Soapbox Engage Blog

As a nonprofit professional, you understand that organizations like yours host events for a variety of reasons, including fundraising, supporter engagement, and donor appreciation. Nonprofits can also host events that have another purpose: advocacy, or spreading awareness of a cause or issue related to your organization’s mission.

Although rallies are the most common and specific awareness events, there are other types of advocacy events you can run, such as hosting an educational event like a webinar or panel to help your community better understand the cause you’re advocating for. Plus, some fundraising events have advocacy as a secondary purpose, especially if they leverage peer-to-peer campaigns to grow your organization’s network.

No matter what type of event you host, the key to success is careful planning. In this guide, we’ll share four tips to help your nonprofit plan an effective advocacy event, including:

1. Set an Event Goal
2. Leverage Corporate Philanthropy Opportunities
3. Develop a Multi-Channel Marketing Strategy
4. Center Your Cause From Start to Finish

As you implement these tips, remember that events take a team to put together. Always make sure you’re communicating clearly and regularly with your staff and volunteers so everyone knows who is responsible for which tasks at any given time. Let’s get started!

1. Set an Event Goal

You’ve probably heard the saying, “Begin with the end in mind.” Before you get too caught up in figuring out the logistics of your advocacy event, take a step back and consider what you want the event to accomplish and how it will advance your cause.

Let’s say your organization is planning a bikeathon fundraiser. For your event goal, you might decide you want to:

• Attract new supporters who are interested in advocacy to your organization.
• Retain existing supporters and help them get more involved in your advocacy campaign.
• Raise funds you can put toward a program at your nonprofit that addresses the issue you’re advocating for.

How you prioritize each of these goals will depend on your overall campaign strategy. For example, if you plan to launch an online petition after your bikeathon, you may decide that your primary event goal is to attract new supporters who could sign the petition. Or, if you think improving an ongoing, relevant program through additional funding would cause community leaders to take an interest in your organization and partner with you, you might focus more on your event fundraising goal.

Additionally, make sure your event goal has specific metrics associated with it and is attainable. Review attendance numbers, fundraising data, and feedback from previous events to determine what your organization could realistically accomplish through your upcoming event. To push your event team, it can be useful to aim a little higher than you did in the past, but don’t set a goal so far above your capabilities that everyone becomes discouraged.

2. Leverage Corporate Philanthropy Opportunities

Although advocacy events bring your community together around a cause, they usually come with upfront costs. Fortunately, many businesses are happy to help offset these costs by partnering with nonprofits that share their values.

According to Re:Charity’s guide to corporate philanthropy, businesses often support nonprofit events in three main ways:

• Financial sponsorships. This type of event sponsorship involves the business making a monetary donation that you use to cover planning costs. In return, your nonprofit agrees to promote the business in your event marketing materials. For instance, you might feature their logo on event signage or post a shoutout on social media.
• In-kind donations. Rather than donating money, some businesses might prefer to supply physical items or lend their services for an event. For example, a grocery store might donate snacks and water bottles for participants in your nonprofit’s 5K race, or a graphic designer might create an event t-shirt free of charge.
• Volunteer grants. If any of your event volunteers work for companies that have volunteer grant programs, they can report the hours they spend volunteering to their employer, who will then make a monetary donation to your organization.

Leveraging corporate philanthropy opportunities for your advocacy event can also spread even more awareness about your organization and cause. By partnering with businesses, you introduce your nonprofit to their staff and customers, who might also choose to support you!

3. Develop a Multi-Channel Marketing Strategy

As soon as you confirm the date, time, and location of your advocacy event, start letting your supporters know about it so they can mark their calendars. It’s completely fine if you don’t have every detail finalized yet—you can always share more information as it becomes available.

To promote your event, leverage multiple marketing channels, such as:

• Your nonprofit’s website. Create a page dedicated to upcoming events and add a calendar of your organization’s activities so supporters can stay up to date.
• Email marketing. Mention your event in your nonprofit’s regular newsletter, in addition to sending out event-specific email blasts.
• Social media. Develop a hashtag for your event that you can use for promotional posts across your nonprofit’s social media accounts. During the event, encourage attendees to use the same hashtag when they post photos so that all event-related posts will show up when supporters search for it.
• Flyers. Whether you design print or digital flyers, make sure they’re eye-catching and include your organization’s branding. Flyers are especially helpful for attracting new, local supporters who may not have heard of your organization before but are interested in your cause.

In each of your event marketing materials, include a link or QR code to your registration form to make signing up as easy as possible. Also, track conversion rates from each channel to help you identify which ones are the most effective at grabbing supporters’ attention.

4. Center Your Cause From Start to Finish

While you focus on making your event as successful as possible, always consider how it aligns with your nonprofit’s broader community advocacy strategy. According to Grassroots Unwired, “Community advocacy is when a group, in this case your organization, represents their local community for the purposes of effecting change.”

Always make it clear how your efforts fit into your community’s efforts to create lasting change. . Here’s how you can accomplish this:

• Before the event: As you approach potential sponsors and create marketing materials, use storytelling strategies to engage your audience’s emotions and let them know why supporting your cause matters.
• During the event: Have a staff member or volunteer begin the event by reminding attendees about your cause to build excitement.
• After the event: Send thank-you messages to all participants, donors, and volunteers letting them know what the event accomplished and emphasizing that they made your success possible.

Once you’ve sent an initial thank-you email, make sure all event participants are on your organization’s regular email list. This way, you can follow up with more information about how to engage with your advocacy initiatives, such as asking them to sign an online petition, participate in a click-to-call campaign, or attend other events centered around your cause.

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With a solid plan and the right resources, advocacy events can help your nonprofit attract new supporters, engage your existing audience, and spread awareness about your cause. Setting an attainable goal, offsetting event costs through corporate philanthropy, and leveraging multi-channel marketing can all lead to a more successful event. However, the most important thing to keep in mind is how your event fits into your overall efforts to create lasting change in your community.