# Fundraising events income continues to rise, says everydayhero research

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2015/12/02/fundraising-events-income-continues-to-rise-says-everydayhero-research/
- Published: 2015-12-02T11:31:17+00:00
- Author: Howard Lake

**Research by fundraising platform everydayhero™, a Blackbaud company, has found
that event fundraising income is still rising, and most participants are keen to
support the same charity again.**

The research, conducted in collaboration with the Institute of Fundraising, is published
in a report, _Closing the Loop_. It is based on a survey of more than 1,000 event
participants and 600 charities.

The research builds on Blackbaud’s [Successful Events Fundraising](https://www.fundraising.co.uk/2015/02/28/event-fundraisers-get-fundraising-tips-charities-says-blackbaud/)
report launched in February 2015. This found that the majority of those participating
in fundraising events did not feel acknowledged by the charity they were fundraising
for, even though most were motivated to take part by their passion for the charity
involved.

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> “Personalise communications as much as you can, make it fun and let your fundraisers
> know how much money was raised and the difference they have made to the work that
> you do.”
> Claire Dibben, Community & Events Fundraising Officer, National Osteoporosis Society

## Events income

_Closing the Loop_ reports that:

• The majority of organisations (84%) have seen income from events rise or stay 
the same.

• 56% of organisations have seen event fundraising income rise

• 12% of organisations reported that event fundraising income had risen significantly

• Events account for 25-50% of overall annual income for 25% of organisations surveyed

• 67% of organisations survey planned to run more fundraising events.

• However, most organisations (64.1%) are not looking to grow their events team.
A lack of resources is cited as one of the main challenges in communicating with
event participants.

 

![Everydayhero Closing the Loop findings](https://www.fundraising.co.uk/wp-content/
uploads/2015/12/everydayhero-closing-the-loop-findings.jpg)

Key findings on events and communication in Everydayhero’s ‘Closing the Loop’ research

 

> “Make sure you get feedback after the event to check you’re doing the right things
> and take advantage of the different ways of communicating with people – for example,
> we find that using text messages is really effective at getting quick responses.”
> Emily Roff, Sports Events Manager, Children with Cancer UK

 

## Fundraising event participants

 

![everydayhero-closing-the-loop-chart](https://www.fundraising.co.uk/wp-content/
uploads/2015/12/everydayhero-closing-the-loop-chart.png)

How charities and event participants say they communicate with each other before
the event

 

• The majority of participants preferred to be contacted by email (40.5%) and direct
mail (29.8%), while telephone was the least popular form of wanted contact (46.7%)

• 83% of fundraising event participants would consider taking part in another event
for the same charity.

• 92% would consider supporting the same charity again but in other ways.

• 60% of participants want to know how much total money was raised, and 45% want
to know how the money raised will be used.

• The most common challenge cited by event participants was that the fundraising
target set was too high (27.1%) followed by not knowing how to start fundraising(
21.2%)

However, many charities could do far more if they communicated effectively with 
their event fundraisers:

• 44% of fundraising event participants had not been asked to take part in another
event

• 23% reported no further contact was made since being thanked for their support!

 

Daniel Fluskey, Head of Policy and Research at the Institute of Fundraising, said
of the findings:

> “It’s certainly encouraging to see that the majority of fundraisers who have taken
> part in this research are reporting that income from events is increasing,” commented
> Daniel Fluskey, Head of Policy and Research at the Institute of Fundraising. “
> However, we know that the best fundraising is not about a ‘one off’  – whether
> that’s a single donation or participation in one event – it’s about developing
> and maintaining a relationship, engaging people with a cause that they care about
> and offering them opportunities to support that cause in different ways and at
> different times.”

John Bird, general manager, Peer-to-Peer Fundraising at Blackbaud, added:

“We know from this and previous research that event participants are a particularly
motivated audience so there is a real opportunity here for engaging them even further
through concerted and tailored communications.

“Clearly resourcing is an issue for many charities, but even simple steps such as
getting feedback after an event, putting in place a post-event communications plan
or some basic email segmentation and personalisation can support your fundraisers
in raising more money and encourage them to support your charity in other ways too.”

 

## Report and webinar

You can download [Closing the Loop](http://www.everydayhero.com/uk/closing-the-loop)
from everydayhero.

A [webinar ](https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/8878400633340016898)discussing
the results will take place on 10 December at 11.00.

 * **[Jerome Moisin to lead Blackbaud’s international operations](https://fundraising.co.uk/2015/12/11/jerome-moisin-to-lead-blackbauds-international-operations/)**(
   11 December 2015)
 * **[JustSelling – the Blackbaud/JustGiving merger](https://fundraising.co.uk/2017/06/30/justselling-blackbaudjustgiving-merger/)**(
   30 June 2017)
 * **[BTA is first Scottish company to receive Blackbaud accreditation](https://fundraising.co.uk/2017/09/28/bta-first-scottish-company-receive-blackbaud-accreditation/)**(
   28 September 2017)
