gt NOT ticket sales
• EX 5000 sponsorship vs. 500 tickets at 100
  each
• Focus on Team Recruitment OR Table Captains
• 10 designated leaders charged with recruiting 10
  friends, family members, and co-workers 100
  people

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How to Make the Most of Your Events

• Assign board members to host guests attending
  that you want to cultivate
• Board members can
• Introduce guests to people they know at event
  (especially if guests dont know anyone)
• Introduce to CASA volunteers ask volunteers to
  talk about the difference theyve made in
  childrens lives

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How to Make the Most of Your Events

• Ask board members and volunteers to personally
  invite their friends and family OR provide you
  with an invitation list

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How to Make the Most of Your Events

• DURING THE EVENT
• Network, Network, Network
• Ask board members to tell the CASA story to
  guests at the event
• Ask board members and staff to introduce
  themselves to as many guests as they can

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How to Make the Most of Your Events

• DURING THE EVENT
• Have your mission at the heart of the event and
  visible everywhere
• Integrate children into collateral pieces,
  centerpieces, and giveaways
• Materials created by children
• Stories of children youve helped
  (confidentiality)
• Use pictures

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How to Make the Most of Your Events

• DURING THE EVENT
• Fund a Child if doing a live auction gifts
  are straight donations with little overhead
• Minimize paper use powerpoint to highlight
  sponsors during the event
• Capture guests names to put them on your mailing
  list

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How to Make the Most of Your Events

• AFTER YOUR EVENT
• Follow up, Follow up, Follow up
• Call them the DAY after the event to thank them
  for coming great job for board members!
• Take them to court to see CASA in action
• Advice visits ask to meet in person for
  advice -gt great way to teach them more about CASA
  and get them more invested!

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How to Make the Most of Your Events

• AFTER THE EVENT
• High-performing chairs -gt board members
• High-performing committee members -gt next years
  event chair or board members

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How to Make the Most of Your Events

• Success stories from the field
• Rebecca Carlton, CASA of Deep East Texas
• Rhodie Rawls, CASA of Ellis County

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How to Make the Most of Your Events

• Questions?

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How to Make the Most of Your Events

• Rebecca Carlton
• Executive Director
• CASA of Deep East Texas
• casa.det_at_sbcglobal.net
• Rhodie Rawls
• Executive Director
• CASA of Ellis County
• RhodieRawls_at_casaofelliscounty.org
• Heather Parsons
• Development Director
• Texas CASA, Inc.
• hparsons_at_texascasa.org
• Karim Kafray,
• Development Director
• Child Advocates,Inc.
• Karim.Kafray_at_childadvocates.org

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How to Make the Most of Your Events

• THANK YOU!