Planning a fundraising event can seem daunting at first. But don’t worry—or worry a little less. We’ve developed a few steps your nonprofit can take to ensure your fundraising gala event preparation phase runs smoothly.
Before we dive into the list, defining your fundraising goals is essential. Think about the central message of this year's gala, the amount you need to raise, or the number of new donors you would like to sign up. Once that’s done, follow these eight steps (or download our handy planning a fundraising gala checklist) and start planning your next fundraising event.
What is a Fundraising Gala?
A fundraising gala is a formal event to raise money for a cause, nonprofit organization, or charitable project. These events typically include dinner, entertainment, auctions (silent or live), raffles, and speeches highlighting the organization's mission or goals. Fundraising galas often attract donors, supporters, and community members interested in supporting the cause.
Gala event attendees usually pay for tickets; additional funds are raised through activities like auctions or soliciting local businesses' sponsorships. Fundraising galas can be an effective way to engage supporters in a festive and inspiring environment while helping to secure significant contributions.
Benefits of a successful fundraising gala
- Generate donations in a new and creative way
- An opportunity to raise awareness
- Relationship building with donors
- Celebrating your nonprofit’s achievements
Standing Out With Your Gala Fundraiser
Your gala fundraiser takes some time and some upfront investment. That means you have even more potential to raise funds, so you'll want to be sure it's memorable and unique from anything your attendees have ever been to.
Questions to reflect on before you meet with your event committee
- What have you enjoyed about previous events or fundraising galas you've attended?
- Would you prefer an in person event or to host a gala online?
- Will the event's theme correspond to your fundraising ideas for the year?
- Will you have extras like branded merchandise?
- Can you partner with local restaurants or nonprofit organizations for one big event?
8 Steps to Plan a Fundraising Gala
1. Make a fundraising gala budget
Setting a fundraising goal and budget for your gala event is so important that we’ve made it the first step on our checklist. You should establish your budget and use it to guide your decision-making while planning your fundraising gala.
Your budget should include all expenses such as:
- The right venue rental
- Catering service
- Entertainment (live band, DJ, etc.)
- Decorations to match your gala theme
- Marketing materials
- Staff or volunteer costs
- Liquor licenses
- Silent auction items
It should consist of everything and anything that will contribute to the overall cost of your event so you can raise enough money to offset that amount and have enough left over to meet your nonprofit’s needs.
Once you know how much you need to spend in order to have a successful gala event, you can create your fundraising goal and continue building on ideas to raise funds as you plan.
2. Form a formal event committee
Assemble a committee of volunteers and involve your stakeholders as soon as possible. This will help you delegate tasks, seek advice, and save your sanity. A team can help you develop an event theme, and determine more gala fundraising ideas that stand out from other formal events attendees might have attended.
Forming a gala committee for a nonprofit requires assembling a diverse team of dedicated volunteers who can bring various skills and connections to the table. Start by identifying individuals passionate about your cause and have experience or interest in event planning, fundraising, or community outreach.
Ideally, your committee should include people with a range of skills, such as:
- Marketing
- Budgeting
- Networking
- Project management
- Volunteer organization
- Sponsorship/ community outreach
To get started, define specific roles, like Event Chair to ensure that responsibilities are clearly outlined and manageable. Hold an initial meeting to align on the event’s goals, timeline, and budget, and establish regular check-ins to keep the team organized and motivated.
Engaging local business leaders, board members, and enthusiastic community members can also help expand the event’s reach and increase its overall impact. By forming a solid and well-organized gala committee, you can set the stage for a successful event that maximizes support for your nonprofit’s mission.
3. Choose a date and a venue
Next, figure out when and where you want to host your fundraising event. Maybe you have a venue in mind, and that venue’s availability will determine the date of your nonprofit’s gala, or perhaps you host your fundraising gala on the same weekend every year. Either way, booking your venue about a year in advance is a good idea.
There are a few other things to keep in mind when choosing a date and a venue:
- Ensure the date is separate from any holidays or other significant events in your area.
- Ensure that all the executives, members, volunteers, recurring donors, and other key players in your nonprofit organization are available, and they book the date in their calendar. (These folks all have essential roles, and you don’t want them to be double-booked.)
- Make sure the venue has the appropriate amenities and is the right size. If it is too big, your gala will feel empty; if it is too small, your guests will feel crowded and uncomfortable.
You can also host your gala event online to raise funds from virtual attendees. Adding a silent auction and using your online fundraising tools is a great way to engage people virtually. Choosing to do an online or hybrid event can also help you save on event costs.
4. Set deadlines for budgeting and planning
Creating clear deadlines for every step of your fundraising gala plan will help bring your event together, flag issues well in advance, and keep you on budget.
