Episode 77: Storytelling and Strategy for Fundraising Events with Howard Adam Levy

This conversation is for informational and educational purposes only and is not professional advice.

Positioning review: Minor adjustments made. Reframed Handbid mentions to neutral context ("companies like Handbid" kept as-is since it's the host's own company referenced naturally). Removed filler words and cleaned transcription artifacts. All content reflects the guest's professional experience in nonprofit marketing and storytelling.

Jeff: Welcome to Elevate Your Event, your favorite podcast for transforming fundraising events. Join us weekly for expert tips and creative ideas to make your next event a standout success. Welcome back to Elevate Your Event. In today's episode, we're chatting with Howard Adam Levy, founder of Red Rooster Group. He's got some fantastic advice on how to make your events more powerful using storytelling and smart strategy. We'll talk about how to connect with donors, keep them engaged, and make sure your events have a lasting impact. Let's get into it.

Jeff: Hey, well, welcome back to the Elevate Your Event podcast. We talk about all the various ways you can make your next fundraising event better or even just make your marketing and your messaging better. So we've got a special guest today. We've got Howard Adam Levy. Not to be confused with Howard Levy, although maybe this guy here also plays the harmonica. And if he does, I want you to whip it out anytime you want, Howard, and start playing us a tune. That would be nice. And we've got the beautiful, gorgeous Inga Veiss. Thank you. Yes. One and only.

Jeff: So what are we here to talk about today? So, Howard, why don't you go ahead and introduce yourself, talk a little bit about what the Red Rooster Group does, and then let's just dive into talking about marketing and all the other great stuff.

Howard: Sure. So I've been in the nonprofit sector pretty much my entire career. I decided to dedicate my professional life to supporting the small and medium organizations who really need the help. I started 30 years ago. I looked around and saw at the time about half the amount of organizations there are now in the country -- about 600 to 800,000, which is now a million and a half or so. And it's a competitive world out there. Nonprofits really need all the help they can to tell their story. So I started Red Rooster Group to wake up your brand and catalyze your fundraising and help organizations get out there, tell their story so they can reach more people and accomplish their mission. I've talked with hundreds of organizations of all sizes and helped with different kinds of challenges -- from how you distinguish your organization to using events as part of your strategic plan for fundraising, to overall marketing communications and storytelling, all the things you need to galvanize people to your cause.

Jeff: Right. And it makes sense. It's interesting because we always talk about how charities have this unique power, we call it a superpower, because they get to tell their story to a captive audience who actually pays them to do it. And so you've got to have that one shot, right? I mean, you've got that one opportunity. You've got, say, 100, 200, 300, 400 people in that room, and they're listening to what you're saying. So how do you maximize that? When you're working with these clients, how do you help them understand how to take the best advantage of that particular event and that audience?

Howard: Well, I want to maybe circle back to that because I think it's important to understand the role that events play in your fundraising. Many organizations have events, and some have questioned them, at least after COVID -- we can't do in-person stuff, going to online and bringing them back, what's the real purpose, are we still raising money. But there are other reasons you can have events. As you say, it's in person. People do online stuff also. This is a great way to stay in touch with your donors and actually talk to them and hear what their concerns are. What do they think about your organization? What's valuable about it? What are their motives for supporting it? And what's going on in their life?

Howard: A lot of organizations talk about how do we tell our story, how do we reach our donors. I'm like, you got to ask them. And in-person events are a great way to actually do that, hear what their concerns are. Now it's a political season. There's a big election going on. What are people doing? Are they going to be supporting candidates? Is their money going to be going into that at the exclusion of your cause or other causes? Or is it not going to make a difference? Is who the winner going to decide on some of their causes -- are they going to be challenging, doubling down on some or pulling back? What impact is that going to have? So events are a great way to learn about your audience and also to cultivate the relationship.

Howard: You're there to pave the way for an ongoing relationship and not just see it as a one-time cash cow -- we put all this effort in, we had the event, we raised X amount of money, and we'll see you next year. But how do you actually get to know the donors so that you can open the door to the next conversation with them? Particularly ones that you don't know -- you may have regular donors, but others bring their spouses, their friends, their business colleagues. So you're getting in front of new people. And I find often there's a lost opportunity there to actually even capture the name. Sometimes they buy a table for 10 people, they just buy the table, and you don't even know who's there.

Jeff: Right. And we have that debate a lot with our clients, reminding them of what you just said, which is that this is the entry point to a relationship with somebody. And it's hard to have a relationship with somebody if you don't get their name at the door, right? Because you're too worried. And look, maybe in some cases the sponsor's just not providing those names. But when those people walk in the door, we've got to make a concerted effort to figure out who's coming to my event and how do I stay in touch with them.

