When researching your costs, look up the average prices for every expense you can anticipate. Research is critical in creating a reasonable cost estimate for your fundraiser. The next part of calculating your fundraising event budget is to make a list of all possible expenses for your campaign. Once you’ve calculated your potential revenue estimate, you can start adding your expense line items to your fundraising event budget template. This will provide you with a better picture of what you’ll need to spend for your fundraiser. While some sponsors offer financial gifts in return for free advertising, others might give free goods and services for your fundraiser that can cut down on your event’s overhead costs.
80/20 may not be the exact outcome, but being able to estimate how much you’ll receive from your major donors will offer you a much clearer picture of your potential revenue for your event.īesides your major donors, sponsorships can be another large source of income for your event.
While the Pareto Principle is not a guarantee, many nonprofits will see that much of the money they raise during a fundraiser is gifted from the top percentage of donors. This data will tell you which of your supporters are more inclined to attend your event, how much they’re likely to donate, and which major donors would be the best to appeal to. Your organization’s previous event budgets can help you estimate how much of your revenue will go towards covering event costs, and paired with your current donor data, you can also forecast how much you might raise from donations. However, you generally want to minimize your expenses so the money you raise can go towards your mission rather than paying for your event. Every nonprofit is different, so there is no golden percentage for what your costs should be compared to your income. Your potential revenue will provide you with an idea of what your expense limits for the event should be. After you’ve decided on both the size and type of event, you’ll be able to start filling in the line items for potential revenue and expenses on your fundraising event budget template.Įstimating your potential revenue may seem complicated, but your previous fundraising event budgets and your donor data can offer insights to help you establish a practical prediction for what your event’s income will be. If you send your virtual participants a gift, you’ll need to account for both the cost of the gift and the cost of shipping it to your supporters. Even attendance at virtual events needs special consideration because many video conferencing programs like Zoom have limits on the number of people who can join a call for free. They also require more food if you’re providing catering. Large in-person gatherings require bigger venues that can hold all your donors. The more attendees you have, the larger your budget will need to be, especially for in-person events. Once you’ve determined the kind of event you want to host, you also need to decide on the size of the event. Online fundraisers, like a Q&A with your team or a virtual gaming tournament, are cost effective and profitable and require a different set of considerations for budgeting compared to in-person events.
Smaller, in-person gatherings, such as dinner parties or paint and sip nights, can be a great opportunity to connect with donors without breaking the bank but still require you to take into account the cost of a venue, food, drinks, and more. There are plenty of effective fundraising events your organization can host on any budget. The type of event will also help you decide what your biggest costs are going to be when budgeting. A big gala with an auction will be much more costly than a virtual trivia night. Different types of events will have drastically different budgets. Knowing the purpose of your event is the first step to calculating your fundraising event budget.