Event 360's Jeff Shuck and Convio's Vinay Bhagat's keynote presentation from the 2009 Run Walk Ride Fundraising conference.

1. Join the Race
5 Proven Success Strategies of the Top Run Walk Ride Events
Jeff Shuck, President, Event 360 | Vinay Bhagat, Founder & CSO, Convio

2. Focus on the right metrics
R2 = 0.49 R2 = 0.94

3. Basic Special Events Math
100 people sign up 30 Fundraise 20 Fundraisers Return
Each sends 15 email solicitations
Secure 150 gifts (5 each)
30 Do
Nothing
40 Just Participate 10 Non Fundraisers Return

4. Lessons from Successful Events
1. Recruit more effectively
2. Use registration fees strategically
3. Turn participants into fundraisers
4. Help fundraisers be successful
5. Focus on retention

5. 1. Recruit More Effectively: People
• Value quality first, then quantity
• Examine your organizational bias towards attendance
• You want participants who will fundraise
• Use what you already know
• Target past participants who were fundraisers
• Target team captains
• Target active supporters on your site, social networks
• Promote family and team registration

6. 1. Recruit More Effectively: People
Event Fundraising Gifts Per Participant
60
50
40 A vast majority
Organizations
30
of groups yield
just 1-2
gifts/participant
20
10
0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
2008 Average Gifts Per Participant
More
than
10
Source: Convio analysis of 171 clients using TeamRaiserTM

7. 1. Recruit More Effectively: Content
• Maximize traffic to your registration pages
• Search engine optimization and marketing
• Mix of promotion points e.g. partner sites, viral marketing
• Marketing 101: Segment Target
• Understand the reason why people participate
• Target your messages to those reasons
• Promote family and team registration
• Inspirational content including video
• Set the expectation that fundraising is of value

8. 2. Use Registration Fees Strategically
Average Amount Raised Online Registration fees
typically help an event
1,400,000 prosper
1,200,000
• Cover or help defray the
1,000,000 cost of the event
800,000 • Set expectation that
600,000 commitment is required
400,000 • Help weed out participants
not likely to fundraise
200,000
• Ensure higher physical
0 attendance at the event
2005 2006 2007 2008 • Aid in participant to
fundraiser conversion
Events With Registration Fees
Events Without Registration Fees
Source: Convio analysis of 171 clients using TeamRaiserTM

9. Registration Fees Caveats
• Can slow participation growth
• NOT guarantee that participants will fundraise
• It helps, but it is not a sure thing
• Always try to convert participants to fundraisers
• When is it smart to forgo?
• Virtual events
• When your event is very small and your primary goal is
participation growth

10. 3. Turn Participants Into Fundraisers
• Participation fees /or fundraising minimums
• Email prompts to begin fundraising
• Make it really easy
• Send an email that can be forwarded
• Suggested content they can send out
• URL shortcuts to their personal page
• Integration to social networks
• Automated address book uploads

11. Many People, Little Performance
• Without a fundraising minimum, organizations see a heavy
concentration of zero fundraisers and a very “long tail”
• 5% of participants raise 60% of revenue
Source: Event360 Analysis of organization raising ~$3m per year through events

12. The Power Of A Fundraising Minimum
• With a fundraising minimum, revenue per participant is much more
concentrated
Source: Event360 Analysis of large national event program with minimum

13. 4. Maximize Fundraiser Effectiveness
• Gifts per fundraising participant is key metric
• Gift count correlated to solicitations sent
• Activity can be stimulated/enhanced:
• Early registration
• Progress bar
• Coaching emails and scheduled messages
• Competition, stories about other fundraisers
• Milestone based incentives
• Promote team fundraising

14. More Gifts Means Faster Growth
Average Annual Gift Volume Growth
160%
140%
4th Quartile
120%
3rd Quartile
100%
80%
2nd Quartile
60% 1st Quartile
40% Total Sample
20%
0%
Driving gift value is most critical
Source: Convio analysis of 171 clients using TeamRaiserTM

15. The more time they have, the better they’ll do
Average Dollars Raised Leading To 2004 Event
$450 $425
$400 $375
$350
$350
$300
$250 $225 Avg $ Raised
$185 $175 $185 Per Fundraising
$200 $140 Participant
$150
$100 Avg $ Raised
$50 Per Participant
$0
90 Days 60-90 Days 31-60 Days 0-30 Days
Note: Data includes money raised from both donations and registration fees. Source: Participant Performance Report for one client using TeamRaiser TM

16. Ask, And You Should Receive
Email volume
drives gift volume
Days Prior to 2004 Event

17. Participant Email Volume Key
• Emails sent by participants is growing across groups
• Top (4th) quartile growing groups see higher volumes
Year Over Year Growth in Email Volume
25000000
2005
20000000
2006
15000000 2007
2008
10000000
5000000
0
4th Quartile 3rd Quartile 2nd Quartile 1st Quartile Total Sample
Source: Convio analysis of 171 clients using TeamRaiserTM

18. Ask Nicely, And You Will Receive
Percentage of Participant Center Emails Clicked Thru
20%
2006
15%
2007
2008
10%
5%
0%
4th Quartile 3rd Quartile 2nd Quartile 1st Quartile Total Sample
Quality Matters
Source: Convio analysis of 171 clients using TeamRaiserTM

19. Team Fundraising
• Fastest growing groups (4th quartile) are more common users of
team based fundraising
Average Team Gift Percentage Trend
12.00%
10.00%
2005
8.00% 2006
2007
6.00%
2008
4.00%
2.00%
0.00%
4th Quartile 3rd Quartile 2nd Quartile 1st Quartile Total Sample
Source: Convio analysis of 171 clients using TeamRaiserTM

20. 5. Focus On Retention
• Most churn 70-80% of participants
• Emphasis should be placed on renewing fundraisers,
in particular top fundraisers
• Captains are a recruitment “channel”
• Best practices include:
• Strong acknowledgement
• Re-recruit early/ immediately
• Year round email communications
• Make it really easy to join again
• Cross-program engagement

21. Segment Based Relationship Pathways
Cultivation Part 1 Cultivation Part 2, Pledge,
Soft Ask Petition
Event Donors
Invite to
Thank You Stewardship
re-participate
1st Yr
Participants
Thank You Invite to Be Special Need
Once Again Team Captain Appeal
Repeat
Participants

22. Recap: Lessons from Successful Events
1. Recruit more effectively
2. Use registration fees strategically
3. Turn participants into fundraisers
4. Help fundraisers be successful
5. Focus on retention

23. Questions?

24. Report Now Available
Get your free copy:
www.event360.com/resources