Optimising your event timeline
When it comes to fundraising in events, timing is everything.
Let’s look at two fundraising timelines: one that’s unoptimised, and an efficient, optimised timeline that’s likely to perform better and raise more money.
What to avoid: an unoptimised event fundraising timeline ❌
In the graph below, you can see how the peak of the donations are happening very close to or on the actual event day.
While this may seem good at first, there are a few reasons why you should generally avoid this outcome:
- Risk of not reaching your fundraising goal. It’s not much fun for attendees when a celebration is muddied by questions of, ‘But did we actually reach our goal?’ Plus, hitting your charity’s fundraising targets is always the aim!
- Risk of poor stewardship. If some event participants only kick-off their fundraising at a very late stage, your ability to support and steward could be severely limited.
- Misplaced momentum. Like the first point, if your donations peak around the date of your event or after, the true impact of your fundraisers’ efforts may not resonate but also, you could be faced with a drop in fundraising momentum before fundraisers hit their individual targets (leading to a lower amount raised for the event overall).
What to do: the optimised event fundraising timeline ✅
If you want to fundraise like the pros, your event timeline might look more like this:
Now that’s more like it! Notice how page creation and activation rates climb and peak well in advance of the event date? This makes your event far more likely to reach its goal. Then you’ll really have something to celebrate on the day!
How to optimise your event fundraising timeline
One of the biggest components is effective communication.
- Reach out to your key supporters and fundraisers as early as possible to encourage the creation of JustGiving Fundraising Pages.
- Consider sending regular reminders for those who need an extra nudge in the right direction.
- Celebrate a fundraiser who is ahead of the pack and use them as a shining example for your other fundraisers.
- Make use of Campaign Page leaderboards and Reporting to keep track of your fundraisers’ progress.