How To Get Money To Fund Your Event
Event organizers often have this major roadblock in the beginning stages of event planning–where to get the money to fund the event?? There are many solutions to this problem and here we address those we find most beneficial to promoters in the business.
Investors: A person or company who may invest in your event.
They front a large sum of money to help fund the event for a percentage of the event’s return. A term used in the industry for an affluent individual who invests in your event is an “angel investor.”
Angel investors are better for events than venture capitalists in that they do not have a minimum investment requirement and the investment process is more informal. You may not get a venture capitalist to front money for a single event, but you may get an angel investor to.
Tips for reaching out to an investor:
Do your research
Do they have the same interests? Are they connected to what you are asking them to invest in? How would this partnership benefit them? Are they a good fit for your company or service?
Make Connections
Find someone that knows this possible investor and could introduce you to them. This is far more natural and a more direct way to persuading them to invest in you. LinkedIn is a great tool for finding people you know who are connected to others. You can also achieve this, by getting out of the office and doing networking yourself. Don‘t be afraid to make your way into conversations (without interrupting), introduce yourself and finding someone relevant to help your search for investors.
Don‘t Waste Their Time
Investors are busy people and don‘t have time for long chats and emails. If this opportunity doesn‘t seem like a good match to a certain investor, don‘t waste your time or theirs. Once you find one you like, whatever your point of contact is keep it short and sweet. For example, if you are sending an initial email, send them a short pitch with a call to action (CTA) included, and that’s it. They probably face hundreds of emails a day and only have time for quick scroll through, so don‘t make it too long, and give them a CTA they will remember.
Partners: A partner in this case is someone who works together with you to help cover event costs. The partner could be someone you know personally, a business partner or even a vendor who already has the control in the event itself.
One possible partner might be the event venue–in exchange for providing a venue for the event at no upfront cost, they get a vested interest in the event. By doing this, you not only do not have to come up with money to book the venue, but the venue will also typically promote your event because it will help them make more money.
In Purplepass’ website there is a section of your account that allows you to add partner access to part or all of the event’s ticketing. If you have a partner(s) you work with for an event, use this attribute to make it easier for the partner to contribute. Partner access can be turned on via Settings > Partner Access.
Sponsors: If it is a charity, non-profit or fundraiser for a good cause, you can usually find sponsors who want to align themselves with your cause. If it’s a very large event, you will probably be able to find sponsors who may want to get exposure and branding.
If so, you can offer incentives such as presenting the event by them, putting their banners/flyers/name everywhere. If you want your event to be sponsored, it’s a good idea to plan the event to have a sponsor in mind. That way, when you propose the event to potential sponsors, the benefits to being a sponsor are obvious.
Vendors: If appropriate, you can bring in extra cash and offer an additional perk to your event – bring in vendors.
They will usually pay you for the right to sell their goods/services at your event. Vendors can be a great asset when they are providing a good or service that your guests would want. Food vendors are always a win-win.
Process your own credit cards: By using your own credit card processor (Purplepass can help with this) or even by using PayPal, money from online ticket sales will go directly to you as tickets are sold. This will help provide cash flow to fund the event.
In Purplepass, you can change the merchant account to be your own via Settings > Merchant Account. You will need to add a valid credit/debit card to be on file to account for the service fees you collect on behalf of Purplepass (if you use our service).
