It's your organization's twenty-fifth anniversary, your founder or CEO is retiring after twenty-seven years, you are moving into your new office building, or your organization or one of your top researchers just won a cherished award in your field. These are major milestones. And like the birth of a child, a graduation ceremony, or a wedding, these milestones deserve to be celebrated.

What is the best way to celebrate these key occasions, while also linking people to your organization's mission? Let's look at three examples:

Organization's anniversary. While not everyone in the community will agree that this is worth putting on a tuxedo or evening gown to celebrate, it is a milestone event in the life of your organization and worthy of publicity and some hoopla. Think through what you intend to accomplish over the days, months, or year of the anniversary. Is your main agenda fundraising, bringing back longtime (and often lost) supporters, or engaging new people?

What is the overall theme of the celebration? For example, if it's your tenth anniversary, the theme may be pioneers, honoring those who made these first ten years possible. If it is your twenty-fifth anniversary, you might have a founders theme, quarter-of-a-century theme, or heroes theme.

How many events or occasions do you want to have? How can you convert them into one of your existing Benevon events, like your Point of Entry^® Events, Ask Event^™, or Free Feel-Good Cultivation Events^™? Is this the time to announce the launch of a capital or endowment campaign?

If you have been using the model successfully over time, you should have a ready supply of committed mission-focused donors who will be delighted to participate in your events or support your campaign. Just be sure to keep it all mission-focused—don't get sidetracked into entertaining people as your sole purpose.

A big anniversary can be a wonderful opportunity to bring in an important speaker on your topic: a top researcher in your field or a celebrity champion of your cause. It's a great time to have a little fun, maybe even poke fun at yourselves. Insert a Point of Entry element into each occasion, giving people some Myth-Buster Facts about your accomplishments and a wonderful Visionary Leader^™ Talk about the past, present, and exciting future ahead. Share some engaging insider anecdotes and testimonials so that people remember the way your work changes lives every day. And remember, unless it's an Ask Event, don't ask for money.

Retirement of founder or executive director. This is a great opportunity for a special fundraising effort or campaign. Regardless of people's sentiments about the person who is retiring, they will want to honor the person and/or celebrate the entrance of the new person. (Of course, since you have been using the model for awhile, you know that the real allegiance of your supporters is to your mission, not to any one individual.)

Here is a suggested scenario:

At an Ask Event one year prior to the person's actual retirement (assuming the news of the retirement can be announced this far in advance), announce the retirement and say something like, "Our founder (or CEO) would like nothing more than to leave here knowing that our funding is secured into the future. You will be hearing more about a special endowment fund we are setting up in honor of Marlene's twenty-seven years of service, called the Legacy Fund."

After the Ask Event, have some of your Multiple-Year Donors host private Point of Re-Entry Events for these existing donors in their homes or offices to talk about the new endowment fund and share your dream of reaching $__ million dollars before Marlene's retirement next year. Then follow up individually, answering their questions and continuing to cultivate these donors one-on-one, until they are ready to be asked to give.

At Marlene's retirement banquet a year later, you can announce the amount raised for the Legacy Fund and perhaps have some of the new donors speak about why they chose to fund it—to carry on Marlene's legacy.

Moving into a new building. This is a wonderful opportunity for a series of recognition and celebration events, as well as Point of Entry Events to introduce new people to your organization. Think through in advance all the people who need to be recognized at this event—everyone from the contractor to the company that donated the new air conditioning unit. If the building has been financed or paid for with the help of a capital campaign, those are the donors to honor at the move-in celebration. You may want to have a private move-in event, just for the inner circle of high-end donors, for you to recognize them in a smaller group first. You may also put on a bigger acknowledgment event for the entire community. The scope of the project will help you determine the scope of the recognition.

Of course other supporters of your unrestricted operational needs (as opposed to those who helped you pay for the new building) will want a private invitation to come and visit as well. You can schedule special, donor-only tours, which also serve as Point of Re-Entry Events and you should encourage them to bring friends. Insert a Visionary Leader Talk and a testimonial to remind them what their ongoing support has allowed you to do over these years. Cite statistics about the rate of growth, numbers served, and how their ongoing multi-year support gave you the financial stability and confidence to build the new home for your organization. Honor the role they played in getting you to this place.

For more information on milestone events, listen to a podcast from Terry Axelrod. (Note that this audio file is large and may take some time to download.)