You’ve spent lots of time and energy over the past eight months to host a fundraising event. Now that it is over you can relax and put the file away for a few months, right?

Not so fast.

While the event is fresh on your mind, we suggest you meet with all the volunteers and staff to review the event and determine what went right and what didn’t go so well. Did you maximize the fundraising opportunity and accomplish your financial goals? If not, why not? Did the guests enjoy themselves? We strongly suggest you include your professional fundraising auctioneer in the discussion to get his/her perspective as well. 

You can also use www.surveymonkey.com to get feedback from your guests. If you had a live auction, inquire which live auction items they would like to see offered again. By doing this, you’ve accomplished two things. First, the guests are taking ownership of future events because they have a voice. Secondly, they are telling you what they want to bid on! 

And hold on -- before you put the file away, go ahead and set the date for next year, secure the venue and your professional fundraising auctioneer. This allows you to send thank you notes to this year's guests with next year’s date so they can go ahead and get your fundraiser on their calendars.