Order the Sushi: New Report Offers Tips on Donors’ Preferences at Special Events

Forget the egg roll and mini pizza hors d’oeuvres at your organization’s next fund-raising events.

Instead, go for the sushi.

That’s the most popular item charity supporters want to nibble on when they attend an event, according to a study of 850 people who attended a charity event within the past year.

Other items of note in the survey, conducted by CharityHappenings.org, an organization that sells tickets to nonprofit events: People who took the survey say they attend up to nine events per year; most people prefer the event take place between 6 p.m. and 11 p.m., on weekdays versus weekends; Thursday is the most preferred.

Contrary to popular belief, people don’t buy tickets weeks or months ahead of time. The majority of people buy their tickets one to two weeks in advance, the survey says. For organizers who are panicking because people aren’t buying tickets ahead of time, calm down, says Justin Baer, who founded CharityHappenings.org.

The survey recommends setting ticket prices so that they make sense to donors and in accordance to what is being offered, such as an open bar or hors d’oeuvres. A black-tie gala—at an exclusive venue, with live entertainment, dinner, an open bar, and a celebrity guest—can often ask attendees to spend between $100 and $150, or higher, Mr. Baer says.

Survey respondents, though, prefer a $75 ticket price for upscale cocktail parties, while a casual cocktail party can ask guests to pay $25 to $50. Hors d’oeuvres should be served once a ticket price crosses the $50 price point.

Invitations as Keepsakes

The survey also found that organizations are increasingly experimenting with going green. E-mails and electronic invitations can “sometimes pass for a paper invite,” Mr. Baer says.

But accompany those electronic messages with a note saying that the dollars saved will help the organization set aside more money for the cause and help people in need, he adds.

Still, there’s a threshold. People who pay more than $150 or more per ticket want to get a mailed invitation. They often become collector’s items, says Kate Prael, special-events director at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, in Seattle. The Hutch Holiday gala, which is in its 35th year, charges attendees $500 apiece and many of its supporters expect an elegant printed invitation.

The study also examined which kinds of items donors want to purchase at events that include an auction.

Nearly 30 percent of eventgoers said the item they most wanted to buy was an experience they couldn’t get in any way other than purchasing it at a charity event, while 28.8 percent preferred tickets to sporting events and concerts. They trumped other auction items that weren’t as popular, such as beauty or fashion gewgaws, complimentary dinners, and memorabilia.

Auctions Are Popular

Charities say auction items are playing an increasingly big role as huge fund-raising vehicles during the gala itself.

“With this economy, charities are using auctions as a major source of revenue for their fund-raising events, whereas in the past, they could rely more on ticket sales and sponsorships,” says Alex Durant, founder and president of a consulting firm in Boston that gets hired by charities to produce auctions.

At the Hutch Holiday gala in Seattle, for instance, a live auction item to go on a “Zero G” weightless flight in a Boeing 727 fetched $157,500; 21 tickets were sold at $7,500 each.

“Almost always, unique experiences do stand out,” Ms. Durant says. “These items cannot be purchased in a store.”