Portland, OR. When the 2020 Friends of the Children “Friend Raiser” was forced to pivot because of the COVID-19 virus, it created a two-step plan. First, it offered mobile bidding and a silent auction in advance. Then on May 14th the nonprofit held a live-streamed program, live auction, and virtual paddle raise. In the end, Friends of the Children raised $1.5 Million with the virtual benefit.
The virtual auction was broadcast live.
Highlights included this shout-out from Mayor Wheeler below:
There was also a message from Russel Wilson and founders Cindy & Duncan Campbell. If you missed the live program you can check out the recording at friendraiserpdx.com.
From Friends of the Children:
Friends of the Children – Portland is the founding chapter of a nationwide organization dedicated to breaking the cycle of generational poverty through salaried, professional mentoring. For 25 years, Friends of the Children has used evidence-based strategies, long-term interventions, and nurturing relationships to serve youth facing the greatest societal challenges. For every $1 invested in program youth, $7 is returned to the community in savings within the public sector and contributions to the private sector, according to a Harvard Alumni Association of Oregon research. This year, Friends of the Children was named the number one Most-Admired Nonprofit in Oregon by the Portland Business Journal for the fourth time in six years.
Portland, OR. Portland Opera announced that the first two operas of the 2020/21 season, Robert Xavier Rodríguez’s Frida and Puccini’s Tosca, will be postponed. In a news release on May 15th, Portland Opera stated the following: In accordance with guidance from the office of Governor Kate Brown prohibiting large gatherings through September, and with the health and safety of our patrons and staff in mind, Portland Opera will reschedule these performances to take place in 2021. Dates will be announced at a future time. This postponement will include all main stage opera performances, as well as related events, and public programming.
“The health and well-being of our audience, staff, and community during this crisis remain our number one priority,” says General Director Sue Dixon. “We look forward to the day we can share Frida and Tosca with the Portland community, and in the meantime, we continue to strengthen our commitment to come out on the other side of this as a stronger organization.”
A scene from Portland Opera’s 2019 production of Rossini’s The Barber of Seville. Photo by Cory Weaver/Portland Opera.
Current subscribers and members can contact our Patron Services team with any questions. They can be reached Monday – Friday, from 10 AM – 5 PM at 503-241-1802. Additional details can be found online by visiting PortlandOpera.org.
About Portland Opera:
Portland Opera exists to inspire, challenge, and uplift our audiences by creating productions of high artistic quality that celebrate the beauty and breadth of opera.
Since 1964, Portland Opera has contributed to the cultural, artistic, and economic landscape of the city and region that we love. We celebrate the beauty and breadth of the opera repertoire with performances that take place in the Keller Auditorium, Newmark Theatre, and the Gregory K. and Mary Chomenko Hinckley Studio Theatre at the Hampton Opera Center. The company is also a committed educational partner, touring fully staged operas to schools and community centers throughout Oregon and SW Washington region each year, in addition to a host of other efforts designed to make opera accessible for all.
Portland, OR. Rose Haven day shelter has already raised over $100,000 toward a fundraising goal for its annual mother’s day walk. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 fundraiser was made into a virtual event. Rose Haven is a day shelter and community center serving women, children, and gender non-conforming people who are experiencing trauma, poverty, and physical/mental health challenges.
Here’s a video about the event:
The Reigning Roses Walk has been Rose Haven’s signature event since 2014, bringing together its community of donors, volunteers, and guests each Mother’s Day to raise funds and awareness for its day shelter.
Here’s how you can participate:
Virtually Participate
Register to virtually walk with us at makeitreign.org
Make a personal donation
Customize your personal fundraising page
Share your custom link with friends and family via social media, text and email
Create a video clip or image showing off your walk…wherever you are; post to social media and tag Rose Haven
Watch your donations make a difference in our community
Community members are invited to walk with, or in honor of, a special woman in their life – a mother, grandmother, daughter, partner or friend. Participants collect pledges to participate; all proceeds benefit the women and children of Rose Haven.
