• THE BEST APPROACH for your cause. Should you give guests a choice of tiered levels, ask them to donate a set amount (like $500), or fill out pledge cards? Learn when to do each. (Not every appeal needs or should be tiered.) 
• SPECIFIC PHRASES that flip guests to a “I must donate” attitude. This insider language triggers psychological responses so guests raise their paddle right then. 
• WHERE TO START your paddle raise. What’s ridiculous and what’s on the money when initiating giving.
• PERFECT PLACEMENT: When and how to introduce the Fund a Need for ideal timing in the program, regardless of your event style (sit-down dinner versus food stations). 
• HOW TO LEVERAGE UNEXPECTED DONATIONS that often “scare off” smaller donors. Learn how to use it to compel increased gifts instead. 
• My formula for WRITING A COMPELLING “ASK.” Follow this step-by-step to eloquently deliver an authentic presentation to encourage donations.
• BEST PRACTICES IN VIDEOS. You’ll have access to 33 real-life Fund a Need videos, covering all types of “needs.” Some are professionally produced while others are amateur-made, but all have ideas to use. 
• HOW TO CREATIVELY MARKET YOUR MESSAGE throughout the gala, so guests are saturated with your cause. 
• GAMES, SURPRISES and “TRICKS” that make the Fund a Need fun and inspire up to 40% more gifts. 
• REBEL ROUSING DIFFERENCES. What makes one appeal “work” and another “bomb?” Beyond the basics of good Fund a Mission management, learn the “special somethings” I like to do at my events, to further enhance the activity.
• Got an UNUSUAL SITUATION? You’ll hear about how Fund a Needs have been adjusted to accommodate these circumstances: 
  • Anniversaries and landmark years: Master milestone celebrations with these paddle raise activities best reserved for “big” years. 
  • Monthly giving programs: How nonprofits have rolled out programs and signed up recurring givers onsite. 
  • Sustainer levels: Trying to boost your higher level $1000+ donors? Hear how we change the paddle raiser to inspire guests to dig deeper to donate more. 
  • Capital campaigns: See how nonprofits adjust their paddle raise to support the quiet phase versus the public phase of their campaign. 
  • Running multiple paddle raisers in one event: One client targeted four needs; another funded two distinct causes. Get the inside scoop on two ways to manage this effectively.
    

Techniques have been introduced to make raising more money even easier. 

Well-managed appeals generate tens of thousands of dollars; poorly managed ones generate pennies. 

It’s a LOST OPPORTUNITY if you don’t run this activity properly. 

Look at how simple changes affected these groups: 

From $50 to $45,000: A Maryland nonprofit showed a compelling video and raised a mere $50 (yes, $50) from their pledge cards. After tweaking the process, the next year the donations ballooned to $45,150. Same crowd – different technique. 

94% increase: A Kentucky school was OK with the money raised ($25,600 with an average gift of $39) but felt they were missing something. Tweaking the Fund a Need generated $49,670 with an average gift of $90 a year later. (Now it’s nearly $100k.) Same crowd – different technique. 

A new level: A Florida nonprofit hit a new high of over $130,000 using new techniques. 

A big surprise: A New York nonprofit received a spontaneous $1 million gift during the paddle raise. 

94% increase: A D.C. nonprofit jumped from $26,000 to $50,400 in one year. Same crowd – different technique. First-year effort: A Maryland school that raised over $70,000 in a first time Fund a Need. 

Boost of $36,000: A New York nonprofit adjusted an already successful appeal to raise an additional $36k, moving from $250,000 to $286,500. Same crowd – different technique. =

This master class is for all experience levels. 

Read the reviews — some students have run Fund a Needs for years and were excited at the new techniques they learned. 

If you’re planning an event that gathers supporters together, you can run a Fund a Need. Even casual college alumni events and adult birthday parties have spontaneously organized paddle raisers to raise thousands of dollars.

• Recordings of three live training webinars. Approximately 3.5 hours total, including the final Q&A. 
• One training video for your volunteer secretary to watch. In the course, you’ll learn the best way to track the donations, and this 17-minute video teaches your volunteer clerk the easiest way to record the numbers. 
• Two types of recording sheets to match the type of appeal best for your event. 
• A companion document with slides and 8 transcripts from some of my Fund a Needs. You’ll literally read “what I said” on stage so you can model it for your own paddle raise script. 
• Paddle raise videos from real events. Tucked into the course, you’ll watch best-in-class videos presented at real fundraisers across the country. Furthermore, you’ll see live speakers present, giving you an understanding of how the flow actually works. One of the favorite student videos is one whereby I deliver a real Fund a Need, but break the steps down for you as I’m delivering the message on the stage.