So you’ve got a plan for your fundraising event, you see the vision, you know what winning looks like, and you are gathering a team of rock stars to help you get there. Now what? How do you put all these pieces together? How do you actually implement your plan? This is where some management systems come in.
We’re at the last step in the planning strategy for your fundraising event. Over the course of this series we’ve learned about setting goals, determining your playing field, planning for your success, putting capabilities in place, and now we’re going to discuss the management systems that are needed to ensure those capabilities are supported.
We’ve talked about how capabilities have to do mostly with the type of people on your team – staff members, a planning committee, or a group of volunteers – and the specific skills and talents that these people bring to the table – customer service, web development, registration organization, etc. Each of the capabilities needs to work together and collaborate in the right way. Management systems help this collaboration and smooth interaction for your fundraising event.
Management systems are the ships that will carry your crew, your captain, and all your supplies to your treasure. These include a website or landing page to advertise your event, a payment platform so people can donate or register online, an ad for volunteers, or a peer-to-peer fundraising platform to generate engagement among your donors. You will need to know the desired capabilities to determine these management systems and vice-versa. Knowing one component will lead to the other. If you know you need a landing page to display information about your bake sale (management system), then you know you’ll need someone who can create and manage a page (a capability).
Let’s take Shaping Destiny’s Ultimate Frisbee for the Fatherless Tournament, for example. Two of their management systems would be the landing page on their website and the peer-to-peer fundraising page for their donors and participants. Of course, they had someone who had the capability to create the landing page as well as set up the peer-to-peer fundraising platform.
The landing page is used to display general information about the fundraising event (time, date, info, FAQs, sponsors, etc.), as well as a promo video and links to register, donate, or volunteer.
But they didn’t want to stop there. They wanted to have an event with some excitement to it and they decided that peer-to-peer fundraising would be just the thing! Their Frisbee players could share their campaign on social media, ask others to donate, and keep track in real time of their progress. This online portion of the event all of a sudden wasn’t simply a stagnant landing page…it became alive.
So, the peer-to-peer fundraising page is used to have teams and participants sign up, collect donations, and track the progress of the fundraising event, all while being easy to use and shareable!
So as you plan out what type of event you want and who you need to help plan it, also be thinking what supporting management systems you’ll need to manage everything and ensure your event is a success!