About Rose Haven:
We are a sanctuary from the street, offering compassion, practical assistance & community to women, children, and gender diverse people facing the loss of home, abuse or other life disruptive experiences. Learn more at www.rosehaven.org
Rose Haven was designed using the results of a survey done in 1997 by Sr. Cathie Boerboom and Joan Van Almen, which asked the women of Old Town what they most needed and wanted. Sr. Cathie then joined forces with Stephanie Banka and began to build connections with other agencies and churches that met some of the needs of the women expressed. From here they built a program that complemented existing services, filled the voids and provided connectivity between resources and agencies. Soon, Rose Haven began responding to the critical need for safety for women. In 1998 Rose Haven began as a program of Catholic Charities where it quickly brought aid to more than 2,000 women and children in the Portland area each year.
In 2007 Rose Haven became an independent non-profit organization, relocated to NW Portland, and continued to provide direct services to homeless and abused women and children.
From the beginning Rose Haven has welcomed women off the street and with deep respect addressed each one’s expressed needs by offering life sustaining services and assistance in obtaining them. The staff and volunteers have a passionate commitment to the empowerment, integration and self-sufficiency of the women they serve.
Portland, OR. De La Salle North Catholic held its 15th Annual Changing Destinies Luncheon as a virtual event on April 23rd. The second-largest fundraising event for the school raises funds for its financial aid program, to ensure that no student is turned away because of an inability to pay. Currently, 92% of families receive funding to attend De La Salle North Catholic. Going virtual provided new fundraising opportunities for the school and raised $285,250.
Oscar Leong, President of the school, had a message for supporters from the halls of the school now closed because of the COVID-19 crisis.
From De La Salle North Catholic:
De La Salle North Catholic is the only high school in the Pacific Northwest to provide a college prep curriculum coupled with a unique work-study program for low-income students in Portland. Together with our 80+ corporate partners, we are empowering our students to change their destinies through a quality education.
Portland, OR. The Northwest Film Center and the Portland Art Museum present the virtual opening of Spaceship Earth, screening online starting Friday, May 8, for a one week run. Spaceship Earth premiered at this year’s Sundance Film Festival and follows eight people who spent two years inside of a replica of Earth’s ecosystem called Biosphere 2.
About the film: Spaceship Earth is the true, stranger-than-fiction, adventure of eight visionaries who in 1991 spent two years quarantined inside of a self-engineered replica of Earth’s ecosystem called BIOSPHERE 2. The experiment was a worldwide phenomenon, chronicling daily existence in the face of life-threatening ecological disaster and growing criticism that it was nothing more than a cult. The bizarre story is both a cautionary tale and a hopeful lesson of how a small group of dreamers can potentially reimagine a new world.
Here’s information about the virtual opening of Spaceship Earth:
Your $3.99 ticket will directly support both NWFC and PAM and we encourage all of our members, staff, and supporters to join us—and spread the word.
At a time when most cinemas are expected to remain shuttered due to the coronavirus pandemic, our plan is to continue bringing new films to the PAM and NWFC audiences in new ways that allow us to follow social distancing rules.
We are proud to partner with NEON, the film production and distribution company that released Oscar winners such as Parasite and I, Tonya, on this innovative strategy to bring Spaceship Earth to our audiences during COVID-19.
We are happy to offer this film at an affordable price because of the economic hardship that Americans are facing during the pandemic.
Beaverton, OR. “While COVID-19 has presented numerous challenges within the travel industry, we believe regional investments in the performing arts – like the grant given to the Patricia Reser Center for the Arts – affirms the broader vision of enhancing economic vitality and community livability for Oregonians in every corner of the state,” said Dan Murphy, chair of the Washington County Visitors Association’s board of directors and co-founder of the Broadway Rose Theatre Company in Tigard. “The new facility will help enrich the Tualatin Valley arts community for visitors and locals alike.”
