Creative Ways to Generate More Revenue at Your Events

Ticket sales may get people in the door, but they’re not the only path to adding to your revenue. For arts and cultural organizations, schools, and education-focused nonprofits, the biggest revenue opportunities often come from the moments around the main event. What are your peers offering that can generate some additional giving moments for your organization? Find some unique examples for before, during, and after your event below!

1. Create VIP and Early-Access Experiences

Make the event extra memoriable by allowing a sneak-peak experience ahead of other attendees. This could include early entry, reserved seating, meet-and-greet opportunities, exclusive receptions, or bundled ticket packages for members, alumni, sponsors, or major donors. Mainmonides Health Center presold a celebrity meet-and-greet which helped boost publicity and revenue tied to a celebrity guest who was already attending the event. 

We presold a celebrity one-on-one meet and greet before our event at Charitybuzz. It created additional traffic and publicity for our event, extra revenue as the celebrity was already coming and was committed to supporting the event, and it created some additional excitement.

Eniko Horvath
Director of Development Operations, Maimonides Health Center

Think about how you will create a special atmosphere for special guests. And if you don’t have celebrity connections, you may think instead of using an artist for cultural events, student-led experience for education events, or other special preview experience.

2. Use Auctions Strategically Before and During the Event

When promoted before the event, auctions can build anticipation, attract new audiences, and give supporters more time to bid. Silent auctions, live auctions, mobile bidding, and online previews all create ways for attendees and non-attendees to participate.

Jack & Jill Children’s Center combined sponsorships with live and silent auctions to strengthen event revenue and community engagement.

Event sponsorships, combined with engaging live and silent auctions, played a significant role in the success of Jack & Jill Center’s Flip Flops on the Boardwalk. Sponsorships provided a strong foundation of financial support before the event even began, while the auctions created excitement and encouraged additional giving from attendees.

Patti Hommes
Development Manager, Jack & Jill Children’s Center

Bradenton Christian School pairs its fall auction with a family-friendly festival to draw more people to the event while parents participate in the auction.

We have an Auction each fall. The Auction includes a fall festival to help draw families to the event. There are student volunteers (service hours) to help with younger kids at the festival, so parents can attend the Auction.

Tracey Thompson
Advancement Database Manager, Bradenton Christian School

Holding auctions before the event can encourage bidders to feel connected early, making them engagement tools beyond just a revenue tactic

3. Add Interactive Giving Moments

Use fund-a-need segments, paddle raises, and matching gift challenges to leverage the energy and excitement and turn it into immediate giving.

House of Friendship took several different interactive approaches and made sure to follow-up with attendees who did not give during the event.

Different levels of sponsorships, matching gift campaign, donations match during the event, and ‘fund-a-need’ segments will allow us to raise additional funds and engage people during the event.

Anuradha Parihar
Donor Database Coordinator, House of Friendship

4. Build Revenue Streams Around Sponsors and Partners

Sponsorships should offer more than a logo on a flyer. Think about how you can expand sponsor value with strong packages that can help partners connect with your guests and support the mission in a visible way.

Jack & Jill Center emphasized expanding sponsorship recognition levels and exclusive benefits for future events:

For future events, revenue could be further increased by expanding sponsorship opportunities with additional recognition levels and exclusive benefits, securing more high-value auction packages and unique experiences, promoting auction items online before the event to generate early interest, and incorporating mobile bidding to encourage greater participation.

Patti Hommes
Development Manager, Jack & Jill Center

5. Make Participation Fun, Social, and Shareable

Some of the most effective revenue ideas work because they feel fun, low-pressure, and easy to share. Creative draws, games, themed merchandise, peer-to-peer moments, and visually engaging activations can give attendees a reason to participate while creating buzz around the event.

Children’s Museum of Manhattan used a Tombola fundraiser, a prize-draw style fundraiser, where every ticket purchaser won a prize, turning the experience into a visual, social activation with trading stickers and photo-worthy design. 

This added a fun and unique social aspect which was particularly appealing to our young professional attendees. As a bonus, all the items went home at the end of the night and we did not need to receipt the ticket purchases, which significantly reduced our time spent on follow-up after the event.”

Emily Munro
Database Manager, St. Bernard’s School, Inc.

Ormiston Families used an eco-balloon race promoted to schools and families, then refined the idea by focusing on the annual timing that generated the most participation.

We created a poster, sent it to schools in our area to share with children and parents and join races during school holidays to keep the children entertained. We found the sales of balloons were getting lower and lower every time apart from Christmas which had a lot more people sign up, so now we just do it once a year and put our effort into promoting that one.

Emma Baguley-Lockwood
Philanthropy Administrator, Ormiston Families

6. Let Your Community Help Make the Ask

Peer-to-peer giving moments can be especially effective when the message comes from someone the audience already knows and trusts. Alumni, volunteers, board members, students, artists, faculty, or parent ambassadors can share stories that feel authentic and personal.

Portledge School incorporated a peer-to-peer alumni giving moment by members of their alumni council which led to the school’s highest event giving participation to date.

One of our most successful strategies has been incorporating a peer-to-peer alumni giving moment during reunion events, led by members of our alumni council rather than the development office. We found that alumni are often more receptive to hearing from classmates, especially in a relaxed, celebratory atmosphere.

Vincent Catapano
Alumni Director, Portledge School

7. Use Data to Personalize Outreach and Follow-Up

Revenue generation does not stop when the event ends. House of Friendship plans to use CRM data to segment communications for past attendees, major donors, sponsors, and high-level supporters, including early auction access and post-event follow-up.

Using the donor data stored in our CRM, I would tailor the messaging based on the giving level and attendance to the event. In addition, post-event follow-up would be done with those who attended but did not give, and with the ones who were interested in the auction items.

Anuradha Parihar
Donor Database Coordinator, House of Friendship

Make the most of it

The best event revenue ideas are the ones that fit naturally into the experience you are already creating and give supporters more ways to participate. Whether you add a VIP moment, rethink your auction strategy, invite alumni to make the ask, or use donor data to personalize follow-up, the goal is the same: make it easier for your community to say yes.