If Free Feel-Good Cultivation Events^™ are free and they make people feel good, why is it so difficult to get the people we most want to attend?

Free Feel-Good Cultivation Events are not optional in the Benevon Model. They are essential to deepening your relationships with your donors. These recognition events are aimed at prior donors to reward them for their support and to reconnect them to their passion for your work. In our model, they must be free. If you find an underwriter to cover the costs of your annual donor recognition event, it can become a Free Feel-Good Cultivation Event.

Your goal should be to have each Multiple-Year Donor attend two Free Feel-Good Cultivation Events per year. How well does your attendance measure up?

Assuming you have done a lot of work to plan the recognition dinner or pre-concert reception with the artistic director, what more could you be doing to improve attendance from the people the event is aimed at—your loyal donors?

Here are a few things to consider:

1. Do you know your donors well enough to know what they each need to feel special? "Special" means something different to each donor. One size does not fit all. The beautiful weeknight dinner may be just the wrong thing for the busy working couple with young children. They may prefer the pre-concert reception instead. With a bit more thought, your hard work will be rewarded.
2. Does the event really make your donors feel good? Is the type of event, the timing, or the venue suitable to the majority of your donors? It is best to keep it simple and experiment. The fact that "we've always done the annual dinner" doesn't mean it is what most of your donors want. If your attendance is dwindling, the event may have earned a reputation as being long, boring, inconvenient, etc.
3. Ask a few of your key donors—the ones you would most want to have attend—what they would like. Give them a few specific options to choose from. Many may say they would prefer a smaller, more intimate dinner in someone's home with the Visionary Leader^™ or other star speaker. Others may prefer a daytime or weekend event where they can bring their family members to learn more about the organization or undertake some sort of volunteer project together. This qualifies as a Free Feel-Good Cultivation Event! Planning several smaller, low budget events gives donors options.
4. Consider a one-on-one Free Feel-Good Cultivation Event for some donors. There is no substitute for a meeting between the grateful scholarship recipient and the donor, or a meeting with the head of the literacy program and one of the former students who is now a volunteer.
5. Is the event mission-focused enough? Entertainment is no longer the big draw for most donors. Their time is too precious and if they want to be entertained, they probably have their own favorite restaurant or cultural event to attend. The program at your Free Feel-Good Cultivation Event will be central to their decision to attend. Does it reconnect them to the mission and, even more specifically, to the aspect of the mission they are most passionate about? If your organization is working to cure a particular disease, will the speaker at the event be talking about the strain of the disease this donor is most interested in? This is the decision-making process your donors go through. Their time is limited and they want to be sure they will get the greatest return for the time they give you.
6. Next, consider how people are being invited. These days, if you are truly expecting anyone to attend, the invitation must be highly personal. By our definition that means one-on-one, with a note written on a pretty printed invitation, followed up with a phone call or an e-mail, from more than one person who the donor respects and knows personally. Anything short of that and the donor will beg off as being too busy. You may even need to offer to provide transportation for people who are reluctant to drive or go out at night.
7. Finally, do not expect to bat 1000. Even after all your planning, one sick child, a snowy night, or an unexpected business trip can foil the best of intentions that donor may have had to attend. Just be sure to follow up individually with those who had confirmed that they would be there, to let them know that they were missed and to provide them with the emotional essence of the event—for example, a lunch with the head of the oncology unit or a meeting with the principal of the school for a personal update. Making the effort to schedule something special just for them will communicate how important they are to you. Even if they can't make it, they will get the message.