In a special check presentation,(pictured above) Dan Murphy, chair of the WCVA’s board of directors presented a check for $630,000 to Mayor Denny Doyle.
The Washington County Visitors Association (WCVA) announced that it is awarding the Patricia Reser Center for the Arts $630,000 toward the construction of the facility. The funding is allocated by way of $130,000 from Travel Oregon’s Regional Cooperative Tourism Program, Portland Region and the Washington County Visitors Association (WCVA), in addition to $500,000 pledged by the WCVA in March of 2019. These funds come from transient lodging taxes, which is a tax paid by visitors who stay in overnight accommodations in Washington County.
The announcement comes during National Travel and Tourism Week, which takes place from May 3 – 9. During this time, the WCVA and its partners unite to celebrate the value travel holds for our economy, businesses and personal well being.
Tourism is a major driver of economic growth in Oregon. In 2019, Washington County welcomed more than 3.2 million overnight visitors. Visitor spending in the destination topped $749.8 million, a 4.0% increase over 2018). The local tourism industry also employs 8,760 in the county. This also represents an increase from the previous year.
“In many ways, the Patricia Reser Center for the Arts will very much become a hub within the city; a venue for showcasing the community’s diversity through the arts, said Denny Doyle, mayor of the city of Beaverton. “We could not be more thrilled to have the support of our tourism partners.”
The Patricia Reser Center for the Arts (PRCA) broke ground in Beaverton, Ore. this past November.
Chris Ayzoukian of Patricia Reser Center for the Arts, Beaverton Mayor Denny Doyle, lead donor Pat Reser and Lani Faith of the Beaverton Arts Foundation at the groundbreaking ceremony.
About the Washington County Visitors Association:
The Washington County Visitors Association (WCVA) is a non-profit destination marketing organization that serves the region’s tourism industry by actively promoting Oregon’s Washington County as a desired tourism destination to business and leisure travelers, sports and event planners, meeting planners and group tour operators. The WCVA is funded by 2.33 percent of transient lodging tax (TLT) generated and collected in Washington County. The WCVA markets the destination as “Tualatin Valley.” For more information about the WCVA, visit wcva.org.
About the Patricia Reser Center for the Arts:
The Patricia Reser Center for the Arts will be the first performing arts center of its kind to be built in the Portland-metro area in more than 30 years. Nestled adjacent to The Round between SW Cedar Hills Boulevard and SW Hall Boulevard, the facility will include a 550-seat theater, art gallery, rehearsal, workshop and meeting space, lobby, outdoor plaza and adjacent parking structure. With innovative offerings in the performing arts – theater, music, dance and spoken word – the Patricia Reser Center for the Arts will be a beacon for civic engagement, creative learning and greater social cohesion. For more information, please visit: centerfortheartscampaign.org and beavertonoregon.gov/prca.
About National Travel and Tourism Week
Established in 1983 by a congressional resolution, National Travel and Tourism Week takes place annually throughout the first week of May, serving as a tradition for the U.S. travel community to celebrate the value travel holds for the economy, businesses and personal well-being. For more information, see: ustravel.org/events/national-travel-and-tourism-week.
Chris Ayzoukian of Patricia Reser Center for the Arts, Beaverton Mayor Denny Doyle, lead donor Pat Reser and Lani Faith of the Beaverton Arts Foundation at the groundbreaking ceremony.
Portland, OR. The National nonprofit, Guide Dogs for the Blind (GDB), celebrated its seventh annual Puparazzi Photo Contest with photos of puppies-in-training, retired guide dogs, and more. Patriotic Jambo (pictured above) was the winner of the GDB Career Change Dog category. This year’s Puparazzi Photo Contest raised nearly $39,000 during the two week submission period between April 2nd to April 16th. With over 319 photos submitted there were five overall winners in the categories of Working GDB Guide Dogs, Guide Dog Puppies, GDB Breeder Dogs, GDB Career Change Dogs, and Pet Pooches.
