5 Questions to Ask Before Hiring an Event Planner

More and more nonprofit organizations are starting to realize the value in outsourcing event planning so staff can focus on raising funds, building relationships, and securing sponsors. There are many benefits to hiring an event planner like time saved organizing event logistics, taking advantage of established planner-vendor relationships, and the vast experience that influences their recommendations. If you’re using the right planner, they not only have seen many events from a lot of nonprofit organizations, but they’ve learned a lot along the way about what works and what doesn’t.

Before you take the plunge and start requesting proposals, we recommend asking the following questions (at a minimum) to every planner to help narrow down the list of options.

1.  Do you have experience planning NONPROFIT events?
   There are many amazing event planners doing great work in the community. It is important to ask your potential planner if they have experience specifically with nonprofit event planning.
   
   One obvious difference between planning corporate/personal events and nonprofit events is the budget. It can be challenging to work within a nonprofit event budget, so experience negotiating, asking for in-kind sponsorships, and suggesting alternative, less expensive options is really helpful.
   
   Additionally, guests are primarily in attendance to support the nonprofit organization’s mission. It’s important that every element of the event is geared toward maximizing the guest’s experience and making giving easy.
   
   Just today I was at a venue that mentioned their last nonprofit client had a really hard time getting people away from a corner of the room to listen to the program. The client put screens in that corner, but that also meant they likely wouldn’t raise their hand during a live appeal. This is one small example of ensuring people are moving throughout the venue in a way that connects attendees with the nonprofit’s mission. A planner without this experience may find it difficult to consider these elements in advance.

2. Have you ever worked in the development department for a nonprofit?
   Of course this isn’t a must-have on the list, but we think it’s a HUGE benefit. Any time you’re working with a planner that has “walked the talk,” it’s so much easier to execute the event with common goals and understanding.
   
   Having an event planner that understands the industry language, has experience maximizing revenue and minimizing expenses, knows how to work with sponsor activations and knows how to execute many revenue activities (auction, raffles, appeals, giving opportunities, etc.) will be an ally to raising the most amount of revenue from the event.
   
   Additionally, someone who has worked for a nonprofit development team will understand the importance of key leaders connecting with guests to build relationships and ensure the event is set up to promote those connections. Whether that’s a thoughtful seating chart or creating a time for VIPs to connect, you will spend less time explaining the why behind your needs and more time brainstorming solutions.

3. What services do you provide? What services do you NOT provide? Explain in detail.
   This is one of the most important questions to ask every vendor every time. Setting goals and expectations up front will be key to a successful relationship with your event planner.
   
   There’s nothing worse than thinking your planner is going to ask their entire network for sponsorships, discounts and favors just to realize they aren’t comfortable asking anyone to offer a break on pricing.
   
   Don’t be afraid to ask details about the services they provide. For example, if they’re offering to manage your silent auction, does that mean soliciting items, putting them into the auction database, and sending thank you notes, or only putting them out on the table in a beautiful display the day of the event?
   
   Another example worth discussing is solicitation expectations. Hiring a fundraiser-event planner is different than hiring an event planner. If your planner is willing to solicit donations, sponsors and/or in-kind donations, s/he must have a Professional Fundraising License through the State of Michigan. Without this, your organization’s license to solicit could be put in jeopardy if this individual is asking for donations without the proper bond and legal documentation.

4. Do you have experience working with or managing volunteers?
   This is an interesting question that will vary based on the nonprofit’s needs. Sometimes our clients ask us to manage their event committees. This will usually include a mix of one or two staff members and a handful of volunteers. We have created meeting agendas, solicited volunteer feedback about event details, assigned tasks for follow up, and met with volunteers in-between meetings to ensure follow through.
   
   If this is something you’d like your event planner to manage, it’s important to ask about their experience, skill and comfort level working with volunteers. Since volunteers aren’t paid, the accountability dynamic is very different and planners without perspective may feel challenged throughout the event planning process.
   
   Another factor to learn more about is if your event planner will solicit day-of event volunteers, manage volunteer communications, check-in and executing assignments, as well as post-event thank you’s and communications. Sometimes a nonprofit will have a pool of volunteers they like to work with every year, while others want the event planner to use their network of volunteers. Gaining clarity on what this looks like for your event and organization is important to ensuring the volunteers at the event fit your expectations and are qualified to execute the assigned tasks. For example, think of the raffle sales volunteer who hates asking for donations. We’ve all been there.
   

5. What do you charge your clients to plan an event like ours?
   It is really important to clarify if they work on a commission from the amount fundraised vs hourly vs project rate. We highly recommend NOT hiring based on a percentage of what’s raised (aka commission). That brings up ethical concerns for many donors and usually doesn’t benefit the nonprofit in the end since the net profit margin is already low for fundraising events (typically ~50-60% in our experience).

   
   If hiring on an hourly basis, you should consider a cap on hours so you’re not surprised at the post-event bill. When I worked for a nonprofit many years ago we hired an event planner for a project rate with a signed contract outlining our terms. The company tracked their planner’s hours throughout the event planning process and tried giving us an overage bill after the event for additional hours beyond what they internally budgeted. Thankfully our contract prevented the additional expense, but this was an important lesson learned.
   
   Don’t shy away from reviewing expectations and details of the scope of work, agreed upon deliverables, and payment expectations.

We might be a bit biased, but we believe hiring an event planner for your next nonprofit event is a no-brainer - for the right event, budget, and team. Ok, so there’s actually a lot of great reasons to hire a planner, but it’s not a one-size fits all approach. Find a planner that will be realistic, honest and tell you if it’s a bad idea to outsource planning for your specific event. Once you establish that level of trust and transparency, you’re off to a great start building relationships and raising funds to impact your mission.