Gala ROI: Is Your Fundraising Event Still Worth It?

The Question Everyone's Afraid to Ask Out Loud

Every event professional eventually hears some version of it, usually whispered after a disappointing night: is this still worth doing? HGA Fundraising co-founder and CEO Jason Ledlow gets asked constantly, and his answer starts with a story about a mentor rather than a spreadsheet. "There's a gentleman that I had the privilege of getting to work with. His name's Doug Gibson," Jason says. Gibson, a longtime CEO for Boys & Girls Club in Oklahoma, put it this way: "If you were to look at the hours spent, the money returned, all those things, a lot of people would say it's not worth doing it. But here's the one thing — there's no other time that you're going to be able to have all these donors, all these supporters, all the people that care, contribute, and help your organization together. That one time."

Jason is unambiguous about where he lands. "There's no part of me that says, 'Oh gosh, I don't think you should have a fundraiser.' That's where our business is built on that. So we're obviously pro having fundraisers and galas." But he's equally clear that the math and the mindset behind most events need an overhaul. "I think the times have changed, and the ROI is going to be more than just the dollars. But the dollars are important."

The ROI Isn't Only the Dollars

Pressed on what "more than the dollars" means, Jason points to what a gala does that no digital campaign or year-round outreach can replicate: it surfaces donors nobody knew existed. "This is a way to bring in new donors. This is the way to learn about who has capacity that maybe you didn't know that has capacity. How many times — I can't tell you how many times in the past 30 years — somebody shows up that nobody knew who they were and they spend $10,000 or 15 or 20."

He connects this directly to the language nonprofits use around donor development. "People are talking about donor development, donor development — what's the other word that it's used? Stewardship." His point lands with a bit of humor: "Well, who are you going to steward if you don't have a ship? You've got to have somebody to start with, and this is a great way to do that." The event is the introduction. What an organization does with that introduction afterward is a separate skill — but without the event, there's no relationship to build on in the first place.

Pre-Event Fundraising Is the Real Indicator

Jason's coaching sessions circle back to one number more than any other. "The number one indicator of your success of your event is pre-event fundraising. Number one." His benchmark: walk into the room with 70% of the goal already committed through sponsorships, underwriting, and pre-event pledges, and the night is close to guaranteed. "If you walk into the room with 70% of your goal raised, you're going to hit your goal. It's almost 100% — it's almost guaranteed at that point."

That threshold has climbed over the years. "Used to, I'd say it about 50%, but events are different than what they were 20 years ago," he says. Guest attention spans have shortened, the format has compressed, and the room simply won't sit still for the marathon galas of a couple decades ago. "You've only got, you know, an hour of fundraising." When that much of the night's revenue rides on a single hour, the pre-event work isn't optional — it's the whole ballgame. And once 70% is locked in, the sequencing questions that consume so much planning time — fund-a-need first or live auction first — stop mattering nearly as much. "Those things mean less. They're less important if you have 70% of your money raised."

Mini takeaway: If 70% of your goal is committed before the doors open, the sequencing decisions everyone agonizes over barely move the needle.

The Fix Is Simply Asking for More

Asked how nonprofits actually reach that 70% mark, Jason doesn't complicate it. "Ask for more money. The number one place that I see that people are missing out on is they're not asking for enough." He walks through a real coaching example: a nonprofit whose true cost per attendee ran about $400, while its ticket price sat at $275. A table buyer paying $5,000 for a table of ten — $500 a head — was effectively subsidizing the $275 guests. "That didn't make any sense to me," he says. "This is a fundraiser, not a fun raiser. We want to have fun — that's really important — but at the end of the day, we're here to make money."

Jason illustrates the pricing gap with his own weeknight out: dinner and a show with his wife, two entrees split, a few glasses of wine, came to $183 before tip — for one evening, no dessert, no live entertainment, no auction. Compare that to what a typical gala guest receives for $200 to $275: unlimited drinks, a full dinner course, dessert, live entertainment, and an experience they can't replicate anywhere else. "They can't go do that, replicate that night, anywhere else," he says. The organization Jason describes that grew from a smaller, well-funded gathering to 600–700 attendees who "have dresses on and tuxes" but bring little net revenue is his cautionary tale — a room can look like a triumph and still lose money.

The same logic applies to major gift sponsors. Jason's advice: ask for meaningfully more than a sponsor gave last time, not the same number dressed up in new language. "I was talking to some wonderful people yesterday, and I said, 'What's the most you've ever got?' They told me. I said, 'What's the most you've ever asked for?' Same number. Ask for more." One nonprofit he coached had never asked past $25,000 for a top sponsorship. He told them to ask for $50,000 instead — and not only did they land it, a second donor who'd been giving $15,000 volunteered to move up to the newly vacated $25,000 tier. "He said, 'Now that you've raised your stuff, I can give more, because I have a quirk — I just can't be the top guy.'"

Mini takeaway: Sponsors who feel like second place often step up the moment first place gets more expensive.

Fewer Guests, More Giving: Rethinking Gala Attendance

Jason pushes back hard on the instinct to chase headcount. "I've seen more money raised with a group of a hundred people, 50 couples, than with 500 people, 250 couples." A guest paying $275 who spends nothing else during the night — trackable through modern event software — is, in his framing, actually costing the organization money once staffing, catering, and overhead are factored in. "It's better that they don't come," he says, acknowledging how counterintuitive that sounds. "I know that sounds like, well, we want people to come, we want to have a crowd." But a full room of underfunded guests dilutes the event rather than strengthening it.