The winning photo entry for the Working GDB Guide Dogs category features Marsha, Alicia, Joanne and GDB guide dogs Jewel, Jerome and Nan. They are members of the Sunshine Guide Dog Teams of Florida.
Guide Dog Puppies category winner is Picard, who is enjoying a spring afternoon.
The Pet Pooches category winner is Penny, who is ready to celebrate her favorite holiday, Easter.
For the Puparazzi Photo Contest participants are encouraged to submit photos of their dogs, even if they aren’t GDB guide dogs or guide dogs in training, and to actively campaign for their photo to help raise funds for GDB’s mission in a creative, interactive way. Winners are determined by the number of votes a photo submission receives, with the entry having the highest number of votes in its respective category being crowned the winner. Winning submissions featuring GDB program dogs are included in GDB’s 2020-2021 calendar. The contest is one of the nonprofit’s chief fundraising initiatives.
As a nonprofit organization, GDB’s work is made entirely possible by the generous support of donors and volunteers, as they receive no government funding. All of GDB’s services provided to clients are free of charge, including personalized training and extensive post-graduation support, plus financial assistance for veterinary care, if needed. The Puparazzi Photo Contest, though adorable and fun, is actually a very important aspect of GDB’s fundraising efforts and helps the exceptional nonprofit continue providing clients exceptional services at no cost. To learn more about ways to support Guide Dogs for the Blind, please visit guidedogs.com.
With a Portland area campus located in Boring, Oregon, GDB works to empower individuals who are blind or have low vision by creating partnerships between people, dogs, and communities. In the spirit of community, fun and love for fluffy friends, this spring GDB put on its annual online Puparazzi Photo Contest, which benefits the organization’s overall fundraising efforts.
Portland, OR. The Mt. Hood Kiwanis Camp (MHKC) auction went virtual in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. MHKC raised over $215,000 to further its mission of empowering children and adults with developmental disabilities through equitable access to the outdoors and recreation.
Originally, the event was scheduled for the same night and was planned to include live entertainment, dinner, silent and live auctions at The Nines hotel. To ensure the health and safety of their guests during the COVID-19 crisis, MHKC switched gears with just a few weeks of planning to put on their first-ever virtual event. The week-long event started on April 15th with the silent and live auction.
On April 18th, MHKC had its virtual event with auctioneer, Kelly Russell and Executive Director, Dave McDonald live-streaming on Youtube allowing their guests to watch from the safety of their home and interact via chatroom.
Here’s a video about the camp:
From Mt. Hood Kiwanis Camp:
Mt. Hood Kiwanis Camp has been in operation for over 85 years and has served over 17,500 children and adults with disabilities. On any given summer day, you will find campers catching fish, conquering their fear on the Adventure Course, splashing in the pool, riding a horse for the first time, whitewater rafting, and dancing the night away at campfire with new friends. Wheelchair accessible trails and innovations such as adaptive saddles, harnesses and bicycles make the traditional camp experience available to all. Camp fosters a sense of accomplishment and allows people with disabilities to experience independence and freedoms they are often denied. MHKC’s focus on equity and inclusion brings together campers and student counselors, creating lasting friendships, breaking down misperceptions, encouraging personal growth, and positively changing lives forever. To see a recap of the virtual event, visit https://vimeo.com/412482275 .
If you would like to support MHKC, please visit www.mhkc.org to make a donation or to learn more. The mailing address is 10725 SW Barbur Blvd Suite 50, Portland OR 97219.
Portland, OR. You can show your community spirit by decorating your front porch or creating a mini float at home. “Bringing Community Together While Staying Home” is the idea behind this year’s The Portland Rose Festival celebration. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Rose Festival is modifying traditions in an effort to celebrate community spirit and resilience, and inspire hope. The concept is to be “Parading in Place!” Organizers invite you to join the festivities by submitting your entries for the Porch Parade in May, or the Grand Petite Parade in June.
