Schools, theaters, and organizations need funds to sustain their seasons and program offerings. Pure ticket sales don’t always cover the budget needed for future growth. Nonprofits and charities often need new ways to reach donors outside of face-to-face interactions. Online solutions such as BookTix are a popular means for elevating fundraising events. Here are a few ways organizations can expand their fundraising reach and meet their goals by using an online ticketing platform to their advantage.
Set Up Online Donations
Many organizations leave their donation options open-ended. They hand out envelopes at events or mail them to home addresses for patrons to put cash or checks in to be mailed back or hand-delivered. They leave out unsecured boxes on tables at events for people to drop donations in or rely on the postal service to deliver these needed funds. While these age-old methods do tend to yield results, they don’t have the immediacy or security that an online ticketing platform provides.
Setting up a donation platform online allows your sponsors and donors to arrive at a secure website, create an account with their credentials, and input credit card information through a processor they know they can rely on. Not only is this more efficient, but it gives people the ability to donate to your organization from any place at any time. This is imperative because some people may not be able to donate on the spot at events, but later on, they can return to a website and make that donation at their leisure with funds being reported immediately.
Sell Tickets for Galas and Auctions
Fundraising doesn’t begin and end with open-ended donations. Oftentimes organizations hold events for the sole purpose of raising money–whether it be for a charity, a space or technological upgrade, or another worthwhile cause. These fundraising events are often ticketed.
Gone are the days of hand-selling paper tickets and tracking entrants with printed lists for galas, auctions, and other fundraising gatherings. Online ticketing platforms offer you easy-to-use, low-cost solutions that remove the hassle of in-person box offices. These browser-based options allow patrons to visit a simple website, make ticket selections, process a transaction, and receive their tickets via email or phone without any intermediary. All they need to do is show up on the day of the event with that ticket to get scanned in to enjoy the festivities.
Additionally, many of these solutions allow you to pass on any processing fees or credit card fees to the patron at checkout, leaving your organization with little to no overhead cost for using the service, which is exactly what you need when looking to raise money.
Online Reports Made Easy
A major component of raising money is tracking donations. Who is the donation from? When was the donation made? What fundraising initiative was it tied to? Organizations hosting fundraising events need to be able to answer all of these questions quickly and easily.
Online ticketing solutions with donation options allow you to run reports that contain all this information and more with the click of a button from an administrative portal. Having these digitized reports handy provides you more time to focus on fundraising initiatives and less time worrying about collecting this data when you have to give presentations or calculate donation-based income.
Many online donation sites also allow you to create multiple departments within your organization account so patrons can choose specifically where their money is going. For example, let’s say your school is hosting a fundraising event for your Arts department but wants patrons to be able to select between Theater Arts and Band. You can set up two separate online donation options so patrons can make sure their money is going to the subgroup of their choice.
Why Choose BookTix for Fundraising Events?
BookTix has your back when it comes to fundraising. We understand, as former producers and practicing theater artists, that raising money is important and not a one-size-fits-all-endeavor. Join us for a demo with our knowledgeable customer support team and learn more about how BookTix has built online tools that will elevate your fundraising events.