One helpful way to do this is to create a spreadsheet with your list of steps to accomplish. Be sure to include who is responsible for leading each step and when you want to have contracts signed, promotions started, branding completed, communications sent out, and ticket sales opened.
If you're looking for financial assistance to raise as much money as possible with your gala, consider partnering with a corporate sponsor who can help you save funds, donate auction items, arrange catering companies, or provide keynote speakers.
Be sure to leave some extra buffer time in your spreadsheet. Life happens, and the best thing you can do is cut yourself and your team slack by preparing for the unexpected!
5. Negotiate
Everyone can negotiate, even for-profit businesses, but as a nonprofit organization, you are in a much better position to ask people and businesses what they can do to help. That means that you can negotiate the price of certain services or even have some services donated.
That doesn’t mean they’ll always say yes or that you won’t need to offer something in return (such as tickets to the event), but you don’t need to feel bad about asking. It's good to know that contracts are your new best friend when planning a fundraising gala. Remember to read them all and get them signed well in advance.
Hosting a successful gala is ensuring you can put as many dollars as possible into your impact and sell enough gala tickets to reach your fundraising goals without spending as much. A corporate partner might boost your annual fundraising gala to raise funds like never begore.
6. Keep communication strong
Around six months before the fundraising gala, start telling donors, volunteers, sponsors, and anyone else you want to attend about your fundraising gala. This means you should have your invitations and tickets designed and printed, programs thought out, emails written, posters ready to go, and other marketing materials designed and ready. (Think social media posts, radio announcements, updates to your website, etc.)
In addition to communicating your fundraising gala to potential attendees, start reaching out and confirming potential sponsors. The earlier you do this, the better. Sponsors can help you cover costs, give you ideas for entertainment, and spread the word.
A few ideas to promote your gala event include:
- Use social media to announce your event and link online ticket sales
- Send out an email as a formal invitation to your gala fundraiser
- Share education about the impact of reaching your fundraising goal, potentially using a fundraising thermometer to visualize progress during the event
- Offer early bird incentives to anyone who registers before a specific deadline
- Send a direct mail invitation to your most loyal donors or major donors
- Host a countdown campaign on social media stories that build excitement
Good to know: Depending on the size of your event, you should start sending out invitations anywhere from six to three months in advance. (The sooner, the better, so potential attendees can reserve the date on their calendars.)
7. Choose an online event management and ticket platform
This one could have been step 4 or 5 on the list, but we felt terrible about plugging Zeffy that early on. However, choosing your event management and ticketing platform early will help you generate and send invitations and tickets, process your payments, send tax receipts, organize and track your invitees and confirmed attendees, keep everyone on your team in the loop, and stay in touch with everyone.
However, choosing your event management and ticketing platform early will help you generate and send invitations and tickets, process your payments, send tax receipts, organize and track your invitees and confirmed attendees, keep everyone on your team in the loop, and stay
There are platforms out there that you can pay to use, or there’s Zeffy, which is the only 100% free online fundraising platform. Zeffy can help your nonprofit organization save thousands of dollars on platform and transaction fees, all while streamlining your fundraising event ticketing and communication process. (Plus, you can use Zeffy for much more than your yearly gala event.)
8. Remember to say thank you
We’ve said it before and are about to repeat it: saying thank you is very important. We’ve said it before and are about to repeat it: saying thank you is very important.
If your fundraising gala is an annual event, raising funds will depend on the relationships you build with attendees and donors. In your planning process, include communications you can send directly after the event begins, as it concludes, and in the following weeks and months.
Good appreciation communications will include:
- Gratitude for attending an online or in-person gala
- A reminder of the impact their contributions
- Kind words that encourage supporters to continue giving
- Alternative ways you accept donations throughout the year
- Photos that make your gala a memory they'll never forget
Zeffy can help with our donor management software. We’ve written a blog post on the importance of saying thank you, including a few templates to get you started.
Bonus tip: Learn from your fundraising galas
This step is the most important one. Every fundraising gala your nonprofit hosts will teach you something. So, collect as much data as you can every year:
- Event attendee names and contact info
- Ask for fundraising gala feedback to inform your next event
- Specific feedback for virtual guests to find ways to engage more virtual audiences
- Keep track of any sponsors
- Note any partners that you loved or not (and jot down why)
- Was the venue the right size for your gala's fundraising goals? Did it have all the amenities you needed?
- Were there any other events around the same time that affected yours?
- Which months were most impactful to raise money for your fundraising gala?
- What would encourage attendees to come back to your next fundraising gala?
Frequently Asked Questions: Hosting a Fundraising Gala
