How to Set Up a Scholarship That Will Last

Business, Non-Profit

Scholarships are a great way to help people and to use the money you raise. It is also a great way to look into the future. Here are the way to put together a scholarship that will last and that will grow.

Before you get into budgeting and even fundraising for the scholarship you need to decide who is going to administer the scholarship and the type of person who you want to receive it. These are the questions to ask. 

  • Who are you going to give the money to?
    • Write out the profile of the person you wish to support. Are they male or female? Are they in high school or college? What qualifies them for this scholarship?
  • How do they earn the money?
    • Do they have to submit an essay? A video? Do they have to have a certain GPA? Do they need to be under a certain income level? Do they need to have worked within your organization? 
    • You can change and update this but having a clear idea of what you want them to do is a crucial part. 
  • Who will administer the scholarship?
    • Will you have an elected committee? Will you have an outside scholarship administrator? Will you bring in people from the community to judge the scholarship but then have the finances internally? How will changes be made and who can make them? Who will be able to sign checks?

Once you have answered these questions then you need to figure out what your budget will be. Now this is the hard part because you can decided to just give $500 every year out of your budget but what happens in a lean year? What happens if you don’t have the money?

To make sure that your scholarship lasts, you need to plan for the long term. That means setting aside more money that you need each year into a savings or a fund. You should talk with a financial advisor about the best vehicle for you and your organization. But if you put $1000 away each year and give out a $500 scholarship then you will be years ahead. You will be able to eventually give out more scholarships or larger amounts. Learning how to manage your lean months will help you put this money away.

I know that it is tempting to give away all the money that you can each year, but if you can set some aside and put some into savings, you will be able to help more people in the future and for longer. 

How Non Profits Can Eliminate the Lean Months

How Non Profits Can Eliminate the Lean Months

Business, Non-Profit

Non profits often experience lean months where donations dry up and hard choices have to be made on who to help. This doesn’t have to happen – you can survive and even thrive in the lean months and here is my suggestion on how. 

Keep Records

You need to know when your lean times are happening and when you receive an influx of donations. You need you analyze your financial records and see where the peaks and valleys are. You cannot fix the problem until you know where it is. 

Do Monthly Gives

Ask donors to sign up for a monthly give. Work with your bank or credit card processor to set up a monthly give program. Most people will sign up for this and then forget that they have it going. This gives you a constant stream of income. 

Consider Shifting Your Fundraising Efforts

Can you adjust when your fundraisers happen to have them happen before or during your lean months? You can experiment with smaller events in these seasons. Also, shift the type of fundraiser you are holding. You can reach different audiences with different fundraiser types. 

Do Yearly Sponsorships

I have written about this before in this blog but planning ahead and getting yearly sponsorships allows you to budget better and get bigger gives from your corporate partners. 

Run Like a Lean Start Up

Do you need the office or can you work remotely and save the overhead? A storage unit can hold items just as well as a storage closet – and they are less expensive. Can you bring in college students to help with projects? Many schools require their students donate time to their community and there are many college organizations that also require service to non profits. 

Find the Freebies and Use Them

Many large corporations have programs where they give gift cards and other items to 501(c)3 Charities. Also, consider using a credit card that gives you cash back or points to pay for everything, then immediately pay the card off. You can use that money or the points to get auction items or even items to reward your employees at the Holidays. 

You can eliminate your lean times so that your non profits can continue to serve those you are called to help. 

Event Planning Ethics – When Do You Get involved and When to Walk Away

Event Planning Ethics – When Do You Get involved and When to Walk Away

Business, Events

Events often seem to exist in a parallel universe and we as event planners want that. We want to transport our guests into the event, we want them to forget the outside world, even their friends and family, and just enjoy. 

But there is a dark side to this. 

People can leave their morality and ethics at the door of your event and you have to decide when to get involved and when to just walk away. 

When you see someone slip into the rooms of a person that is not their spouse, what do you do?

When you see drugs being sold, what do you do?

If someone asks for a bribe to get something done at your event, what do you do?

Where do you draw the line for both ethics and morality?

The first line you draw is your personal and professional safety. Always put into your event contracts that you have the right to walk away or even leave an event if you are afraid for your personal safety. If a customer balks at this, walk away from the customer. You need to make sure that you are safe. You cannot run your event planning business without you. 

Professional safety is the next line. I will not be involved in anything illegal. I do not let customers break the laws or break a contract.

If a customer books a vendor outside of me, I always ask for the contract. (Learn more about Vendor Interviews) This allows me to stay on top of what other vendors needs are and what we can and cannot do. One clause I am careful to pay attention to is around tipping and staff requirements. I need to know if I can tip the staff, if they need food etc. 

I always try to feed maintenance and on-site staff whenever possible. Hungry people are not happy people, setting aside plates for them is a simple way to keep people happy. I also keep cash on me to tip people out at the end of the evening. People now know me at my local venues, remember me, and I get amazing service. Treat people well and they will do their best for you. (Tipping is different than a bribe. That is my ethics line.)

The next line is event and client security. If I see issues at my events, I will find my point of contact at the event and let them know and ask what they would like to do. We can ask those in question to leave, have them escorted out, call the authorities, or drop it. I let them know that the decision is up to them but that they will also be responsible for their decision. 