Here’s all the information you need for the Porch Parade:
Rose Festival has always been a celebration of people, events, and traditions; bridging communities in the City of Roses and beyond. This spring we are asking members of the community to celebrate with us by decorating their front porches. Choose one of our themes as inspiration, or go wild with your own ideas. The purpose of decorating is to unleash your creativity and bring a smile to your friends and neighbors.
The Rose Festival will produce a virtual map with the locations of all our registered Porches, so you can plan a walk or drive around your neighborhood to see and share in the celebration.
Saturday, May 23 and Saturday, May 30 will each see a Rose Festival VIP Procession drive through select Porch Parade neighborhoods.
As a special thank you, the first 100 Porches in the Portland Metro Area that register will receive a FREE Rose Festival Porch Parade lawn sign that will magically appear in your lawn, no need to touch it or interact with anyone.
The more registered Porches in your neighborhood, the better your chances are for having the Rose Festival VIP Procession to come by, so get your neighbors involved too!
If you have a rose garden out front that’s visible from the street or sidewalk, we’d love to have you be a part of our Porch Parade Map! Use the Porch Parade registration form to register your rose garden.
Step 2: Decorate Your Porch
Choose one of our themes as inspiration, or go wild with your own ideas. The point of decorating is to unleash your creativity and inspire hope for your friends and neighbors.
Porches must be fully decorated by 12 noon on Saturday, May 16, and able to stay up until midnight Saturday, May 30.
Porches must be appropriate for a family-friendly audience.
Don’t have a porch? No problem! Feel free to decorate your lawn, the sidewalk, a window, or something else visible from the street or sidewalk.
Step 3: Explore, Celebrate, Share
Check the Porch Parade Map often to see how the celebration is growing!
Go for a walk around your neighborhood, take pictures of the Porches you find, and tag us on social to help share the joy! @pdxrosefestival #paradinginplace #RFporchparade #rosesforhope
The more people who take part, the more celebration there is to share, so get your friends and neighbors involved!
Rules & Regulations:
Displays must be fully decorated by 12 noon on Saturday, May 16, and able to stay up until Saturday, May 30, and must be appropriate for a family audience.
Displays should not focus on religious, political, ideological, or controversial themes or issues. Use of any political sign, social or political material is not permitted.
Portland Rose Festival reserves the right to exclude any displays that do not meet our guidelines or that feature content not aligned with our mission.
Registration for the Porch Parade or Grand Petite Parade and/or tagging @pdxrosefestival or using #paradinginplace, #RFporchparade, #grandpetiteparade, #grandfloralfun, #juniormakers, #starlightporchbright or #rosesforhope with related photos or videos on social media, grants the Portland Rose Festival permission to use your images and footage on any platform.
Here’s information on the Grand Petite Parade:
The Grand Petite Parade will premiere on Facebook Live on Saturday, June 6. This virtual parade will feature shoebox floats from community members, a celebration of marching bands, and other Rose Festival parade favorites. Just like the early Rose Festival parades that used Portlanders’ own roses to decorate the floats, participants are invited to use materials from home to build shoebox parade floats and submit photos to be included in the live stream.
Have you always wanted to see a float that features a unicorn? Can you imagine a float that is fit for the Rose Festival Queen? Do you have a favorite Rose Festival float from the past that you’d like to recreate (or improve upon) with materials from home? Create your own shoebox float and send in your photos and videos to be a part of the parade.
Don’t have any craft supplies at home? No problem! Does your family have a particular parade talent that you’ve always wanted to share? Forego the float and send in photos and videos of your family marching band, drill team, or synchronized baton routine!
Now is your chance to showcase your creativity and talents, and maybe win some fun Rose Festival swag in the process! Grand Petite Parade “Rosette Award” winners will be chosen from eligible entries and revealed during the live stream.
