Stay Safe. Be Flexible. Have Fun!

After a year of creatively meeting the challenge of virtual fundraising, non-profits are finding ways to resume in-person fundraising events with flexibility and flair. We’re working with organizations large and small to navigate a new phenomenon: the socially distanced fundraising event. Already, we’re seeing best practices come to light.

Make Safety Fun

Basic health safety doesn’t have to be a drag! Why not make safety part of your theme?

  • Add a logo to face masks or order them in your theme colors or style!

  • Hand out mini bottles of hand sanitizer with your logo on them as a party favor!

  • Set up hand sanitizing stations around your event and decorate them to fit your theme.

Your Qtego event staff will bring fully sanitized equipment and materials to keep everything clean and safe.

Qtego Fundraising Event Pre-registration

Use Pre-Registration

Using your Q-Link Preregistration site to streamline check-in has always been a best practice, but now more than ever it’s important to keep the beginning of your in-person fundraising event free from bottlenecks and crowded entry points.

With QLink, guests can preregister from anywhere. To incentivize people to preregister, consider running a contest entering everyone who preregisters for a prize to be awarded at the event. That’s no problem to set up, thanks to Qtego’s Randomized Winner tool!

It’s easy to get the word out about this less-hassle, lower-risk registration option:

  • Send an e-blast with your Q-Link, and a simple three-step sign-in process.
  • Post the Q-Link to all of your social media platforms.
  • Use Qtego to text last year’s registered guests and let them know it’s time to register again!

Try Text Registration

Another option, which you can do in addition to sharing your QLink or separately, is to offer registration for your fundraising event by keyword. Guests text your keyword (for example, “Text WISH to 72727”) and are texted back a link to register for the event.

Register with QR Codes

If you’re mailing printed invitations or want an option at the door to cut down on manual registrations, consider a QR code.

  1. Create a QR code for your fundraising event. Try qrcode-monkey.com!
  2. Guests hold a camera phone up to the QR code and get a link to click and register.
Qtego Fundraising Events Mobile Bidding QSite

Implement Touchless Check-In

For guests who didn’t preregister, be sure to have touch-free check-in options available.

  • Set up highboys instead of standard six-foot tables to remind guests to leave space.
  • Use Qtego card swipe machines—we have extra-long cables and guests can run their cards themselves to minimize contact.
  • Print stickers with your fundraising event or organization logo and place them six feet apart so guests know where to stand while they wait.

Assign Seating

Instead of open seating, which could lead to crowding or make social distancing difficult, why not try assigned seating for your fundraising event? Here are a few tips for maintaining social distancing at your tables:

  • Ask the venue to place tables farther apart.
  • Assign guests to tables, then ask the venue to place chairs further apart between couples or individual guests.
  • For pre-registered guests, TEXT the table assignment rather than asking guests to find their names and pick up seating cards. This helps to minimize contact points and crowding.

Do a Touchless Auction

Shift your auction strategy to keep guests safe while also getting better bids!

  • If you plan to display auction items at your in-person fundraising event, make sure they are elevated or behind plexiglass screens, so guests aren’t tempted to touch the items.
  • Take advantage of Qtego’s item sheets! A simple but highly effective template is built into your Qtego Dashboard.
  • Get tips on how to write better item sheets in our free Merchandizing Guide.
  • Use Qtego’s online auction item listings whether or not you have items displayed in-person. The online listing is a great way to feature multiple views and even more detail—so you get more and higher bids!
  • Maximize your online item listings! Qtego’s online listings are designed to fit different image sizes, so you get an elevated, Pinterest-style listing that really highlights the item’s value. Each listing allows up to five photos—USE THEM ALL!
Qtego QSite Streaming Chat Fundraising Events

Enjoy High-Impact, Low-Contact Service

You want to give your guests the same sense of connection and service you always had before, but you want to protect everyone, too. Not to worry! Qtego gives you all the tools you need to connect during your fundraising event.

  • Broadcast texts from Qtego keep guests informed and in the loop right from their phones.
  • Instead of a Help Desk, let guests know that they can use the Help button on your QSite any time during the event.
  • Also on the QSite, our integrated chat function makes it easy for guests to interact—with each other and with your staff—throughout the party.
Qtego Fundraising Events Seamless Checkout

Streamline Checkout

No one ever loved the long lines at checkout—and you certainly can’t let that bottleneck happen now! Instead, Qtego built in several ways to wrap up your in-person fundraising event quickly, easily, and safely.

  • At the end of your event, Qtego simply runs the card on file for each guest, and texts them their receipt for any auction items they won, Instabuys they purchased, or donations they made.
  • For pickup at the event, runners can view a winning bid report on the Dashboard, or guests can show their text receipt.
  • If you’re back at work in your main location, offer guests the option to pick up items they won at your office in the days following the event.
  • Some organizations offer shipping or drop-off services—you can add a flat fee shipping charge to final checkout if you prefer.
  • If you’re keeping your auction online only, consider running it BEFORE the event, so that items can be claimed, prepackaged, at the end of the event.

Think Outside the Box

For many organizations, social distancing means venues are limiting capacity. Some of your best donors and supporters may feel uncomfortable attending in-person fundraising events or may be considered high-risk. Qtego makes it easy to GO HYBRID and LIVESTREAM your in-person event to a wider audience. Virtual ticketing options, amazing features, and single-screen access make a Qtego hybrid event an amazing option.

Call on Your Team

As you plan ahead for fundraising events in unique and changing circumstances, Qtego is on your team! We give you the tools, training, and help you need to reach more people and raise more money for your cause—in-person or online—with one high-tech, user-friendly platform. Qtego makes more things possible.

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