Benjamin Franklin once said, “For every minute spent in organizing, an hour is earned.” Was Ben Franklin an event planner in addition to drafting the Declaration of Independence?! Maybe not, but he sure knew the time value of being organized. As event planners, we know in our bones that the more organized we are, the better chance there is of financial fundraising success for our charity partners.
Let us walk you through some of the ways that PBP keeps all our client on track and ready for their fundraising events:
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- TIMELINE - Does anyone else get a real sense of satisfaction from checking off an item on your To-Do list? A timeline for the planning of a non-profit fundraising event is the ultimate to-do list. Having concrete line items, and specific dates when these items are “due”, works so well to keep all involved parties in the know, and keep everyone focused on moving forward with the daily accomplishments to ultimately reach the ultimate accomplishment of producing a successful event. The best part about a timeline is that it is a dynamic document. Additional tasks can be added as they arise, and a due date for a particular task can always be adjusted as the situation warrants.
- REGULAR UPDATE CALLS – This may seem very basic, but it’s surprising how effective having regularly scheduled update calls can be. Not only does it give you a chance to really get to know your client, but it also helps to know that you will always have some face time together to hash out any roadblocks in the planning process.
- AGENDAS – How do you stay on track during all the regularly scheduled update calls? By following an agenda that has been shared with the entire team, ideally the day before the update call. This gives the team time to make sure they have updates for items for which they’re in charge.
- RUN-OF-SHOW – The Run-of-Show is an indispensable tool that informs every event. It is a minute-by-minute rundown of the program portion of an in-person event, or the entire virtual event. When do your speakers need to be up on stage? In what order? Does the emcee know exactly when to enter/exit the stage? When does the call to action happen? All these questions (and more!) are answered in the Run-of-Show.
- EVENT DAY TIMELINE – This little gem of an organizational tool is something that my dear former boss used to say, “If we were abducted by aliens, the event could still happen without a hitch if those left behind followed this.” The event day timeline is an amalgamation of all the tasks on event day, placed in the timeline format, adding in the Run-of-Show, and including all vendors’ contact information. With this document, anyone could at a glance know where everyone should be, and what should be happening next – and who to contact if it isn’t!
At Powered by Professionals, we truly value organization, and even if it’s not your thing, we promise to make you “organized-adjacent” by the time we produce your financially successful event! Let us know how we can implement our organizational skills to ensuring your charity has the means to keep pursuing your mission.