Stop Chasing Institutions — Look for Individuals

The conversation turned practical when a nonprofit leader in the audience — Amy, from Ronald McDonald House — described a corporate sponsor cutting its gift from $25,000 to $2,500 due to federal funding cuts. Jason's redirect was immediate: "The first thing that I would do, and I can tell you what I would do, Amy, is I would stop looking at institutions and start looking at individuals. There's 50 to one of there's more individuals out there that can write you a check for $10,000 and not miss it than there are companies."

He backed it with his own experience at Ronald McDonald House in Oklahoma City, where the top annual donor wasn't a corporation but a single individual. "Thanks a lot for showing up and showing out," Jason told him. The donor's reply stuck with him: "Oh, heck, Jason, I'm too damn old and too damn rich." That donor wasn't waiting to be found — he was looking for a place to put his money and simply needed the right invitation. Losing one institutional sponsor isn't a crisis, Jason argues; it's a prompt to look at the twenty-five other relationships already sitting in the organization's orbit, including donors who might be ready to move up from a second-tier gift if asked directly.

A Social Media Post Will Not Fill the Room

When it comes to actually getting capacity donors in the door, Jason is dismissive of the most common default. "A post on social media is not going to get it done. You can have the greatest mission, have the best staff, have the best outcomes with your clients, but if you're putting it on social media thinking you're going to fill up your room, it's not going to happen." His replacement strategy: "It's who we know. Who we know is right here in the most powerful fundraising tool — it is your phone."

The reason boards and committees resist making those calls, in Jason's experience, isn't apathy. "What I see is the reason that they don't is because they don't know what to say." His fix is a messaging exercise he runs on nearly every coaching call: distill the mission into ten words or less, and give every board member, volunteer, and staffer the exact same language to use. "Can everybody, I don't care who it is — if you have 27 different services that you provide, we can still distill it down into something 10 words or less. That's the exercise." Without that consistency, three different board members asked to describe the mission in a meeting will give three different answers — and none of them will sound confident enough to ask a friend for money.

Once the language is standardized, the ask itself changes shape. "Then it's really simple. Then when they call somebody, they're not calling asking them for money," Jason explains. A call becomes an invitation: mention the mission, mention the need, and let the conversation about capacity happen naturally. If someone can't attend, pivot to underwriting immediately rather than letting the relationship end. "My biggest thing is don't disappoint. Don't disappoint them," he adds — meaning the asker shouldn't be the one who chickens out of a conversation their contact was ready to have.

Mini takeaway: Give every board member the identical ten-word version of your mission. Consistency turns a nervous ask into a natural invitation.

Boards Without Skin in the Game Don't Fundraise

The conversation's sharpest turn came when a nonprofit leader described her board expecting free tables while contributing little in return. Jason didn't soften his response. "You know why they expect a table for free? You know why they're not raising any money? Cuz they've got no skin in the game. And I'm going to tell you right now, if your board is not giving and your board is not funding your mission, they need to be off. You've got to get rid of them."

He frames board service around two core responsibilities beyond governance: hire and oversee the executive leadership, and raise money. "That's it. They're there to raise money. But what happens is they get caught up in the routine, because we allow it — as professional fundraisers, executive directors, board presidents, we allow this culture to take hold. They show up, they have a cookie, they vote on some stuff, and they'll talk about whether the color should be purple instead of blue." Jason has run the audit himself in board meetings: ask how many of twelve members actually give, and the number is often three. "That's why they got to go."

His recommended move for a stalled board isn't a passive-aggressive email — it's a direct conversation about legal and financial responsibility. "Do you realize if this place gets sued, that you're going to be named in the lawsuit? Do you realize you're legally responsible? What if this thing goes bankrupt — do you know you're going to be named in the bankruptcy?" Most board members, he says, have never heard this framing. Once they understand oversight without funding is an incomplete job, the conversation about giving becomes much easier to have.

So, Is It Worth It?

Closing the conversation, Jason doesn't hedge. "My take is it's worth it. Yes, it is worth it. Is it going to be easy? Absolutely not. But this is the business. This is the life that we chose." Trevor Nelson, HGA co-founder and host, adds the honest caveat that applies to any event that isn't hitting its numbers: "A less-than-optimal fundraiser — one that doesn't hit the goal — takes just as much time and effort as one that does. There's not one that's easier than the other." In other words, the labor is fixed either way. The only real variable is whether an organization does the pre-event work that turns that labor into results.

Jason's closing encouragement is aimed squarely at leaders who feel like they're rowing alone. "You can start changing the momentum with them. It's not going to happen in a day, it's not going to probably even happen in a year. But there are some steps that you can take to positively start turning the ship and getting them engaged." The discomfort of asking for more, restructuring board expectations, or pricing tickets honestly is real — but it's the price of admission for an event that actually moves the mission forward instead of just filling a calendar date.

Insights in this article are drawn from the Hey Nonprofits! LIVE episode “Gala ROI: Is It Still Worth It?”, featuring HGA Fundraising co-founders Jason Ledlow and Trevor Nelson.