Step 1 – Create:
Grab a “shoebox” – Start with a base like a recently delivered online order box, or grandma’s hatbox, or your skateboard, or even an RC car to build on. It doesn’t have to roll, but it does need to meet the minimum size requirements.
Find your materials – Entries should be made from things you already have at home. You could use flowers from your yard, craft supplies, construction paper, dolls/action figures, paper mache, clay, paint, markers, sequins, seeds, or anything else you can find to bring your float to life!
Pick a theme and start building – floats can showcase an original design, recreate (or improve upon) a historical parade float, or tell a story about your vision for future Rose Festival parades!
Step 2 – Share:
Show us your progress – document the steps you take as you build your Grand Petite Parade float. Are you making marching band uniforms for your action figures – show us how! Are you making a butterfly float that flaps its wings – let us see how it works! Post progress pictures, tips and tricks, fun teases of your theme, or even bloopers on your social media and tag us @pdxrosefestival #paradinginplace #GrandPetiteParade for a chance to be featured on the Rose Festival’s social media prior to parade day.
Submit your entry – fill out the Registration Form and send us photos of your finished creation.
Step 3 – Celebrate:
Watch the parade – See your float featured in the the Grand Petite Parade on Facebook Live at 11am, Saturday, June 6, 2020.
Share your participation – All participants will receive a digital certificate acknowledging their participation in the first ever Grand Petite Parade!
Win Rose Festival swag – “Rosette Award” certificates will be given in several categories! Winners will receive souvenir 2020 Rose Vision lapel pins, and the Sweepstakes winner will be invited to attend a future Grand Floral Parade as guests of the Portland Rose Festival!
Rules and Regulations:
Completed floats should measure a minimum of 12” long by 10” high – there are no maximum dimensions.
Entries and themes must be appropriate for a family audience. Entry should not focus on religious, political, ideological, or controversial themes or issues. Use of any political sign, social or political material is not permitted.
All submissions must be received by 5:00 p.m., PST, June 1, 2020.
Portland Rose Festival reserves the right to edit photos and videos as needed.
Registration for the Grand Petite Parade or Porch Parade and/or tagging @pdxrosefestival or using #paradinginplace, #RFporchparade, #grandpetiteparade, or #rosesforhope with related photos or videos on social media, grants the Portland Rose Festival permission to use your images and footage on any platform.
Portland Rose Festival reserves the right to exclude any submissions that do not meet our guidelines or that feature content not aligned with our mission.
“Rosette Award” winners will be chosen from eligible entries and decided at the sole discretion of the Portland Rose Festival Foundation. Winners will receive prize notifications via email and any physical awards will be sent via standard US post.
Join the parade! Complete our online Registration Form to submit your entry for the Grand Petite Parade. Eligible entries include shoebox floats, family marching bands, and other parade-style acts of showmanship! Share progress pictures, tips and tricks, fun teases of your theme, or even bloopers on your social media and tag us @pdxrosefestival #paradinginplace #GrandPetiteParade for a chance to be featured on the Rose Festival’s social media prior to parade day.
All entries must include 1-3 photos of the float or group. Shoebox floats wishing to be eligible for Rosette Awards must include a photo featuring the completed float from the front right side, “traveling” in the direction from left to right of the image frame. Videos are not required, but 1 video, up to 15 seconds in length, may be submitted in addition to photos.
All entries must be received by 5pm, June 1, 2020, in order to qualify for the Grand Petite Parade. If you have questions or need additional information, please send us an email with the subject line: Grand Petite Parade.
Helpful Tips and Award Information
You don’t need a shoebox to put your best foot forward! As long as your float meets the minimum size requirement and meets the rules for theme and content – it can be made from anything you already have at home. Floats are not required to roll or move, but extra creativity points may be awarded for motion, automation, or animation. You can begin with a theme or idea and collect materials to bring that float to life, or you can look around your home to find items you’d like to feature and build your float to suit your materials.