Howard: Right. How do you keep your donors engaged in between your annual gala? You have your one annual gala. How do you keep your donors engaged for the rest of the year?

Inga: It's in the afternoon here in Colorado. Look, I'm catching up with you. It's almost happy hour.

Howard: But many organizations have smaller events in between the major event. You have the cocktail thing, you may have a walk or a bike run or whatever other kind of outdoor event. So there are these other touch points. But you do want to know who you're reaching. Is this really to cultivate your deeper relationships with your current donors and get them to step up at a higher level of support? Because that's one kind of event versus bringing in new people, which is slightly different. What you're going to say at the event is more introductory to the cause, to the issue, showing the real need, versus a donor that you already have who understands you -- you're going to go into a different type of story, deeper levels. And you're going to structure the event differently.

Howard: You're going to have lower entry barriers so that you can get more people in. You have more ways of bringing people -- buying multiple tickets or group sales -- to try to encourage people. The way you promote it is going to be different. So understanding who you're going to reach is really one of the starting points. Yeah, and you'll cater the event. If you get younger people, they may not want to be sitting down at a round table for an hour and a half.

Inga: As long as you don't let them do a silent disco party. The attention span of people -- look, you bring up a point. The attention span of people through the generations is getting shorter. So factor all those things in when you're talking about how you're actually going to engage with them at this event.

Howard: Yeah, and how do you bring in community? If you're a local organization and you want to elevate your profile in the community, how do you invite the businesses in? How do you invite other nonprofits or foundations or others who are part of your world into this as sponsors or as speakers or as part of the program? We had a group that was promoting an event that reached out to the faith-based community and leaders who could then reach out to their congregation to invite people in. So you're trying to find ways to open your doors to the community and bring people in, if that's one of the goals.

Howard: Think creatively about all the contacts that you have within the organization at the board level, at the staff level, at the line staff level, at your clients. They may know people or have worlds of opportunity that they're involved in, particularly if you're going to have them as a speaker or part of the program. There's a lot to be done to think creatively about those things, but it starts with the strategy. Who do we want to bring in and what's the purpose of this event?

Jeff: So are you helping people refine that? Because your clients kind of know what the strategy is? Are you helping them develop the strategy or how does that work? We run into a number of nonprofits who I think are not entirely clear -- I think they know what they want to accomplish at the event, but I don't think they really understand how to do it. They focus on the wrong things a lot of times.

Howard: Yeah. The first thing is really figuring out where this fits in your overall revenue. So if you think of a pie chart of all the revenue that the organization brings in -- a small organization, a million dollars -- where is that coming from? Is it half from the government? How much from private individuals versus foundations versus corporate support?

Howard: And where is the real opportunity? If you say the opportunity is with individuals and it is with events, you may also say foundations could really be supported -- let's hire a grant writer and amplify that. But if you're committed to individuals, then it's like, are we going to grow the higher level base? If we can get another 10%, 20%, 30% over this year, how are we going to do that versus trying to bring more people in with an acquisition strategy, which is getting tougher these days? What role does the event play? How much are we going to make off of this event, how much is it going to cost, and how much do we want to invest in the future lifetime value of these larger donors? So that should be the first questions you ask when you're planning this out.

Howard: So when you're selecting the venue or determining a budget for a speaker or whether you should have a budget for different things to be attracting people to come to the event, it's helpful to look at what's worth investing in, just as you work with it.

Jeff: Because we look at it like on the business side of things, there's a term called customer acquisition cost. And you're looking at what through my sales and marketing efforts do I need to spend to acquire one more customer. And then you can look at a return on that based on the lifetime value. And it's not that much different here. We talk to a lot of our clients around when they're thinking about events and to your point, what do they cost, where do I want to spend money. For us, we look at that and say, if this is an entry point, if you're acquiring donors, this is a channel for that, where you're getting and acquiring new donors. What elements of that are actually going to promote or generate the relationship with additional donors, and which costs probably don't matter -- whether it might be an entertainment fee or particular venue or whatever.

Jeff: So we try to help our customers see that and figure out that for us -- because we play an active role, we're a cost element, but we see ourselves as more of a profit center or an investment element. Because for companies like Handbid, we're helping you acquire donors and we're helping you build a relationship with them. And if that's one of the key elements of your event -- yes, you want to raise money, yes, you want them to donate, those are all things that are true -- but at the same time, I think a lot gets lost in the tracking of how many new donors did I get, or how many new names went into my contact database, not because they raised their hand in a paddle raise, but because they donated or bought something in an auction.

