12 Oct 2010 No Comments
How to maximize charity event fundraising with low registration fees
If you’re having an event with online registration, you have the opportunity to set up a registration fee. You may be tempted to set this fee high, so that you can cover your costs and maybe even raise a little money for your programs through registration fees alone. But this can backfire – registrants will often pay a high registration fee happily, but then decide that they’ve now done their part and won’t choose to go on and fundraise.
If you consider that the average walk-a-thon page on FirstGiving raises about $400, you can see how this can really add up! If each participant pays, for instance, $35 to walk in your event, and stops at that, you’ll raise $35 per participant. But if your registration fee is $10, but you require your participants to raise at least $100 (most will exceed this), you’ve raised $110 per participant, which is already tripling your previous total!
Of course, having a low barrier to entry is helpful in encouraging more people to sign up, as well – and the more participants you have, the more potential fundraisers you have, not to mention the greater impact your event will have on awareness of your cause and your needs.
Special Olympics Colorado does a great job of encouraging fundraising on FirstGiving by setting registration fees low. Their supporters can register for free, but they’ve set an $85 fundraising minimum. Take a look.
