Rob Johnson, TV News Anchor, Journalist, and Active Awareness and Fundraising Personality, Talks About Virtual Fundraising
In this episode of the Healthcare Consultants Podcast, Rob Johnson, the TV journalist and founder of Rob Johnson Communications, talks about solutions to the challenges of fundraising and raising awareness for important causes in a virtual environment, during the pandemic and moving forward. This program is hosted by the Chicago Health Law Firm of Michael V. Favia & Associates, P.C.
Rob Johnson works directly with non-profit organizations holding high-quality virtual events, recorded, and produced to work around the challenges of not being able to hold in-person events.
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Virtual Fundraisers for Non-Profits:
- Virtual Ways to Create Content and Raise Money
- What Makes for Quality Content of Value in Fundraising
- Pivoting to Adapt to Conditions Beyond Our Control
- Challenges and Solutions in Setting up Virtual Events
- Welcoming a New Extended World of Supporters
Some Takeaways and Ideas in the Podcast About Virtual Fundraising and Challenges
Rob talks about how COVID-19 affected everyone’s ability to host and run successful fundraisers. This is a real problem for many charitable organizations that rely on fundraising money to maintain their operations and support their beneficiaries. He stresses the importance of keeping your supporters engaged and active in donating, which is very difficult when you cannot have in-person events.
The people on boards of directors might be discussing what other groups are doing, including virtual events. The initial response to virtual events might cautious, and most are concerned about doing something so different and being successful.
Rob explains in the podcast that he has been involved in some great virtual fundraising events and the key is production. Did you know that most of the content in virtual events is created ahead of time? There may also be a live element of the broadcast to keep people engaged but most of the event is pre-recorded and edited so everything is ready to go.
Increasing Supporters and Opening to Donors from Coast to Coast
If you looked into all the people who like a social media page for a charitable organization located in Chicago, for example, many might live somewhere else. Now, when they are all invited to a virtual fundraising event to support that organization, people can attend regardless of their location. This creates a huge opportunity to grow the base and keep the new supporters engaged in the future.
Using Quality Technology and Content Project Managers for Virtual Events
With money saved from room rentals and associated overhead, a budget for a gala fundraising event can be directed toward hiring quality technology production professionals. A proper production team will film and prepare all your high-quality content and manage the process of making your live and pre-recorded video feed to your audience. People should not attempt to do this work on their own because there are so many things on a professional’s checklist one might otherwise overlook.
How Long Should Your Virtual Fundraising Event Be Scheduled?
With so many smart televisions and technology in our homes and offices, it is easy to attend events from any location. A noon luncheon for example can be scheduled to run for an hour or maybe an hour and a half as Rob explains in the podcast. The same may apply to evening events. People are more likely to participate when the time commitment is comfortable for a virtual experience.
Idea: Remote Watch Parties with Groups of Supporters
Rob talks in the podcast about all the fun parts of fundraising events including the goodie bags and gifts. He shared a story of a recent event where everyone signed up to attend was sent their gifts ahead of time, still making the event feel real. One idea is to allow people to organize and host their watch parties with friends and fellow supporters, nearby, and who feel comfortable doing so. Imagine everyone still getting dressed up and taking pictures to fill Facebook at their virtual fundraising watch party.
Adapting Virtual Elements to Future In-Person Fundraising
There are many benefits of virtual events to keep using when going back to hosting live events. There are always people who love attending every event and getting dressed up, while there are also people who might make more events if they could do so from the convenience of their own time and space. There might still be remote watch parties in the suburbs for events in the city, especially if the weather might be a factor. In the future, we are likely to see our culture continue adapting to and accepting virtual event options and successful fundraising organizations should strongly consider making such a permanent option. When growing the base of non-profit supporters, one must always grow and look to the challenges of the future, and 2020 teaches us that the flexible have the best chance at success.
To start a dialogue with Rob Johnson and his team at Rob Johnson Communications, please contact them by phone at (773) 230-0008.
This program is brought to you by the Chicago Health Law and Professional Licensing firm of Michael V. Favia & Associates, with offices in Chicago and Rolling Meadows. For introductions and referrals to healthcare professionals in the Chicagoland area, call Michael V. Favia & Associates, P.C. at (312) 609-6666. Podcast production and marketing by Lone Star Content Marketing (940) 498-2863.
