Recipe for Success

By Kim Perry

When it comes to cooking up the perfect STUDIO 4Forty fundraising event, there’s definitely a proven recipe for success that boils down to the basics: the right ingredients, timing, and following our step by step best practices. 

But as the best cooks in the event kitchen will tell you (aka our expert Project Management dream team), thankfully we don’t take a cookie-cutter approach when it comes to applying our formula. Just like recipes can be adjusted based on desired serving size, our event formula is not one-size-fits-all with signature ingredients being measured and appropriately scaled. 

From budgeting, venue capacity, market size, sponsorship and ticket pricing, to name a few key variables, every detail (aka essential ingredient) is assessed to ensure we advise our nonprofit partners on proper measurement so the end event results achieve every goal. 

Case in point: For our Farm to Table(aux) nonprofit partners in Pontiac, Illinois, and Sun Valley, Idaho, we modify our recipe accordingly for markets of their size, which are vastly smaller than our significantly larger markets like Atlanta and Los Angeles.  

While we always mindfully tailor our measurements, the winning formula never changes, which is why many of our smallest markets have become our most successful events. Take our Wine Women & Shoes Midland, Texas, team as a shining example: they launched our event with barely any emails in a database, applied our recipe with ingredients re-measured and added over the years. Tomorrow, the Midland Rape Crisis and Children’s Advocacy Center celebrates its glorious ten-year WWS anniversary with over $2 million raised {net} and a sellout crowd of over 500 in attendance. 

But with every recipe, the best chefs agree there’s always a secret ingredient that sets their masterpiece apart. What’s ours you ask? You’ll just have to join our STUDIO 4Forty nonprofit family to find out! 

Contact our Director of Business Development Kim Perry to bring one of our signature events to your community.

Back to Basics

Blog Post by: Jennifer Downes

As spring travel is winding down, I sit back and reflect on all the different elements that occurred during the season. Whether it was amazing Shoe Guy fundraising, exploding sponsorship dollars, marvelous Mission Moments, over the top productions, or crazy travel stories, it’s a journey to look at all the pieces.

One of the biggest highlights was experiencing some of our long term partners increasing their overall live auction and cash call revenue lines significantly. To express the joy that occurred with our clients is indescribable. The “secret sauce” to this achievement was that our partners trust us, our coaching, and with that we went “Back to Basics.” 

As we begin the current year’s planning process, we review the prior year’s event and all the different elements. What became apparent with some of our clients was that they had swayed too far from our best practices and needed to reestablish the foundation that was created in year one. And that’s exactly what we did. 

Always keeping our guests’ experience and revenue focus at the forefront, we adjusted and tweaked different areas to ensure our revenue activations occurred in just the right way.

A few examples of elements we adjusted were: narrowing down the revenue activations to only a handful for the entire event, creating the correct flow within the space, and selecting the right individuals to go onstage during the seated program. These are only a few examples of the different pieces we adjusted, but every detail matters as it all adds up when producing high caliber events.

One of the biggest adjustments we made was who would take the stage to conduct the live auction and cash call. Ensuring you have the right person for this piece is incredibly important as this can make the energy in the room either feel awkward if done incorrectly, or it can become a special moment where a community gathers together to support an amazing cause if done right! We worked with our partners to outline the best auction packages, ensure their impact statements were strong, and that our motto remained in the forefront – “Back to Basics”. Guess what?!?! It WORKED!

Whether you’re a Director of Development, CEO, or a volunteer supporting a nonprofit organization with an event, I highly recommend taking the time to evaluate where the event started and where it is now. It is easy to focus on refining and refreshing the guests’ experience, but unfortunately that means that the basics that were created in the beginning years can sometimes get lost. Take some time to compare the growth that has occurred, areas you can adjust, and always keep the guests’ experience and revenue flow at the forefront. Going “Back to Basics” can never steer you wrong. 

Want to learn more about STUDIO 4Forty and how we serve nonprofits across the country? Email me at jennifer@studio4forty.com.