Fundraiser Fail: Lessons Learned from Show Bombed Event - My Experience

[salthechef]

So I worked on a fundraiser for 3 weeks, sent out 300 e-vites, both from the website and from my personal email to make sure they went thru. Several people who received those forwarded the info to others. I made phone calls to tell people personally and left messages on answering machines of those who didn't answer. The person who runs the non-profit that the fundraiser was for handed out about 80 catalogs (old ones) to people to get the word out.
The show was today, and we took every product we could so there would be lots to play with (we had lots of space, it was held at my office), and had tons of food prepped for snacking.
One person showed up and she wasn't ordering, she was just making a direct donation to the non-profit organization. :cry:
What did I do wrong? What more could I have done?? I'm embarassed, very disappointed, and frustrated by all the work and money I put into it for it to be so very pathetic. So very discouraging.

 

[Flamingo]

So sorry this happened to you....

 

[esavvymom]

Doesn't sound like YOU have anything to be embarrassed by. The host obviously was assisting you- so she knows what you did. If anything the host is probably embarrassed that the people she thought would support the organization- DIDN'T....I know I would be.

 

[mscharf]

My suggestion would be to see if they can get catalog orders!! It doesn't have to be over yet!!

 

[salthechef]

Yeah, she apologized too and said she should have made phone calls. We are going to leave it open a few more days so we can try to drum up some orders. Right now we only have 2 outside orders that total less than $50. :-(

 

[salthechef]

Michelle, seems like I was typing same time as you! I was debating sending an email mentioning that we had no orders, kind of "guilt" people into ordering, but I'm not sure about how that would sound...

 

[mscharf]

i think an email would be great, reaffirm the cause, but don't sound desperate. If they are raising $$ for something, talk about the amount needed!!
Mention the guest special, everyone loves FREE!
Good luck

 

[NooraK]

You know, to me it sounds like YOU did all the work. When you said that the host said she should have made some phone calls, it made me wonder why she wouldn't have automatically done that. I know some consultants offer to do that as a part of their services. To me though, especially for a fundraiser, I think the host or chairperson is the one that really needs to do more of the work. If I received a call from someone I didn't know, asking me to contribute to a fundraiser, even for a cause I support, I probaly would ignore it. If the host called, I would be much more inclined to support the event. The same goes for emails. I get SO many, that if they're from someone I don't know, I may delete it, especially if it looks like junk (which ours do sometimes, especially the e-invitations if you don't choose to enable the pictures).

I hope you're able to collect more orders. Definitely encourage your host to reach out to those invited. I see nothing wrong in using a little guilt: "I know you didn't make it to the show, but I wanted to see what you wanted to order."

 

[Janis]

I'd have the host get on the phone and start making some calls. If she really wants to raise money she will get on the phone.

 

[janej76]

What about a nice email like:Hi xx Sorry you didn't make it down to the fundraiser today - you missed a fun event!If you would like to help XXX raise money for XXX then you still can! Simply place an order with me before the show closes on XXX and a % of the sales will go directly to the cause. Then state how to order. That's what I would do to try and get it moving!

 

[salthechef]

I like how you have that worded janej76. I was wondering how to do that...
I feel a little better now, thanks for the encouragement. I was about ready to give up.

 

[pampered1224]

Sal,
Sorry I caught this so late. Everyone here is right about you corresponding with all the guests. Everything should have been sent via your chairman. When I do Help Whip Cancer, I create an e-mail and send it to all my hosts. Then I give them specific instructions on how to forward it so it looks
like it came directly from them. There is always a better turn out that way. I mean really, would you go to a fund raiser that Joan Smoe was holding or would you attend the same one if you knew your acquaintance Betty was holding it? If you wanted to send a reminder e-mail, type it up and send it to the chairperson. Then have her alter all your info out of it AFTER hitting forward, and then she needs to use her e-mail list and send it out.
One other thing and I can tell you this from my HWC experiences this year. the ecomomy really is taking fundraising to a whole new low. Last year, all my friends hosts and alot of former guests placed orders. I did not know until after all was said and one that many had lost jobs or family had, many were so far in credit card debt because the cc companies doubled payments or drastically raised interest rates that out of 50 or so regualr HWC customers I have had since 2001, only 18 even COULD place orders this year. And none of them was over $45! No kidding. You did what you could. By all means plus! So...

 

[salthechef]

John, thanks for the advice. I never thought about it that way, and that really makes sense! I even had one person ask where I got their email from, obviously not caring that I mentioned the organization in the subject line. I will totally keep that in mind next time. We were trying desperatly to figure out why it failed, so we can make a change next time.
One thing I never really explained is why I am so involved in getting calls and emails out. At my work we just opened a retail store, and are trying to get more foot traffic. Also, my boss is very involved in the community, and fundraising at the office would get foot traffic in the office and be good PR for both the office and PC, so he actually "held" the show for the organization. But, because he is the busy boss, my wife and I (who both work at the same office and work together in PC) did what the chairperson would do as far as organizing. We did get all the contacts from the organization chairperson, but it was from our office the stuff went out. Looks like that may have backfired on us!

 

[scottcooks]

Bring your business back to the traditional show with an excited (informed!) host. This is symptomatic of not enough coaching, or having lots of wishful energy without a concrete guest list. Did anyone KNOW there were 10+ people coming? That is where the area for improvement lies.Failure is just a way of learning - everything that makes us better is 'hard' at first - then we look it in the eye, learn (often about ourself or) about it, make a better educated effort and do better in the future.I'd send out an email like...Hello! Hope your week is getting of to a terrific start. We had such a great time at Sunday's fundraiser, it was just amazing! We wanted to give you the opportunity to add your sales contributions to this successful event, so are extending the deadline for orders to Friday at noon. I'll be calling you Thursday to see what you may wish to order. Between now and then, please browse our catalog at my website at www.pamperedetc...You're not lying about its success--you are confident that it WILL be - and you'll add orders to what you have, to Make it A Success! Do follow through with concrete calls. Take the business back to the basics (folks gathered around a fun, informative consultant in the living room.)Good luck - hang in there; failure is just a big arrow pointing you in a better direction! Learn and proceed ahead!