YGE: Your Strategic Partner

We fully understand that events are crucial to non-profit organizations for raising badly-needed funds and awareness. In order to successfully accomplish both goals, Your Great Event (YGE)can be your ‘one-stop shop’ to plan and execute your critical fundraising gala, golf tournament, auction or whatever other medium you may wish to use. Planning a charity event involves a long list of components to consider and coordinate. And if your non-profit organization lacks a sizeable budget or the infrastructure to successfully execute a big fundraising event, the task can be even more daunting.  You don’t want to worry about who you need to hire or how to coordinate multiple vendors and producers. You just need a single go-to partner to do it all for you while keeping costs manageable and expectations high. 

That’s where Your Great Event shines. We have a mission: We are committed to giving back to the community and promoting community engagement.  So, wherever a non-profit organization needs help in planning a fundraising event, we always try to make it a resounding success for them—both from financial as well as execution points of view.

Mission Possible 

Some non-profit organizations need a “fundraising makeover;” some may not know where to begin to cultivate a donor pool; and some may need help with their strategic planning process. YGE specializes in helping non-profit organizations raise funds from individuals, corporations and foundations by helping them develop and implement an on-target development plan. 

By providing state-of-the-art development, strategic planning and event production services with proven results, over the years, we have helped many smaller organizations grow into larger ones, and well-established organizations into highly successful ones.  We recognize that no two organizations are alike. We work with each of our clients to customize and design a development plan that will meet their needs and maximize their funding opportunities. We conceptualize, implement and manage a custom-tailored plan for each client. Our clients are then able to keep their overhead costs down, learn the intricacies of development and fundraising while their organizations benefit from partnership with a professional event planning company with YGE’s stellar reputation.  At YGE, we treat each event with our signature standard of professionalism, attention to detail and innovative conceptualization to get your cause the attention it deserves. We work with the best teams in the industry—from the most suitable venues to dependable catering and décor partners—each specializing in the various components that come together to make your fundraising event a resounding success.

Core Competence

From the initial planning process to managing the fundraising event production itself, YGE can work with you to design, produce and execute every detail, so that you can focus your time on bringing attention to what really matters. Beyond planning your fundraisers, our core competence consists of:

·      Comprehensive strategic and development planning (long and short term)

·      Assessment of annual campaign(s)

·      Donor cultivation

·      Major gift solicitation

·      Marketing and promotion plans (including collateral material)

·      Board and donor liaison

·      Donor recognition programs

·      Social media campaigns

·      Board recruitment

·      Prospect research

·      Training staff and board in all aspects of development and gift solicitation

·      Planning fundraising events (galas, golf tournaments, board retreats, etc.)

·      Auctions (silent, pledge and online)

·      Event registration and tracking

·      Event logistics including theming.

Alliances for Success

We understand that events are crucial to non-profits for raising funds and awareness. From larger events like a gala, to mid-sized events like a silent auction, to smaller events like a VIP cocktail reception, YGE will help devise an event experience that is best suited to meeting your goals, maximizing your resources, and will be a celebration of your organization's history and mission.

Whenever there’s an opportunity, we’ll always lend a hand and try to “connect” our corporate and non-profit clients in joint events. This innovative pairing results in mutual benefits and bigger, better results for everyone.  From joint marketing to generating exposure, everyone benefits. With the right fit, corporate and non-profit partners can have a meaningful impact on each other and the people their organizations serve.

We will work with your key staff to create action plans based on your goals.  We will provide detailed timelines and regular status reports to ensure that your event can afford to be ambitious, but achievable.  Our team will handle all event logistics from the largest details to the smallest ones.

Putting It All Together

Finally, during the execution of the event, letour event professionals ensure that your organization is able to maximize profitability while producing a memorable event that upholds the mission of your organization by taking care of all aspects of the event from load-in to load-out to ensure a smooth, successful, and seamless event experience for all.  We will produce a run-of-show that is detailed down to the minute, making our staff “the team behind the curtain,” allowing your staff to concentrate on your donors, your honorees and other VIP guests.

Event planning isn’t always easy. It’s the kind of job where perfection can be hard to attain. Where, even when you have done everything right, something (or everything) can go wrong. In fact, if you’re doing your job well, no one knows you’re there at all.  So why do we do it? We do it because we crave the challenge; we like solving problems and making things come together. We also do it because we believe in the mission of the organizations we serve, and it’s our small way of helping to advance their causes.

Your Great Event—the trusted name in planning events for non-profit organizations for over 20 years. 

