At most fundraising events, the only person who knows how close you are to goal is whoever's watching the backend. The room itself, the people actually holding paddles and phones, has no idea whether the event is going well until someone grabs a microphone to announce it.
A live fundraising display projects your event's real-time giving progress on a screen in the room, updating as gifts come in. Instead of momentum living in a spreadsheet, it becomes something everyone at the event can see and react to as it happens.
Below, we'll cover why visible progress changes fundraising behavior at live events, walk through how Soapbox Engage Live Displays works from the donor's side, show a full setup demo, and cover best practices for building momentum on event night, whether or not you're using our tools.
In This Guide
Why Visible Progress Changes Fundraising Behavior
Fundraising at a live event is a social act. People give differently when they can see what other people are doing around them, and that's especially true when the "other people" are the entire room, not just the person at the next table. A visible, climbing total does something a silent one can't: it turns individual gifts into shared momentum.
An example of a live display: the goal, the total raised, and the room's momentum in one place.
That visibility also creates urgency. When attendees can see a goal getting closer in real time, giving stops feeling like an open-ended request and starts feeling like a moment they can be part of, or miss. That's a big part of what separates events that raise steadily throughout the night from events that rely entirely on one big ask at the end. We've written more about the mechanics of raising more money on event night and what tends to separate good fundraising events from great ones, and visible, real-time progress shows up as a common thread in both.
Recognition matters too. Donors who see their gift acknowledged in the room, even briefly, get a different kind of payoff than donors who give and hear nothing back until a thank-you email days later. A live display gives your team a simple way to close that loop in the moment, without pulling a host or emcee away from the rest of the program. We covered the launch of this feature in more detail in Introducing Live Displays for Nonprofit Events.
How Soapbox Engage Live Displays Works
Soapbox Engage Live Displays is a real-time fundraising screen you can project at your event, showing your progress toward a goal as gifts come in, alongside recent donor activity and a QR code for giving on the spot.
Here's what attendees actually see on the screen, all at once:
Shows the current total against the overall goal, giving everyone in the room a clear, shared picture of how close the event is to reaching it.
Surfaces donor activity as gifts come in, giving your team a simple way to recognize supporters and keep the energy moving as more people participate.
Labels anonymous donors without a name, while still including their gift amount, so the total and activity feed stay accurate without exposing anyone who asked not to be named.
Displays a QR code linking directly to a donation page, so someone inspired to give doesn't need to track down a link or wait for a follow-up email. They scan the code and give from their phone, right from where they're sitting.
Why this approach works: Every part of the display reinforces the same thing, that giving is happening right now, in this room, and it's working. That's a harder feeling to create with a printed thermometer poster or a mid-program announcement alone.
Watch: Feature Focus Demo
This short walkthrough from our team shows what the live display looks like in the room, plus the full setup process in the Soapbox Engage Administrator.
Soapbox Engage Feature Focus: Live Displays
How to Set Up a Live Display
Creating a live display takes place entirely in the Live Display app within the Soapbox Engage Administrator, and once it's configured, it runs from any device you connect to a projector or screen.
Step 1: Create a new fundraising display
Open the Live Display app in the Soapbox Engage Administrator, click New, and choose Fundraising. From here, add the title and subtitle you want to appear on the screen, set your fundraising goal, and choose which donation pages should contribute to the total.
Step 2: Customize the display and enable the QR code
Customize the display with your organization's logo, font, and background color so it matches your event branding. Then select the donation page you want the QR code to open, and turn on the QR code display so attendees can give directly from the screen.
Step 3: Save, copy the URL, and go live
Once everything is set, save the live display and copy its URL. Open that URL on the device connected to your projector or event screen, and the display is live. You're live. 🎉
If your event also collects offline gifts, like checks or cash your team enters manually, you can include those in the display too, so the total and donor stream reflect the whole event, not just online giving.
Live Displays is built into Soapbox Engage and pulls from donation pages that sync to Salesforce in real time, so your event total stays accurate without manual reconciliation.
Best Practices for Event-Night Fundraising Momentum
Whether or not you're using Soapbox Engage, these principles apply broadly to keeping a room engaged in fundraising throughout a live event.
Put the display somewhere everyone can see it
A screen tucked in a corner of the room does far less than one placed where the whole audience naturally looks, near the stage, the bar, or wherever attention already gathers during the program.
Remove friction between inspiration and giving
The moment someone feels moved to give is often brief. A QR code that opens a donation page directly, rather than sending attendees to search for a link, captures more of those moments before they pass.
Set a goal that's ambitious but visibly reachable
A goal that feels impossible discourages giving late in the event. A goal that's already met by the time guests arrive removes the motivation to keep going. Aim for a number the room can realistically watch itself reach.
Have your host reference the display directly
A live display works best paired with a host or emcee who calls attention to it, noting progress toward the goal or recognizing a wave of recent gifts, rather than leaving the screen to speak entirely for itself.
Capture offline gifts too
If your event accepts cash or check donations, get them entered as close to real time as possible. A total that only reflects online gifts undersells what the room has actually raised and can dampen momentum unnecessarily.
Live displays tend to matter most at the events where visibility is hardest to create organically, larger galas, multi-room venues, or events with a lot happening at once. Our post on how live displays help community centers raise more at events and galas covers a few examples of that in practice. And if you're building out your event fundraising plan more broadly, our complete gala planning checklist is a useful starting point for where a live display fits alongside the rest of the program.
A live display won't replace a strong appeal or a compelling cause. But it gives the room something a spreadsheet never can: proof, in real time, that the fundraising is working and that they're part of it. For events built around momentum, that's hard to replicate any other way.
Bring Real-Time Fundraising Into the Room
Soapbox Engage Live Displays projects your event's progress live, recognizes donors as they give, and includes QR code giving, all synced to Salesforce in real time.
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