Articles
Fundraising tactics, success stories & interviews.
Event Planning
How to Pick the Right Auction Software for Your Fundraising Event: Free Isn't Always Free
A volunteer-run nonprofit picked a free platform for its gala. The software quietly took over $12,000 in fees from donors and delivered zero support. Here's what to ask before that's you.
Event Planning
Gala Event Planning: How to Fix the Guest Experience Gap
After 2,000-plus galas, Rob Giardinelli says most nonprofits are optimizing the wrong hour of the night. Here's what actually shapes whether guests remember your event.
Donor Relations
How to Build a Donor Profile Before Your Next Fundraising Gala
Most nonprofits know almost nothing about the guests filling their gala's seats. Here's how one auction platform founder builds a real donor profile before the event even starts.
Fundraising
Small Nonprofit Fundraising Ideas: How to Raise Money Without Burning Out Your Team
Renee Zau has worked countless fundraising events and still sees the same time-waster everywhere: nonprofits starting from scratch every year. Here's what to fix first.
Board Development
How to Build a Nonprofit Board That Actually Fundraises (100% Give Rate)
Christy Casey-Moore's board doesn't just show up to meetings — every single member gives or gets. Here's the exact system behind a 100% participation rate and a $1.2 million gala.
Fundraising
Gala Planning Mistakes: What Two Charity Auctioneers Want You to Fix First
One auctioneer tripled a $400,000 goal by refusing to put a lid on the ask. The other says most nonprofits spend six months planning a dinner instead of a fundraiser. Here's what they'd fix first.
Fundraising
The Easiest $10K You Can Add to Your Next Fundraising Event
A $100 raffle for a choice of trips, sold out in 72 hours, before the event even started. Here's the exact playbook one nonprofit used to add $10,000 with almost no extra staff time.
Fundraising
Here's What Actually Makes Donors Give More at Your Gala
After fifteen years chronicling more than 2,000 galas across Texas, Rob Giardinelli has a clear answer for what actually moves donors to give more, and it has almost nothing to do with the venue or the menu.
Board Development
How to Get Board Members to Fundraise (Without the Awkward Ask)
Board development expert Elise Woodworth has one rule that sounds backwards: never say the word fundraising to your board. Her champions elevator pitch exercise turns a reluctant board into engaged advocates without ever asking them to make an awkward call.
Auction Strategy
Silent Auction Mistakes that are Costing Your Nonprofit Revenue
HelloFund founder Phil Sanger has seen hundreds of silent auctions, and his biggest complaint isn't about pricing or platforms. It's an ordinary espresso machine sitting where a real fundraising opportunity should be. Here's why fewer, better items outraise a crowded table every time.
Donor Relations
Donor Follow-Up: The Fundraising Step Most Nonprofits Skip
Philanthropic advisor Brittany Morrison has one blunt diagnosis for why so many nonprofits struggle to grow giving: they treat donors like transactions, then let the relationship go cold the Monday after the event. Here's her fix, and why the door you left cracked open last year is still waiting to be pushed.
Event Planning
The Hollywood Playbook for Fundraising Galas: Writing Your Gala "Script"
A former Hollywood art director who worked with Ridley Scott and David Fincher explains why your gala needs a script, not just a seating chart — and why you should never say "thank you" the night of the event.
Event Planning
How to Market a Fundraising Event: One System, Every Channel
One event planner had built 85 marketing assets for a single gala, all off one branded system — and that consistency is exactly why her events run smoothly. Auctria's Laurie Hochman explains how one message, repeated everywhere, beats reinventing your marketing for every channel.
Fundraising
Corporate Sponsorship for Nonprofits: Why Sponsors Go Quiet
Most nonprofits propose marriage on the first date with corporate sponsors — pitching for dollars before there's even a relationship. Growth Owl founder Lori Zoss Kraska breaks down the real courtship process, from the first ask to the year-long timeline sponsors actually need to say yes.
Event Planning
Nonprofit Gala Check-In: Stop Losing Donors at the Door
Your auctioneer isn't the first touchpoint at your gala — the person checking guests in is. C2 Auctions' Chris O'Shea and Livia Christensen break down the staffing ratios, guest-list habits, and payment prep that turn a chaotic check-in line into a seamless one.
Auction Strategy
How to Sell Multiples at Your Live Auction (Without Losing Paddle Raise Money)
The 3-step method and one specific phrase top auctioneers use to sell the same live auction item dozens of times without cutting into your paddle raise.
Event Planning
How to Choose a Charity Auctioneer (Avoid This Common Mistake)
Four nonprofits told auctioneer Jordan Agolli the exact same thing about their last gala, independently, in the same season: their MC cared more about themselves than the mission. Here's his two-name rule and the other habits that keep the spotlight where it belongs.
