{"id":16869,"date":"2019-12-30T16:03:52","date_gmt":"2019-12-30T21:03:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.qgiv.com\/blog\/?p=16869"},"modified":"2021-07-30T16:33:22","modified_gmt":"2021-07-30T20:33:22","slug":"bright-idea-give-supporters-an-immersive-experience","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.qgiv.com\/blog\/bright-idea-give-supporters-an-immersive-experience\/","title":{"rendered":"Bright Idea: Give Supporters an Immersive Experience"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.leaderdog.org\/\">Leader Dogs For The Blind<\/a>, a nonprofit providing guide dogs to the blind, hosts an innovative event called Dinner In The Dark. During the event, guests are blindfolded so they experience an ordinary moment in the life of Leader Dogs For The Blind\u2019s beneficiaries, eating dinner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What makes this event so successful?<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"479\" src=\"https:\/\/www.qgiv.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/Leader-Dogs-For-The-Blind-Cover-Image-1024x479.png\" alt=\"Leader Dogs For The Blind Dinner in the Dark Event Header Image\" class=\"wp-image-16870\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.qgiv.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/Leader-Dogs-For-The-Blind-Cover-Image-1024x479.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.qgiv.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/Leader-Dogs-For-The-Blind-Cover-Image-300x140.png 300w, https:\/\/www.qgiv.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/Leader-Dogs-For-The-Blind-Cover-Image-768x359.png 768w, https:\/\/www.qgiv.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/Leader-Dogs-For-The-Blind-Cover-Image.png 1435w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Guests to the event experience what it\u2019s like to be blind.\nThey eat dinner with a blindfold on as a Leader Dogs For The Blind client\nguides them through the meal. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This event is creative and offers an experience that\nsupporters likely have never had. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In addition to the unique experience, the event is\nsuccessful for Leader Dogs For The Blind because the experience asks guests to\nempathize with the organization\u2019s clients. Once they experience what it\u2019s like\nto do an everyday task while blind, they\u2019ll see why the work of Leader Dogs For\nThe Blind is so important. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Blindness is the theme of the event, and they\u2019ve built sub-events into their Dinner In The Dark. The evening starts with a black carpet entrance and pictures with a canine ambassador for every guest. From there, guests can participate in a \u201cblind\u201d wine pull. They purchase and pick a ticket at random and get the bottle of wine that has the matching number. Participants don\u2019t know what kind of wine they\u2019ll get until they\u2019ve purchased the ticket.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>They offer a VIP package that offers an exclusive experience to encourage guests to opt for a higher cost ticket. Adding additional value further endears supporters to the organization and their clients, which helps the organization raise more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How can your organization emulate this success?<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<h5 class=\"wp-block-heading\">1. Create an event that relates to the services you provide<\/h5>\n\n\n\n<p>You can create an event centered around the theme of the services you provide. Leader Dogs for the Blind created an event based on blindness because they make the lives of people living with vision impairments easier. What services does your organization provide? Who are your beneficiaries? Base your event around them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h5 class=\"wp-block-heading\">2. Create an immersive event experience<\/h5>\n\n\n\n<p>Your event can provide guests an opportunity to experience something they\u2019ve never done before. In the case of Leader Dogs For The Blind, the experience is fine dining without the use of one\u2019s eyes. The purpose was to help guests empathize with those who benefit from the organization\u2019s services. You can create a similar event for the same purpose. Determine what\u2019s unique about your organization or your beneficiaries. Then, figure out how to turn that unique experience into a fundraising event. This can be a physical activity, a dinner, or another type of event entirely. You\u2019re only limited by your creativity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h5 class=\"wp-block-heading\">3. Build in related sub-events<\/h5>\n\n\n\n<p>Leader Dogs for the Blind created a blind wine pull sub-event to raise additional funds at their event. You can do something similar. If you\u2019re an animal shelter, for instance, you can do a \u201cpick-a-pooch\u201d wine pull. Creativity is important here too. You\u2019ll want to make sure your sub-events relate to the overall event theme.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Conclusion<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>An immersive event experience, if done right, can result in great fundraising success for your nonprofit organization. The key to a successful, immersive experience is to create an event concept that guests won\u2019t have experienced before. That event should relate to your organization\u2019s mission and build empathy among your supporters for those your organization serves. Related sub-events provide additional opportunities to raise funds from empathetic supporters.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Leader Dogs For The Blind, a nonprofit providing guide dogs to the blind, hosts an innovative event called Dinner In The Dark. During the event, guests are blindfolded so they experience an ordinary moment in the life of Leader Dogs For The Blind\u2019s beneficiaries, eating dinner. What makes this event so successful? Guests to the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":17196,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[152,271],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v20.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Bright Idea: Give Supporters an Immersive Experience - Fundraising Blog for Nonprofit, Educational, and Faith-Based Organizations<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Leader Dogs For The Blind, a nonprofit providing guide dogs to the blind, hosts an innovative event called Dinner In The Dark.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.qgiv.com\/blog\/bright-idea-give-supporters-an-immersive-experience\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Bright Idea: Give Supporters an Immersive Experience - 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