How to “Professionalize” Your Next Fundraising Gala: 7 Reasons Why Hiring an Event Planning Company Will Help You Minimize Stress and Maximize Results

A professional event planning company will not only handle major aspects of your fundraiser, but also minor details such as an appropriate theme, the right venue, food arrangement, tableware and floral and décor. Having a professional event planning company on your side allows you to channel your energy into one or two areas in the planning process leaving the rest to your event planning company that is there to ensure that every other aspect of organizing a successful and stress-free fundraising gala is taken care of from every angle.  Here are seven key benefits of having a professional event planning company on your side:

1. Keep Your Budget in Check

Many believe that hiring an event planning company to orchestrate your gala could only result in you acquiring more costs than if you had planned the event yourself, but this assumption couldn’t be further from the truth. An experienced event planner generally knows what costs to expect and whether there are differences in value. With this knowledge, they can help keep track of the overall costs and suggest ways that you can stay within a set budget.  They have years of experience in the art of planning successful fundraising galas; and are familiar with the ins-and-outs of the industry so well that they’re experts at knowing which vendors will get you the best deals for your price range as well as how to carefully map out your budget and stick to it.

When planning your next fundraising gala, ask your event planner for their expert recommendations regarding how to carefully map out your budget and stick to it, as well as insight on which vendors, venues, and services will get you the most bang for your buck at your next gala. 

2. A Fresh Perspective

When you’re planning a fundraiser, doing everything yourself is a very, very big job. And it gets stressful. As soon as you hire a professional event planning company, you can breathe. You can step back, regroup, focus on the things you know the most about, and get a lot of work done. Because someone else is handling the details of the event itself, you can be more productive on the things you do best. Plus, when the fundraiser happens, the event planning company’s team will be monitoring the event itself, taking care of every small detail and making sure the logistics are handled so that you can focus on making your guests and donors feel welcome and appreciated.

3. Expert Negotiations

Event planning companies know how to negotiate with vendors with ease so that your fundraising gala needs can be met without having to cut any corners. The professional event planning companies have helped a plethora of groups arrange successful fundraising galas over the years, and therefore have already established connections with trustworthy vendors who often provide reduced rates for their exemplary services.  Hiring an event planning company often means having a skilled negotiator to rely on, particularly when it comes to contracts with suppliers and vendors. An event planning company knows how to make sure your wishes are met; and is not afraid of putting pressure on the vendor or supplier when needed.

4. Your Time is Valuable

If you run a charity or nonprofit business, chances are, you already have plenty of responsibilities on your plate. Event planning is a time consuming, often-tedious process, and if you’re already devoting your days to take care of the day-to-day ongoings of your business, hiring an event planning company can save you a great deal of time.  They spend their time researching, planning and negotiating to help you get the spectacular event that you hope for.

An event planning company takes a lot of meetings for you. Why? Because there are details that you don’t have to be bothered with. They know the ins and outs of organizing fundraising events. Through the initial strategy meetings right at the beginning of the planning process, the event planning company should know exactly what your needs are. That means they attend meetings with the hotel and the catering company, the videographer and the furniture guy and the A/V people so that you can get more work done. As an executive director of a large non-profit once admitted, “I literally can’t count the hours having an event planner has saved me.”

5. The Devil’s in the Details

Event planning companies relish in perfecting even the smallest and most intricate details that go into planning the perfect fundraising gala. Orchestrating a fundraiser is no small feat; it’s common for nonprofits to get so caught up in big-picture event planning elements that crucial gala details may unintentionally fall to the wayside.  Utilizing an event planning company’s services for your gala will help you to rest easy knowing that there is an experienced team of experts there to help you manage every single detail so that you can enjoy the big night without a shadow of a doubt.  Event planners are very detail-oriented, which is great for making sure that nothing is left out. These professionals know what different events and occasions demand and are familiar with the finer details.

One of the biggest perks of hiring an event planning company is knowing that they have great organizational skills. From production timelines for the event to booking a venue on time, an event planner’s management is quite useful.  For busy professionals, the flexibility that an event planning company provides makes it easy to give as much or as little input as you desire. Event planners allow you to be as involved or uninvolved as you like!

6. Optimize and Organize

A professional event planning company knows how to take your wishes and demands to heart while making necessary tweaks and adjustments. An experienced event planner will listen carefully, provide input and be realistic when it is appropriate.

Planning an event doesn’t have to be stressful, especially when there are experts who enjoy helping with important details. By hiring an event planning company, you can not only save time and money, but you also greatly reduce your stress level. A good event planning company listens closely to what you have to say and incorporates your wishes and demands, mixing their professional advice or opinions when essential or asked for.

7. Conquer Emergencies with Ease

Having a professional take care of the large and small details and put everything together greatly reduces stress. They’re there to help troubleshoot difficulties and to make sure that the event goes off without a hitch.  Unfortunately, from time to time, things can go wrong [“Murphy’s Law”].  Having a professional event planning company on your side helps you deal with unplanned and unexpected emergencies in a calm and rational manner.  As a wise professional once commented, “Emergencies are inevitable in planning events. The manner with which you deal with an emergency can mean make or break.” 

In business for over 20 years, Your Great Eventis a professional event planning company dedicated to helping non-profits and charities organize the most successful fundraisers.