Events With Benefits® Podcast

Experts in the fundraising arena, Renee Zau, Danny Hooper, and Ian Lauth, have pooled their nonprofit expertise to create an educational podcast called Events with Benefits®. Covering topics related to nonprofits and fundraising, the podcast steps inside the world of event fundraising, seeking to provide insights to event planners, nonprofit staff, and volunteers. The episodes are designed to assist nonprofit organizations in achieving success with fundraising events and raising money.

The Events with Benefits podcast episodes are each 30 to 40 minutes in length, allowing listeners to gain quick access to new ideas for future events. Episodes feature special guests from many backgrounds within the nonprofit industry, who share their personal experiences and lessons learned. Listeners can subscribe, stream or download the podcast episodes, which are available on iTunes and at EventswithBenefits.com

One of the most popular episodes is #6: Thinking Big with Noah McMahon, Founder and CEO of Anonymous.  McMahon, who specializes in holding multi-million dollar events, explains his 3 building blocks for having a lasting relationship with donors and event sponsors, in order to multiply the impact of funds raised.  He also shares many extremely helpful event planning tips.  

Meet the Podcast Hosts:

• Renee Zau, CEO & Co-founder of DonationMatch.com, has personally worked on over 50 charity events and mentored over 100 business owners.  She personally has experienced and understands the frustrations and challenges that people face during the in-kind donation process.    

• Benefit auctioneer Danny Hooper has had an award-winning career through thousands of on-stage performances and the creation of Danny Hooper Productions.  He has also had experience as a recording artist, motivational speaker, comic emcee, and celebrity benefits auctioneer.

• Ian Lauth, VP of Marketing at Winspire, works for a company that provides unique experiences for charity auctions or fundraisers, allowing users to place exclusive travel packages into their charity auctions.  

Infographic - Where Are We Now?

If you saw our original infographic on Pinterest, you'll notice it was released in 2012, when DonationMatch was just over a year old. Apparently the statistics and data are still appealing, as it continues to be our most popular pin, but the numbers are frankly a bit outdated. So, it's with great pleasure that we share updated results. Congratulations to the schools, charities, businesses, and brands who made these win-win connections!  

Many thanks to Bella Vidaña for contributing to this infographic's creation.

Newest Facebook Update + Our Cheat Sheet To Boost Benefits of "Thank You" Posts

By Renee Zau, Co-founder & CEO, DonationMatch According to Mashable,

"Beginning Tuesday [February 25, 2014], when a Page tags a separate brand or celebrity Page in a post, that content may surface for followers of both Pages. For example, if Mashable posts a story to Facebook and tags Google's Page, the post could now appear in News Feed for both Mashable fans and Google fans."

This is AWESOME news for all our members who are on Facebook, and a great reason to announce one of DonationMatch's upcoming features: social media "cheat sheets." Starting in March, event organizers will be emailed a list of  Twitter and Facebook accounts of companies from whom they received donations through DonationMatch to be able to easily tag/mention and thank them in posts! No more searching for accounts.

How does the Facebook update tie in to our cheat sheets? It means that a nonprofit's Facebook Page post tagging a donor may be seen by followers of BOTH the company and nonprofit's Pages. The company's fans could see the company they like being charitable, and the organization's fans could be introduced to a company that supports their favored cause. WIN-WIN!

We've seen more and more socially savvy event organizers engaging with donors (like this recent series of Twitter thank-you's by Spirit of Sharing), and companies are noticing. Sure, giving back to the community can be reward in itself, but publicly thanking them, raising their visibility, and making charitable companies more successful means that they will be able to continue donating for years to come.

Not sure how to tag/mention a Business in a post/tweet? Check out the simple instructions on Facebook and Twitter.

Again, we're VERY excited to be soon adding this unique "cheat sheet" reminder that will benefit our nonprofit and donor brands/business members alike and expect it to further help amplify the good you are all doing together.

In what unique ways have you publicly thanked your donors, or been thanked?