Inga: And I mean, we go to a lot of fundraising events, and we do see how some organizations and some event planners have enormous budgets for flower arrangements and live entertainment that probably is not really generating return on investment. It's like some of it is misguided. I mean, it's fun. It's so fun to go to a party. But sometimes the main focus and mission -- why are we here, we're here to raise money -- gets lost in translation a little bit. Like the centerpiece on this table at this event I was at prevented me from seeing the stage or the screen. I see that as a problem for us to be able to raise money. Can I move this thing?

Inga: I don't know if you are ready to dive into the psychology of fundraising. But I do have a question. What are your tips and tricks on using your storytelling, your mission moment, during the event and during the year? How do you use that effectively to attract new donors or maintain your donors? Keep them engaged. Or grow them.

Howard: I want to reflect on what you just said in terms of the event outcome. I call it the water cooler test from back in the days when people went to an office and the next day you're gathering around the water cooler. What did you do last night? You don't want them to say, well, I went to this event and it was like this wine tasting and there were great wines there. You want them to say they were moved by your mission and that you should get involved. This is a great organization. If you're concerned about whatever -- the kids or kittens or homelessness or cancer -- this organization is making a real impact. You should check it out. That's what you want to have happen as a result. Obviously the donations and the participation, but I'm saying the carry-away effect that you can achieve by people going out into the world then as your ambassadors after your event should not be lost on you as a goal for the event.

Howard: So I was also going to mention the idea of putting together a creative brief for events. If your organization doesn't do that, really think about it, even if you're doing it the sixth year in a row. It's helpful to just sit down and rethink what you're doing or at least question some of the assumptions. Even more fundamentally -- what do we want to get out of this? And that would help answer those questions. And what do we need to start recognizing we might actually need to invest deeper in that's going to take us to a new level?

Howard: The technology platforms are going to facilitate fundraising, facilitate capturing of information, and then how you use it after. I'd rather see you get some good information that's captured and think about the day after the event and the week after and then the month after and then the year cycle after. So you have 100 people, 500 people, however many -- what happens? How much information can you capture? And then how can you use that in a fruitful way? So you're not just dropping them in a database where they're just getting a newsletter, but they showed up for you.

Jeff: I think you forget that. I think we forget how much of a sacrifice it is of their time and their effort to just show up at your event. They've made quite an effort, whether it's babysitter, dressing up, driving somewhere. That's a huge testament.

Inga: And a commitment. Because most people have some kind of budget. And it's a commitment. Most of us support a few different organizations. And we can be very choosy where our money goes.

Howard: That's right. So that donor appreciation is a big part of that. And crafting the creative brief and planning out the event, that should be a part of it. What are we going to do to show the donors who came, or even the attendees who didn't come, that we appreciate them coming and that we want to have a relationship with them? That we understood some of their concerns or what they're interested in? How can we use a couple of data collection points even when they're registering or one question on their way out? A multiple choice thing -- what was the most compelling thing, A, B, or C -- collect some information that you could use to start or continue the relationship.

Jeff: Absolutely. I love it.

Jeff: So talk to us. Inga's been asking this question all day because she's an auctioneer, and she gets this a lot, which is how do we maximize the event? How do we maximize whether it's the story part, the presentation -- we don't want to fill in the blanks for you. So just give our audience some wisdom on how to best maximize this event.

Howard: Well, a couple of things. One is not everyone who's there may understand what your organization does or even the nuance of what you're doing. So make that clear. It's not always evident. People in the organization often make assumptions about it. Even the name of the organization -- people may just be getting an invite or coming as someone's guest. So you don't want to lose the opportunity to talk to people who are there.

Howard: And by the way, you don't want to lose the opportunity to communicate to people who are not coming. So if you have a room of 300 and you're sending out 1,200 invitations, that's probably a good return rate, about one out of four. But that leaves a lot of people who are not going to be coming who are still receiving your communication. And if it just says the Spring Fling for Aces Club, no one knows what that is. The name doesn't say anything. So use the communication about your event to actually impart something about what you're doing. I think that's one tip.

Howard: So at the event, make it really clear what you do. Make the problem or the cause really salient, really clear. Your speakers should be able to share their vulnerability about the before state. There's a lot of feel-good energy about the after -- I came through, I'm a success, I've come through the program. But the real magic is in the transformation that someone experiences and being able to share the vulnerability. This might be the lowest point in their life or most difficult or challenging decision they faced or some circumstance that we do not want to face ourselves.

