How to Overcome the Challenges of Virtual Fundraisers

If you are hosting an online fundraiser for your foundation, there’s a lot to plan, from organizing the auction prizes to planning the entertainment. Here are some pointers to help you navigate through the virtual fundraising process and overcome common challenges associated with virtual events.

PayBee’s online auction platform makes running your virtual fundraising event straightforward, from selling tickets, to sending email invitations, to setting up your campaigns and tallying up the donations, Paybee does it all. PayBee makes life easy for your donors as well, allowing them to pay their donations securely using their debit or credit card, Apple Pay and Google Pay or even bank account transfers.

But every event comes with its own little challenges along the way. Here are a few tips on how to ensure your virtual fundraiser runs smoothly:

Check your Set Up

Before the event, check your set up to make sure that the auctioneer can clearly see the bids and activity. If they will be standing up, you should position a screen in their eyeline, around 6-8 feet away. Make sure that the font size is big enough that they can read all the vital information on screen, and check the camera angles as well as their microphone.

If you will be running the auction on your own, sitting down in front of the screen will make it easier to control all aspects of the virtual event. Remember to keep your keyboard within easy reach, so you can change your presented fundraising content as needed. Also, if you wear glasses, do consider the glare that can reflect off them. Your audience may be able to see reflections of screens in front of you, so you may prefer to wear contact lenses if that’s possible during the live presentation.

Keep your Donors Informed

Your donors believe in your cause and want to support it, so it’s important to keep them well informed both before and during the event.

Make sure your donors know when you will start fundraising and how to use the auction tools. Luckily, the PayBee Online Auction platform has a aptly designed easy to use interface so your donors are sure to feel comfortable with during the live experience and able to give you full support.

And don’t forget that donors could join the event at any point during proceedings. So it’s a good idea to repeat important details like the agenda or auction closing times regularly throughout the event and during the pre-event outreach. This way there’s no risk of anyone missing out on vital information!

Generate a buzz

Don’t forget to use the platform to keep your audience engaged through features other than the main video. The most successful online fundraising events tend to have a very lively chat running alongside the live auction, so try to fuel the chat and get a buzz going.

The auctioneer can help to drive the chat by calling for responses. Try asking the audience to send a clap emoji in their chat windows to congratulate donors, or asking all audience members a question to respond to via chat. The auctioneer can then read some of the audience responses live to encourage participation.

Alternatively, you can have a member of your team manning the chat throughout your event. If you have the staff to support it, this can work very well because your own team members know the cause of the presentation content better than anyone.

You don’t have to ask questions that are directly about the auction either. Try asking something that’s related to the cause that will spur discussion amongst the audience.

For instance, if you’re raising money for a summer camp, you could ask donors about their favorite summer camp songs or activities. They’ll soon be reminiscing about their own summer camp experiences, and that can help to boost their generosity!