Fundraising Formula

Ever work on a fundraising event for your favourite non-profit organization, and wonder at the end of the day if it was worth it? Me too. While all events can be considered a success if they raise significant awareness of the cause, it's still a good idea to measure success in terms of monies raised. I have yet to meet a non-profit organization that has too much money.

Everyone wants to be part of a successful event. When an announcement is made of how much money was raised, the cheers are in direct proportion to the money raised. If the people organizing the event would've been better off throwing all their loose change in a piggy bank, many problems can result, with volunteer burnout being at the top of the list.

The formula that seems to give a good indication of the potential success of an event is:

Success = (total revenue - total expenses) / # of volunteer hours worked

While some people would say total revenue - total expenses (or net profit) is sufficient, I feel volunteer hours spent cannot be overlooked. The following two examples may make things clearer:

Example 1 - Net Profit $1000, # of volunteer hours 100

Here the non-profit raised $1000, which no one is going to throw away. However, the Success formula gives a value of $10. If a volunteer worked 10 hours on this event, she may decide next year to just donate $100.

Example 2 - Net Profit $1000, # of volunteer hours 2

Same net-profit, but now the Success formula gives a value of $500. This is an event I did a couple of years ago alone. Needless to say everyone was thrilled.

Please feel free to use the success formula when planning your next event.