Event Planning
How to Get Celebrities Involved in Your Nonprofit Event (Without an Agent or a Budget)
Afam Onyema of the GEANCO Foundation has brought Oprah, Daniel Craig, and Prince Harry into his fundraising events — without ever asking one of them for a check. Here's how he built those relationships, what to actually ask a celebrity for, and why "access" beats "autograph" every time.
Auction Strategy
7 Silent Auction Sponsorship Ideas that Match What the Sponsors Actually Want
Most nonprofits pitch every sponsor the same package: a logo and a thank-you. But a restaurant, a realtor, and a construction company all want something different out of your event. Here are 7 ways to match the sponsorship to the sponsor — plus the one placement almost nobody uses that gets noticed the most.
Auction Strategy
7 Auction Software Tips Every Nonprofit Should Know
Morgan "Mo" Hughes has set up hundreds of nonprofit auctions, and she's seen every way the software can go sideways. Here are 7 things she tells every client — from picking a platform with real support, to using texting for urgency, to fixing cold items live during the event.
School Fundraising
Getting Your School Fundraiser Seen
Sending the perfect fundraiser email isn't the problem - getting anyone to open it is. Here's how QR codes, text reminders, and in-person prompts help schools get noticed without sending a single extra email.
Auction Strategy
Auction Item Procurement: Build a System That Doesn't Start From Scratch
You don't have a procurement problem — you have a system problem. Here's how to build an auction item pipeline that gets easier every year, not harder.
Auction Strategy
How to Package Silent Auction Items That Drive Bids
Your silent auction table isn't short on items — it's short on packaging that makes people stop and bid. Here's how to fix that.
Nonprofit Management
Why Your $200K Nonprofit Will Always Be a $200K Nonprofit: The Overhead Truth No One Will Tell You
A founder told James his nonprofit's overhead was 7%. He told them to triple it. Here's the reinvestment math most nonprofit leaders were never allowed to run — and the 90-day plan to fix it.
Event Planning
What to Talk to Your Auctioneer About Before the Event
Your auctioneer is the most important person in the room on event night. Here's every conversation you need to have with them before you walk into that ballroom.
Fundraising
What If You Don't Know Any Wealthy Donors? How Nonprofits Can Find New Fundraising Prospects
Think you don't know anyone with money to support your nonprofit? Learn how to identify ideal donor prospects, tap into existing networks, and build a stronger fundraising pipeline.
Auction Strategy
The Nonprofit's Guide to Consignment Auction Items
If you’re a fundraiser who has organized a nonprofit event, you know how much work (and stress) goes into filling your auction tables.…
School Fundraising
5 Reasons Why School Auctions Underperform
The gym was full. Parents dressed up. The football coach kept the room laughing. By the end of the night, everyone agreed the annual dinner auction was a success — until the treasurer checked the numbers on Monday.After expenses, fees, and credit card costs, the “biggest fundrais…
Fundraising
4 Words to Secure Pre-Committed Dollars | Fundraising Tips
Fundraising is not getting easier. It’s getting harder. But there’s still tremendous opportunity to secure pre-committed dollars if you know where to focus your energy.On a recent Hey Nonprofits! live webinar, Keith McLane—founder of KLMAuctions and one of the West Coast’s most e…
Event Planning
18 Gala Theme Ideas | Fundraising Event Ideas for Nonprofits
Choosing the right theme for your gala can make the difference between a forgettable evening and one that inspires donors, energizes your community, and raises more money for your cause.…
Nonprofit Management
3 Common Sources of Organizational Tension (and how to handle it)
This guest post is provided by Elise Woodworth from Woodworth Enterprises.Nonprofit leaders feel tension long before they can name it. A board meeting that feels “off.” A team that’s suddenly quieter. A project that keeps stalling.…
Fundraising
The Magic Number That Could Change Your Fundraising Forever
What if I told you there’s a single data point, one number, that predicts whether a donor will become a lifelong supporter of your organization better than anything else?Not their wealth. Not their giving history.…
Auction Strategy
The Vacation Station: A Smarter Silent Auction Strategy
If you’ve ever held a silent auction, you know how much of a grind it can be. You spend months soliciting donated goods, hauling baskets, writing descriptions, and setting up tables — often to raise funds that barely cover the effort.…
School Fundraising
How Incarnate Word Academy Raised $10,000 With One Raffle
When the Incarnate Word Academy gala committee decided to add a Golden Ticket raffle to their fundraising event, they generated a buzz that had guests asking if there could be more than one winner.…
Fundraising
Paddle Raise vs. Fund a Need: What's the Difference?