Get the whole family involved! Choose a design you can all get behind and work together. Are you the competitive sort…then why not pick a theme and let everyone build their own masterpiece?
Do you need help getting the creative juices flowing? Maybe the Rosette Award categories will help to inspire you! These awards for shoebox floats are based on the real awards given to all floral covered floats in the Grand Floral Parade each year. Grand Petite Parade Rosette Awards will be announced on Saturday, June 6, 2020.
Sweepstakes Rosette (Most outstanding float in the Parade)
Queens Rosette (Most creative float in the Parade)
Grab your snacks, gather the family, and watch the Grand Petite Parade on Facebook Live, 11 am on Saturday, June 6, at the Portland Rose Festival page. Follow us at @pdxrosefestival and on the Rose Festival Facebook Page to get updates and notifications.
The virtual parade will feature shoebox floats and creative entries from community members, a celebration of marching bands, and other Rose Festival parade favorites.
Portland, OR. With stay-at-home orders in place in Oregon and Southwest Washington, and bans on large social gatherings due to the COVID-19 outbreak, many charitable organizations have had to move their spring benefits online.
Tucker Maxon School faced one such situation. With less than two weeks to make a pivot from a traditional live benefit auction, Tucker Maxon held a live virtual gala on April 3rd. The event (pictured above) raised $176,000.
OES’s state-of-the-art design center was the site of its 34th annual auction, the first virtual event in the school’s history.
Samantha Swaim from Swaim Strategies has helped many of her clients pivot. She explains, “If an organization has a dedicated donor base, online virtual engagement is absolutely a powerful way to keep donors invested. Originally when the restrictions on gatherings occurred, we were still able to gather in small groups, so we saw a lot of opportunities to really leverage table hosts to still host small gatherings and to conduct a studio-recorded version. Now that the stay at home orders are in place, we have seen organizations very effectively migrate to broadcast from home.
Swaim says virtual benefit like the Mt. Hood Kiwanis Camp online event raised $214,000, Community Action raised $205,000
Bridges Middle School raised approximately $120,000.
Below are some of Swain’s suggestions for going virtual:
When pivoting to a virtual event, you can utilize all of your in-person event elements (auction, videos, script) and arrange them into a much shorter event format and engage your key constituents in some immediate and valuable fundraising.
While you may not raise as much as with your in-person event, you will be able to capitalize on the moment and let donors continue to be heroes creating impact and funding your work. Canceling an event means no fundraising, but going virtual can help you continue to bring in funds.
Your event’s special appeal holds the largest fundraising potential at your event. So, without an event, consider ways to build an even-more imperative case for your work with an e-appeal to your donors.
Watch the video here and get point-by-point instruction with illustrative examples, and start to create your own impactful e-appeal communications now.
Relationship Cultivation + Management
On a larger level, the truth is that this may become a climate where it becomes harder to fundraise. But something that is always good for fundraisers to spend time doing is cultivate donors.
Run a GoFundMe Campaign
If you have a specific need you’re funding, especially if it is in response to the outbreak, put together a contained GoFundMeCampaign on a fixed timeline to gather your community around a cause they can immediately impact.
For nonprofit organizations, Facebook goes a step beyond simple social distancing and provides easy-to-use tools to help you fundraise online. Facebook’s Charitable Giving Toolsprovide a simple way for you to raise money through Facebook—and 100% of the donations go directly to your work.
Convert Your Live + Silent Auctions into an Online Auction
You’ve already done all the procurement for your event, so use those items to fundraise now by converting your auctions into an online auction. Communicate often with donors to let them know where to find the auction and to create buzz around some of the packages. But, most importantly, build the case that their purchase of auction items will fund your important work at this very crucial time. Use countdowns to the auction closure in your communications to prompt action on deadline.
Greater Giving occasionally offers discounts to activate the mobile bidding platform to facilitate online auctions.
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