Is it ever too early to start promoting a fundraising event? Nope… 🙂

Pet Peeves, Inc., an animal rescue support group on Long Island, NY, has a fundraising event set for September 13, 2006, still five months away. But they know that advance planning and promotion will payoff big when the event rolls around.

On the Pet Peeves website there’s a banner with “Save the Date” prominently displayed on every page. When you clickthrough to the event details page you’ll see that their top sponsorship is already spoken for. This simple advance promotion helps to let attendees know about the event and to really “save the date” as the banner says. Already having the top sponsorship establishes credibility and should help them get the rest of the slots filled.

How can your organization benefit from just a little advance planning and publicity? When at all possible set the date and location 6 months to 1 year ahead of time. You don’t have to worry about the little things like decorations, catering, door prizes, etc. yet — all of that can wait. The most important aspects are the event concept, date and location. Then you can start promoting the event date on your organization’s calendar and website.

If your plans include corporate sponsorships that would be next on your list. If you can focus on getting the headlining sponsor first, as Pet Peeves did, the rest of the sponsorships can be gained later on in the year.

Even if you don’t have the exact date yet, but know you’ll be having an event publishing this information on your organization’s website still helps with publicity. Each year the Arthritis Foundation sponsors the Jingle Bell Run – an event during the holiday season of November and December, held in various cities across the US. As of this writing the event dates are not yet decided, but they already have information about the event posted on their website.

Take a few minutes and add your fundraising events to your organization’s calendar and website. It’s never too early to start.