In the world of nonprofit fundraising events, few terms are used more casually — or more interchangeably — than paddle raise and fund a need.…
Fundraising
The $26,000 Fundraising Idea That Takes 3 Minutes
(And Why Your Next Event Needs a Paddle Drop)So picture this: It’s a Saturday afternoon, and I’m getting a text from Chris Hensley, one of the most brilliant fundraising auctioneers we know. He needs help sourcing an exotic trip package for an event that night.…
Fundraising
The Easiest Way to Find New Donors - Nonprofit Tips
(How one fundraiser added 100 new prospects in 72 hours)If you’re a fundraiser, you know this truth: Finding new donors is the hardest part of the job.You can steward existing donors all day long.…
Fundraising
How to Break Fundraising Records in 2026 - Nonprofits
For non-profits, record years mean that you can help more people or start new programs to help the same people in more ways. That is why at HGAFundraising, we are passionate about helping non-profits maximize the money they raise. A new year often means new fundraising goals.…
Fundraising
The Time to Raise More Money is Now | Fundraising in 2026
Often when we work with non-profit organizations to help them create a plan to raise more money for their cause, they discuss implementing the plan next year or the ever-elusive “later.” Many people are feeling the financial squeeze right now, but the top 10% are not.…
Auction Strategy
Why Trips Outperform Other Auction Items in 2025
By Trevor Nelson, Co-founder of HGA FundraisingThe rubber band effectDuring the pandemic, people lost travel, adventure, and shared experiences.…
Fundraising
7 Ways to Grow Sustainable Giving at Your Next Event
Guest article by Dave Raley, Author of The Rise of Sustainable Giving and Host of the Sustainable Giving Podcast Events are one of the most effective channels for growing consistent monthly giving.…
Fundraising
How to Identify Major Donors at Your Event - Nonprofit Tips
A great fundraising event does more than just raise money and celebrate your mission.When executed with thoughtfulness, it can quickly become your most powerful tool for identifying, engaging, and cultivating the next wave of mid-level and major donors.How a Well-Executed Fundrai…
Fundraising
Re-Engage Lapsed Major Donors: Strategies to Win Back Support
If one of your major donors cut their gift in half (or stopped giving entirely) would you know why?In a recent episode of the Hey Nonprofits! podcast, fundraising expert Trisha Brauer shared a jaw-dropping story:A billionaire donor who once gave $500,000 to an organization droppe…
Fundraising
The Golden Ticket Raffle: Raise $10K+ by Selling 100 Tickets
Fundraising event demographics have been changing in recent years.With Gen Z and Millennial donors rapidly becoming the majority, the ways in which they donate have become more ‘selective’—meaning it’s more important than ever to find new and exciting opportunities for them to gi…
Auction Strategy
Top 17 Silent Auction Basket Ideas to Get Higher Bids
What are Silent Auction Baskets?Silent auction gift baskets are prearranged collections of items that participants bid on, often anonymously. An auction basket is typically filled with themed items, making each basket a unique treasure.…
Fundraising
Our Top 10 Favorite Nonprofit Webinars
Welcome to our countdown of the top 10 webinars we’ve hosted! Over the years, we’ve had the pleasure of diving deep into a variety of topics, sharing insights, and engaging with passionate individuals.…
Fundraising
5 Ways to Raise More Money for Your Nonprofit Immediately
Raise more money for your cause at your upcoming fundraising event with these 5 revenue enhancers. These revenue enhancers require almost no extra resources but are fun ways to raise more money for your non-profit.…
Volunteer Management
7 Strategies to Maximize the Potential of Your Volunteers
If your organization relies on volunteers, ensuring you’re getting the most out of their time and contributions is essential. Volunteers can be invaluable assets, and maximizing their potential is critical to achieving your goals and ultimately doing more for your mission.…
Fundraising
Underwriting Opportunities for Your Fundraising Event
If you’re using underwriting just to cover the costs for your fundraising event, then you are leaving revenue on the table. Underwriting aspects of your charity event is a great way to raise money ahead of your fundraising gala.…
Event Planning
Create a Fundraising Event Schedule that Maximizes Success
We often discuss adding revenue enhancers to your fundraising event to raise more money for your nonprofit. But did you know that your fundraising event schedule can impact how much money you raise for your cause? We have seen non-profits reduce the funds they could’ve raised bec…
Fundraising
Raise More Money Through Efficient Fundraising
At HGAFundraising, we are always looking for ways to make fundraising more efficient and effective so that non-profits of all sizes can raise as much as possible for their cause.…
Fundraising
How to Ask Fortune 500 Companies to Donate to Your Cause
Fortune 500 companies have budgets dedicated to philanthropy and social responsibility. They are actively looking to sponsor non-profits.…
Fundraising
How to Maximize Your Nonprofit's Pre-Event Fundraising
