This week I sat down with Charity Fundraising Expert, Duncan Schieb. Duncan is a highly accomplished charity auctioneer, marketer, and fundraiser. In addition to his work managing live fundraising events for organizations, Duncan also runs a successful video production company that serves both nonprofit and commercial organizations.
Duncan spoke with me from his home in Battery Park City, in New York — near the nation’s epicenter of the COVID-19 outbreak.
As a charity event fundraising expert, Duncan knows all too well just how much of an impact this global pandemic has had on event fundraising. If your organization relies on event fundraising to fund operations, this is a conversation you won’t want to miss!
In our discussion, Duncan helped answer these following important questions that are on the minds of thousands of nonprofit leaders right now:
- How does an organization that is event-heavy in their funding model make the switch from live events to virtual events?
- How can organizations protect the revenue that might have already been committed by individual donors and corporate sponsors if their events are shut down?
- What’s the one thing that organizations can do right now to protect your most important donor relationships (Hint: It’s super simple, doesn’t require any new money, and probably isn’t what you think)?
- Is virtual fundraising just a blip on the radar screen because of this crisis, or could this help springboard organizations into an entirely new donor engagement/fundraising model for their organizations?
I so appreciate Duncan’s contribution to our sector and this conversation. In our chat, Duncan also shared the very personal story of the recent loss of his beautiful little boy, Lachlan Hugh Schieb. Duncan and his family have created the Lachlan Hugh Schieb Memorial Fund through Charity Water to ensure that Lachlan’s life and memory can help bring life-saving water to people in need around the globe.