Are you seeing as many ‘out of office’ messages as we are these days? It’s summer and it’s the time of year that most board members go on vacation or take a holiday. But, we know you work at a nonprofit and there is no such thing as a holiday or vacation, right?

Don’t stop engaging with your volunteers simply because they are scattered during the summer.  Volunteers are wonderful and you can use this time to get ahead of the planning, test new ideas and prepare for their return. Even though it seems like things are slow, you can actually use this time to your advantage. If you are a nonprofit with a fall fundraising event, summer preparation will help you raise more money.

1. Time = Money.  Focus from your volunteers in the summer may be scarce, but you can still use what time they do have to your advantage. Consider having a conference call instead of a physical meeting so that they can tune in wherever they might be traveling and let them know up front that you’ll be respectful of their time (keep it short!). Summer topics to consider on your meeting are: using new technology for the next year’s event, building a sponsorship pipeline or discussing a ticket sales strategy.  Engage them to take at least some action this summer. Additional ideas include:  
   1. Ask them to support you on social media: You know they are going on be on their phones during vacation. Ask them to stay tuned to your nonprofit’s page as well, liking or sharing posts. Their engagement on social media during a time where they are not necessarily asking for money shows that they care deeply about the mission, which translates well down the road.  
   2. Ask each committee member for one thing and be specific. For example, have them make an email introduction between you and one strategic contact. For most, asking a board of committee member to make an e-introduction of you to someone important to the event (sponsor, in-kind needs, honorees) can be accomplished from anywhere. This way, they can do one small task and you can get to work on the follow up.

2. Keep Time On Your Side: Get large donations early. Many corporations set sponsorship budgets a year in advance and need several months to respond to requests, so by the fall sponsors may have already gone through their philanthropic budget. Securing your major sponsors now (or cultivating them for next year) will ensure you are on track to meet your fundraising goals. It will also help you create an event budget and relieve some stress on you and your committee.

3. Cultivate Strategic Individual Donors:  Events are a prime opportunity to attract and cultivate individual donors. Spend the summer getting to know people who give at a strategic level - friends of your board members, one time event attendees. These will be the funds you see roll in as the event unfolds. Why should you do this now? Individual donors may have more flexible time in the summer to meet with you for coffee and if you talk to them early, you can avoid having the conversation closer to the holidays when they may be a little tighter with their personal budget.

3. Prep your PR work. Good PR takes time. Promoting your sponsors and donors takes a good marketing plan and lots of lead time. Most people think of social media as being immediate, but to use it effectively to promote your event you have to create your page, attract followers and generate interest. In addition, local magazines and hyper-local news publications still work pretty far in advance. If you haven’t cultivated those relationships, that part takes time as well. Make the phone call to your local media contacts, ask them for coffee and see what ideas you can uncover from them. It just might lead to that big story that will generate coverage for your event.

4. Try some new technology. If you are currently using some sort of software for your event and it’s not meeting your needs, this is the time to check out something new. Here at Swell, we are a little biased, but we think our ability to create an event website, ticketing, table management and peer-to-peer donation tool all in one is pretty slick. If you haven’t checked it out, it is worth 30 minutes to see if it can help save you time and generate more money for your event. Swell clients average 20 percent more revenue at their fundraising events.

That takes us back to our first point.

Time equals money.

Do you have a tabled fundraiser this fall? Read about steps to improve your next fundraising event.