Pre-event fundraising for your non-profit organization is about more than just selling tables. Not every possible donor will want to buy a table they have to fill, and selling tables means you can’t qualify who is at your event.…
Board Development
How to Motivate Nonprofit Board Members - 4 Quick Tips
Everybody keeps asking us how they can get their nonprofit board members motivated. We recently put the question to Randle Lee, our Board Development and Fundraising Specialist.…
Fundraising
How to Prepare Your Donors to Give
Donors are unlikely to drop incredible amounts of money on a whim. If you want donations of $20,000, $50,000, or even higher, you need to prepare them to give.…
Volunteer Management
How Volunteers Can Help Create Successful Fundraising Events
Volunteers are a vital part of non-profits, especially when it comes to organizing and running successful events. Recently Mark West with HGAFundraising interviewed Mike Wilson with Ducks Unlimited about how to harness the skills of volunteers on your event committees and sub-com…
Fundraising
Turn Your Committee Into Fundraising Assets | Nonprofit Tips
Non-profit committees can be your secret fundraising weapon if used correctly. Committees and boards are often comprised of people who are well-connected and highly respected in their community.…
Fundraising
How to Boost Recurring Donations - From a Real Example
It seems like almost every cost in our lives can be offered as a subscription service, so why not charitable donations? Recurring donations allow your donors to give to your non-profit organization on a monthly basis, making it more convenient for them to give.…
Fundraising
Make It Easy for Your Donors to Give
At HGAFundraising, we go out of our way to make it as easy as possible for folks to work with us, and we encourage non-profits to do the same. When you look at donors on a fundamental level, they are consumers. Consumers like convenience.…
Donor Relations
Mastering Communication Styles - Connect With Your Donors
Communicating with people who do not match your communication style can often lead to tension in board meetings and reluctance to speak to a certain donor.…
Fundraising
How to Raise Money for a Nonprofit - Raise an Extra $20k
Every nonprofit has at least an extra $20,000 sitting in their board members’ phones that they aren’t accessing. We’ve talked in the past about how the most valuable thing your board members bring to the table is their connections.…
Auction Strategy
7 Ways to Turbocharge Your Silent Auction
Silent auctions are a popular element of fundraising events. They allow you to carefully curate the items in your live auction and offer opportunities for your more reserved donors to bid on items without calling attention to themselves.…
Professional Development
The 4 Rules of Self-Care for the Nonprofit World
It is easy to view self-care as selfish, especially in the non-profit world where we spend so much time and energy giving to others. However, non-profit fundraising is a difficult job. It is challenging physically, emotionally, and mentally.…
Auction Strategy
Turn Your Silent Auction into a Major Revenue Generator
If we could give every single non-profit preparing for a fundraising event one piece of advice, it would be this: Don’t underestimate your silent auction.…
Fundraising
15 Fundraising Strategies to Maximize Nonprofit Revenue
Navigating the world of nonprofit fundraising can often feel like a tightrope walk between what’s heartfelt and what’s financially smart.…
Fundraising
Think Big: Reverse Engineer Your Best Revenue Yet
The non-profit sector has changed a lot in the last few years. We’re starting to see the average donor age come down, and there are a lot of new people in roles.…
Fundraising
How to Create Donor Profiles Post-Fundraising Event
At a recent fundraising event, an organization sold 9 of our 6-adult Tuscany Villa packages for $10,000 each, netting $45,000. That’s a dream come true for many non-profits.…
Fundraising
5 Nonprofit Revenue Generators for Your Next Event
Our friend Mark West sat down with professional auctioneer Micki Pickering to discuss simple ways that non-profits could generate revenue at their fundraising events.…
Fundraising
Year-End Donor Asks That Actually Work
Year-end donor asks are popular in the non-profit world as a final push to meet revenue goals and to connect with donors, so you are on their minds when they’re looking at next year’s budget.…
Fundraising
3 Fundraising Strategies to Add Thousands to Your Event
The money you raise at non-profit fundraising events dictates the amount of good you can do for your cause. Keep reading to learn about 3 fundraising strategies that will increase the amount of money you raise at your fundraising event.…
Auction Strategy
How to Get the Most Out of Your Auction Items in 2026
ValueA good way to increase the money your non-profit makes on live and silent auction items is to not advertise the item’s value.…
Fundraising
The 3 C's for Successful Fundraising
We’ve met a lot of non-profit professionals, all with different talents and personalities. There are 3 things that all the successful fundraisers we’ve met have in common, and it is not their sales skills.The 3 C’s of successful fundraising for non-profits are:CompetitionCreativi…