How Newhouse Elevated Their Gala with the OneCause Fundraising Platform

Background

Background

Newhouse is the oldest domestic violence center in the Kansas City, Missouri, region serving children, adults, and pets fleeing domestic abuse.

The nonprofit strives tohelp survivors achieve safety, self-sufficiency, and whole-person healing through their ecosystem of transformative services. Their programs empower individuals to reclaim their autonomy and use their voice to achieve their full potential.

“Not only is our number one goal to raise the most money to ensure even more survivors are helped in our community, but it is also to create an incredible experience for our guests that inspires them to invest in the brave survivors who are fleeing some of the most difficult situations imaginable,” Chris Stibbs, Newhouse’s Vice President of Development, says.

Opportunity

Chris, who manages the nonprofit’s events, says Newhouse was boxed in when using their previous software, Greater Giving, and knew they had to upgrade.

“I really struggled with our old software. Aesthetically, it was not pleasing,” he recalled. “One of my first impressions of a nonprofit is their registration and ticketing page. How a page looks elevates a nonprofit’s brand. We knew we needed to find a software that helped our brand shine.”

With first impressions and guest experience meaning everything, the Newhouse team began searching for a more modern fundraising solution.

Newhouse hosts three signature fundraising events during the year: A New Day Breakfast, The Worthy Popup Bar, and the Imagine a Day Gala. While each signature event is vitally important to their cause, Newhouse saw an opportunity to raise more on the OneCause Fundraising Platform during their Imagine a Day Gala. This event helps raise funds to operate their shelter and deliver lifesaving services to those impacted by domestic abuse.

Chris says they chose the OneCause Fundraising Platform four years ago because they liked the robust, but easy-to-use features that would increase awareness and attract more participants to their events to reach their goals. Heading into their Imagine a Day Gala, they were excited to use the suite of features to maximize their evening of generosity.

Solution

Solution

With their gala prep underway, Chris knew he could rely on the OneCause Fundraising Platform to meet their fundraising goals and possibly even exceed expectations.

“OneCause is a one-stop shop for everything we needed for our event, from auction to raffles, to ticketing and table seating and check-in,” Stibbs says. “The software was smooth and easy to navigate for our gala.”

The software features that lead to the gala’s success included:

  • Customizable Event Site
  • Streamlined Registration & Check-in
  • Engaging Silent Auction Capabilities
  • Enticing Raffle Features
  • Maximized Sponsorship Impact
  • Personalized Consultation and On-Site Support

Customizable Event Site

A picture says a thousand words… and it can be a great way to catch the eye of your donors! Chris knew if they wanted to elevate their gala to excellence, they’d need an enticing registration page that had style.

The OneCause platform offered a wide variety of custom features, such as image carousels, embedded videos, personalized call-to-action buttons (CTAs) to “Get Tickets” and “Bid”, and custom branding to make the gala’s registration page shine.

“Customizing our registration page elevated our marketing efforts,” Chris says. “There are so many features within the platform to help enhance the look and feel of our event ticketing, sponsorships, and our organization as a whole.”

Thanks to those customization features, Newhouse caught the attention of their supporters, which helped them to get a record-breaking 1,331 participants at their event.

Streamlined Registration & Check-in

When participants registered for the gala online, they were prompted to create a supporter profile, that includes name, email, phone number, and mailing address.

“To have donor contact information collected ahead of time is just awesome,” Chris says. “It helped us get everything we needed in advance of the event without holding up the line at check-in during the event.”

This made the QR code-powered check-in a breeze, as the Newhouse team knew they had the information they needed to follow up with donors.

Additionally, attendees could load their payment information into their online profile during registration, which led to easy and seamless giving. Without taking extra time to plug in payment information during the night of the event, guests stayed engaged with Newhouse’s mission and had a swift and efficient check-out at the end of the night.

“By giving guests the opportunity to have their card on file, it’s more convenient for them and us,” Chris says. “We can drive so much revenue when we don’t have to take the time to reenter people’s card information.”

Engaging Silent Auction Capabilities

Newhouse had 150 exciting items to keep organized for the gala’s silent auction, super silent auction (showcasing more expensive items), and live auction. The user-friendly software was easy to navigate, so Newhouse staff could quickly and easily make updates to auction items, as needed. They leveraged the OneCause Auction AI description generator feature in the platform, which wrote eye-catching item descriptions for their auction items, saving them hours of event planning.

Additionally, Newhouse took advantage of silent auction previews and opened up their bidding one week in advance of the event, which helped create excitement around the event.

“We were already at 95 percent of our goal for our silent auction before the event even started,” Chris says. “We couldn’t have done that without the tools in the new platform. It’s so accommodating and user-friendly for all individuals, I never want to use pen and paper for my auctions again.”

Enticing Raffle Features

A raffle was the perfect companion piece to the auctions in the gala. To entice guests to purchase a ticket, Chris said they limited the maximum number of tickets sold per item by 100 to stir up excitement.

“Prior to OneCause, we would hand out physical tickets for our raffle,” Chris says. “Attendees would drop their tickets in a bucket, but it was never exciting and items never sold as well.”

By showcasing the raffle on the event registration page, the raffle sparked inclusivity and boosted participant engagement. Additional raffle functionality equips nonprofits to manage multiple raffles, select raffle winners, and manage raffles within the bounds of local and state raffle laws.

Maximized Sponsorship Impact

Thanks to the robust capabilities in the platform, Newhouse maximized their gala sponsor impact by promoting and selling a variety of customizable sponsorship packages online.

“Being able to set individual sponsorship levels really helped us draw in sponsorship interest and helped us grow,” Chris says. “I love when our sponsors are able to purchase directly on the OneCause website and have their tickets allocated to them! It helps make my job so much easier!”

Sponsors loved to hear about the positive impact they had on the nonprofit’s mission and the gala guests. The Newhouse staff could easily track sponsor logo impressions and guest engagement with each sponsor, showcasing the return on investment.

“I love that OneCause brought all of our sponsorship management onto one platform,” Chris says. “To be able to see and share data directly with our sponsors made a world of difference.”

Personalized Consultation and On-Site Support

As with any fundraising event, the right support can improve your execution and results. Newhouse has an excellent, long-standing relationship with his on-site OneCause team, which helps execute their gala without a hitch. The OneCause team helped streamline the evening, including assisting in the appeal moment and managing efficiently as rapid bids came in.

“It’s the partnership to us that makes the difference,” Chris says.

With three fundraising events to manage throughout the year, the team at Newhouse know they can rely on the award-winning customer support at OneCause for anything they may need.

“From event planning to on-site support, the OneCause team always goes above and beyond for us,” Chris says. “Everybody is always willing to step in and help quickly.”

Results

Results

Thanks to the OneCause Fundraising Platform, Newhouse saw a record-breaking evening that exceeded expectations. They managed 114 sponsors with ease, all within one platform. Hosting over 1,330 guests during the event, the Imagine a Day Gala was a huge success, raising over $1 million – 103% of the fundraising goal!

Connect with a Cause

To learn more about Newhouse, please visit their website.

Wrapping Up!

More fundraising resources are just a click away.

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