Howard: So how are we living through that person's experience to really feel that emotional heartache and despair, so that when we hear the story, we're really moved emotionally? That's the magic of being at these events -- hearing firsthand from someone who can share that emotional journey and move you along. And then that's the moment to ask for the donations when people are really feeling it.

Inga: And I've seen that work really well, and then I've seen such a missed opportunity. I've seen really powerful stories, whether they're on video or on stage, disconnected from the room. Well, it's not that it doesn't connect with the room, but you still have to give them the step one, two, three on how do you help now. I've seen so many people like, okay, well, this is the time where now you're going to give. But sometimes I like to see it connected to -- here's a family that this organization has completely transformed. And so we're raising money tonight for these particular programs. Can you donate?

Howard: I think the nature of the role of the organization in that story and the success story has to be clear. So yes, the person is empowered. They're doing it themselves by their own gumption. But with the empowerment, with the tools, with the space provided, with the support -- whatever the organization provided -- making that clear. And then to your point, Jeff, connecting that to the donor opportunity at that moment. By supporting more caseworkers or more open space or another classroom for the kids, that could empower more people to have that kind of success.

Jeff: Like, let's take something generic. You take first responders foundation, you show these people that were first responders and this organization -- if it wasn't for this organization, these things wouldn't be possible. Well, what things weren't possible? And what specifically did they do? Did they just give you money, or did they run you through a program, or did they take you on a retreat to work on PTSD issues? Sometimes those little nuances get lost. At least in my brain, those types of connections work. Because now I see it -- that's what this organization does. They fund grants, or they fund PTSD recovery retreats, or they provide respite care for families of disabled children.

Inga: If I may, I want to use this one example. We work with an organization that raises money for veterans and first responders with PTSD. And you go to this event and they make it very clear that every $5,000 you donate will take one veteran on a motorcycle ride across three states as PTSD therapy. And people love it. You're ready to open your wallet because your heart -- it's so powerful.

Jeff: That's my point. I've seen really good benefit auctioneers or emcees do that, where they make that connection. Five thousand dollars feeds 25 families, something like that.

Howard: Exactly. The greater connection you can make to people, the better. Even to the extent of helping people understand what it's like in that situation. What would you do if you lost your home? What would you do if you lost your legs, like these veterans? What do you do for your job? What happens to your income, then your kids, and child care? If you can prompt people to imagine themselves in the situation, then you create a connection for them to have the empathy. And that's really powerful.

Howard: There's another principle -- this behavioral science and psychology concept of loss aversion, where people are more scared of losing something than of gaining something. Many organizations talk about the positive benefits of their program, which is great -- we're helping people get ahead, we're saving the environment, protecting the land, the animals. But the opposite of that is what's lost without our organization. Where would you be without us? And specifically if you're unique in your community and there is no other organization doing that, then there's a clear harm that's going to happen. Making that evident is a powerful motivator.

Howard: So asking them -- if you lost your home or your legs, and we're not here, what are you doing? You'd have to go to six other places and it would take you six months to figure it out and wait for the government to come in. Now you're showing the real problem that is being addressed through the lens of that loss rather than just the great things we're doing now.

Jeff: I love that idea. And look, it's a difficult message to send sometimes. But I agree with you, it's powerful. We had a client once -- I think they were called Platoon 22 or something because every 22 minutes a veteran was taking their life. And their whole organization was built around PTSD and suicide prevention among vets. You don't have to change your organization's name to something that communicates the loss, but just taking that theme and driving it home with certain people is powerful. And for these guys, as soon as they explained what their name meant, they had people on board.

Howard: Exactly. It is powerful. This idea of reframing your issue is interesting. We were working with an organization working with people with disabilities, and we found this instance of an organization, I think it was in England, that reframed dyslexia. They had prominent people who had dyslexia -- Steve Jobs, Steven Spielberg, and other really famous people. They rented a small storefront and put the posters up with all these people in it. And they just stopped people on the street and said, would you like to have dyslexia? And they're like, what are you talking about? Of course I wouldn't want that. Let me show you something -- step over here. And they showed all these famous people, and all of a sudden it was like, maybe that was a driver for them.

Howard: They had to overcome the challenge of not being able to read in school. They were ostracized, they had to compensate in some other way and develop a new kind of skill, and they made it to the top of their profession. It was so eye-opening for people to experience a total reframe of something they felt was negative and have more empathy and understanding for people who do have this condition.

