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Setting Event Goals

Reasons for hosting an event can vary, but in the beginning stages of planning your fundraising event, it’s imperative to determine the motivation. Is it to raise money, increase awareness, or extend your network? Maybe your purpose includes all three of these motivators. The true value of events lies in attendee engagement and retention, so you should ensure that you are prepared to focus on those goals before committing time and budget to planning an event. Read on for tips to structure your event goals.


Setting Goals

Here are several goals to consider as you craft your events strategy:

Set realistic goals to drive success. Make sure they align with your target audience and are obtainable. Using the ROI and ROO metrics will help measure goals and/or criteria from a different point of view.

ROI: Return on investment is the revenue generated from the contributions made and is strictly a quantitative measure.

ROI = Event Revenue – Event Expense / Event Expense

For example, if your goal is to raise $120,000 and your event costs $100,000, your ROI is $20,000 or 20%.

ROO: Return on objective is a flexible measurement and refers to the objectives that are achieved. The ROO will measure the overall strength the organization gained from the event concentrating on brand awareness, donor facetime, community involvement, etc.

Combining the ROI and ROO will determine if the event was worth the expense, time, and effort. Remember to set goals that are achievable as unrealistic goals will only create discouragement for you, volunteers, and staff.


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