The final line is morals. I do not get involved in people’s personal lives. If they want to sleep around, how do I know that they don’t have an open marriage and their partner is fine with it? As long as they are not interfering with my event and not being indecent in the hallways – that is on them. 

This may seem like an long list to walk through but it has been developed over years and many events. I have learned what my hard and fast lines are and when to walk away. My good name and that of my business are what is at stake. I keep the highest ehtics and my clients know that. 

After Trade Show Checklist

After Trade Show Checklist

Business, Events, Trade Show

Once your booth is packed up and you are safely back home from a trade show, it feels like a huge relief. But you are not done yet. Take a deep breath, get a good nights rest, and then finish off the trade show. Here is the after show checklist that I go through. 

1. Unpack Trade Show Boxes and Restock

It is important to unpack between shows when possible. You can check your supplies, remove any trash, and restock as needed. I learned this the hard way. I didn’t unpack between shows and sent lead cards to another show – lead cards we needed to do give aways. 

Also like to count the zip ties, pens, etc. to make sure that I have enough for the next show. See what you should keep in your trade show box here. 

2. Follow Up with Leads

Following up with the people you spoke with is one of the most important steps you can take for a trade show. Send an email to the basic leads, call those that were hot. You can read about following up here. 

3. Check Your Invoices

Trade shows are large operations and mistakes can happen. Double check your final invoices for any errors. Most show management and operators are more than happy to correct any issues that you bring to their attention if you do so respectfully. 

Always check any hours that you have to pay for services and installs. This is where the biggest issues can happen – especially around over time and gold time. 

4. Do a Wrap Up Meeting

Bring together the people from your company that were at the show. Talk about what went well, what could have gone better, and any ideas that can be used for the next show. Use the trade show survey. 

Trade Shows are not done when you walk off the floor with your packed boxes. You need to complete the four steps above to make sure you get the greatest return on your investment.

Bringing Traffic to Your Booth

Bringing Traffic to Your Booth

Business, Events, Trade Show

Trade shows are about how many peoples you can see if a very short amount of time. You have 4 – 8 seconds for your booth design to grab people attention and make them stop to speak with you. So how do you bring people to your booth?

Traffic Starts Before the Show

Bringing traffic to your booth starts with your pre-show marketing. Emails, social media, and direct mailers are all great ways to drive up interest. 

A great way that a company did this was that they sent everyone a dollar and if you brought that dollar by their booth to match it with the serial number, you then got $100. Another time, I was sent a chemical test strip, if it turned a certain color you won a prize and were entered into the grand prize. 

For the larger shows, work on finding your target market. You can set up appointments ahead of time, or offer a giveaway that will draw in that target market.

Traffic In Your Booth

First thing to do in your booth is smile and look at the passing crowd. Do not spend money on your booth and then sit behind a table and look at your phone or laptop. I ban phones and any computers not being used for demos in my booths. I also remove chairs. You can read about that here. 

One of my favorite designs is a business that could do small batch runs for bottling and they put up a big banner in their booth that stated the exact run size they could do. This was a huge show, after they left, they had contracts to run for the next two months with leads that would book them out of the year. They had their larger competitors sending people to them and they sent larger orders to their competitors – ensuring the customer received the service that they needed. 

Tying your booth design, major offerings, and marketing together, will bring people to your booth.

People are here to engage, so you need to show your willingness to be engaged. 

The second part of engaging is knowing when someone is not a good fit for your company and how to move them on so you can talk to those who are a good fit. This needs to be done with tact and each person will require different approaches. Practice makes perfect with this. 

You cannot speak with everyone at a trade show – and you don’t want to. Bring the right people to your booth and drive the ROI of your trade shows through the roof. 

3 Rules that Can Derail Your Trade Show Set Up

3 Rules that Can Derail Your Trade Show Set Up

Business, Trade Show

Trade show set up is stressful enough without running into the show floor authorities. It can be surprisingly easy to run afoul of the “floor cops” if you don’t know the rules. So here are the three main rules you need to watch out for. 

1. Tool Usage

Some facilities do not allow you to use tools to set up your booth. Now tools can mean power tools or it can mean anything more than an allen wrench. When you are designing your booth, make sure you read your show rules to know what you can use to build your booth. 

2. Load In Requirements

You can run up against facilities that will only allow you to hand carry items onto the show floor. Others say that you can use a hand cart one time. If you are going to need to haul items in, make sure you know what the rules are and if you need to ship items to the facility or to pay for them to haul items onto the show floor. 

If you do have to ship, understand that you will pay to have it shipped to the facility, for storage, and then for them to move it from storage to your booth. You will also pay for them to store your boxes/ crates and then for them to move the boxes back to your booth, back to storage and to ship them again. Make sure you have these costs budgeted into your booth. 

3. Set Up Hours

Some shows require that you are set up before a certain time, they do not want to open the show floor and have you scrambling to set up when attendees are arriving. They can even bar you from set up if you are not set up at the right hours. 

This biggest thing you need to know is to read the rules. 

Yes, they are often 5 – 10 pages long, but read them and know what you can and cannot do. If you run up against something you do not understand or if something isn’t in the rules but you feel like it is a gray area, ask show management before planning on it.