Howard: I think it's an opportunity for organizations, specifically at events, because people are there, to think really creatively -- think out of the box. What assumptions do people have about us, about our cause, about the people we're serving or our community? And how could we help them re-understand it in a different way? Come up with interesting ways that are unexpected and maybe even delightful, that create that memorable experience, help to educate, and connect to your cause. They understand it in a different way, they have more empathy, and now you're paving the pathway for their support and for their kind of evangelism -- a pillow talk conversation or at the office the next day. Do you know that these people were all dyslexic? And then you started a conversation and you start connecting.

Jeff: That's the thing. Because once people feel like they've got a personal or close connection to something, they can draw that line -- now I feel it or I see it. So my daughter has a very rare disorder. Not as rare once you've lived around it for a while, you start to notice. It's kind of like when you buy a car and you start noticing that car everywhere on the highway. But either way, the people that have really connected with an organization -- because raising money for a rare disease is hard, right, because people don't have that direct connection -- but the ones that meet her or come into our lives who immediately get involved are the ones that have a connection through a family member or a friend to another individual that has the same disorder. A hundred percent agree with you that connection absolutely helps.

Howard: Yeah. That's usually how these connections happen -- through the people who have a direct connection to the cause in some way. So many organizations have that challenge of widening the base to people. That's why I thought the dyslexia one was interesting because it was just out on the street, man on the street.

Jeff: But even if you don't have that direct connection -- everybody knows who Steve Jobs is, everybody knows who Steven Spielberg is. So you're still drawing those connections. I think it works.

Howard: Exactly. What else could you do? We try to think creatively. We had proposed to that disability organization a film festival of existing films. You can gather influencers on YouTube who are doing really interesting things to share their story and pull together some of the best of these things. They didn't decide to do that. But when you're thinking about what an event can be, you can think creatively.

Howard: For that homeless organization, we pitched an idea -- in the Silicon Valley area, there are tons of people living on the streets and in encampments and in their cars, and the wealth inequality is just enormous. So to tie those things together, we said let's do a sleep-in at a parking lot. Set up a stage, have the speakers, but then you stay in your car. You sleep in your car and you get a taste of what it's like not to be in your home, at least for one night, without the things you would normally have available.

Howard: Or taking a bus tour of the different sites and taking people out into the field, into the world, going to see the different places that you're helping to create change in. Just thinking about how you can engage people in seeing and tasting and all the experiential senses rather than just being a captive audience in a room.

Jeff: Totally makes sense. Well, this has been an amazing conversation. If you have any parting words of advice for our listeners, that would be awesome. And then also share with everybody how they can get in touch with the Red Rooster Group if they want to have you come out and help them make their next event that much better.

Howard: Sure. My tip would be -- we talked about a lot of things that could be very overwhelming -- but pick one thing that is measurable that you can do, so that you can see the effect it has had. That just gives you more wherewithal to ask for the budget to do more things next time, to demonstrate some effectiveness. And maybe it's through the connection of capturing information and using information -- how are you going to communicate the donor appreciation and cultivation? That's probably what I would recommend if you're ongoing with your event. You don't have the wherewithal to reimagine everything -- at least try to maximize that part of it.

Howard: You can reach us at redroostergroup.com and find me on LinkedIn -- Howard Adam Levy.

Jeff: Do you work with clients all over the country? What's the scope of your business?

Howard: Yeah, we do, all over the country. We have worked with others in Europe. Thirty years' experience, mostly up to about 100 million -- a million to 100 million, sometimes a little above 100 million. But we typically are a great resource for those smaller groups, typically in the five to 20 million range, that are looking for strategy to understand the bigger picture and how to organize their internal resources effectively, find the fastest path to revenue, and put into practice the best practices that they may not have. It's tough when you're small -- you don't have all the staff, the technology -- so it's really about maximizing your effectiveness and getting you to the next level.

Jeff: Totally makes sense. I love it.

Inga: I do too. It's been really fascinating. We could talk for hours.

Jeff: And we love metrics and measurements. So ending on that is a great way to say, go out there and measure something. And it doesn't always just have to be your top line, guys. I'm not saying you shouldn't watch your costs. I'm just saying maybe there's some other metrics out there. Like, how many new donors did I introduce to my organization through this event?

Inga: You could ask their joy. Even ask a question -- how much did you enjoy this event?

Howard: Don't forget the role of bringing some magic into people's lives.

Jeff: Totally agree. Well, Howard, this has been amazing. I know our listeners really do appreciate all your wisdom. And so again, redroostergroup.com if you want to reach them. All right, we're going to go ahead and wrap up this podcast. Until next time, happy fundraising. If you enjoyed our show, please take a moment to leave us a review. You can find us on Apple, Google, and Spotify. Don't forget to subscribe for more great content. And if you're a fan of video, check us out on YouTube. Until next time, happy fundraising.