Most development officers dread the suggestion of an event to support fundraising. In the university environment, our lives are pretty full of events of all kinds, and most are more valuable for getting visits with prospects and stewarding donors. Events are usually a pretty bad way to raise money. However, there are some exceptions. For a development officer, it is important to remain firm on the matter of fundraising potential when discussing events as part of a development strategy. If you fail here, you may find yourself spending a tremendous amount of time, energy, and resources on activities that bring negligible results. A simple search for fundraising ideas for libraries will predominantly suggest events. Unfortunately, nearly all are terrible ideas if the goal is to raise money. However, keep in mind that library leadership and staff are seeing these articles in their industry publications all the time, so you need to be ready to discuss the fundraising opportunity from the vantage point of viability for significant support.

Libraries are the most logical place for what may be the most lucrative, yet least labor-intensive, event: the celebrity appearance. Obviously an author event is what would be expected for a library, but as long as there is an element related to literature or books or information and the celebrity is someone people want to see, then the sky is the limit. The dean may need to think a little outside the box. Explain that any speaker who brings people into the library sphere to gain knowledge helps fulfill the mission of the libraries.

The first battle to be fought is determining the speaker. It is so important to remember and continue to communicate that the event is about raising money for the libraries. That could very well be at odds with library faculty and staff who will have personal concepts of celebrity or views as to what the larger campus community would like to see. If the right speaker is not selected, the event will not achieve its goals. It doesn’t matter how literary, important, profound, available, or cheap a speaker may be; if the speaker is not someone people want to see, the event will fail. Unfortunately, despite other goals that could include promoting literacy and helping stakeholders start to see the true definition of the modern academic library, a significant literary figure who happens to charge next to nothing, yet will only be recognized by readers who follow the Booker Prize every year, will be a nonstarter. You may have to argue for someone who is not necessarily literary or profound but who is recognized by everyone.

This recommendation cannot be stressed enough. There is about a 100% guarantee that it will be a source of your biggest challenge. It is that important.

When it comes to events, libraries will have other goals in addition to fundraising, and that’s OK as long as they fit within a viable fundraising scenario and your own goals as a development professional. The first goal is exposure, which is always good for fundraising. An event is a short-term, high-impact opportunity to push the brand of the library and gain awareness. Attracting new people to a library event is also great for fundraising.

Events are a good way to engage volunteer groups connected with the libraries. However, the event should not be created for the sake of engaging volunteers. The beauty of the speaker event is that it requires little planning. Engaging volunteers and staff is always commendable, but bringing a lot of cooks into the kitchen can quickly expand an event. Remember that the goal with any event you lead is to raise funds for the library. The bottom line is to make the event as simple as possible and allow the reputation of the speaker to not only do most of the work but also to make extra work to engage donors and attract participants unnecessary. Not every speaker wants to be a part of a fundraising event. J.K. Rowling, probably the author who would be the surest speaker in the world to fill up a library with attendees, will not agree to speak at events where attendees are required to buy a ticket. However, many will.

Events are an opportunity for sponsorships from individual donors or corporations. Local corporations not typically associated with the university are a great option for supporting events. The media exposure a celebrity can get is worth a lot to a local business. The goal with sponsorships is, at the very least, to cover the costs of the speaker including travel expenses. Other overhead costs to shoot for in sponsorship support are venue costs and advertising design and purchase. If the food and beverage costs are sponsored, the ticket costs may be fully deductible as a charitable donation.

In a recently published book on fundraising for the library, Andy Kahan (2014) discusses author events in a public library. While the event itself may not bring in a lot of money, he says, the opportunity to steward existing donors and cultivate them for larger gifts is valuable, and celebrity events make it easier to engage potential donors who might be motivated to give if it offers them the chance to meet the speaker (p. 8). Except for the part about not bringing in much money, the same goes for the academic library in regards to creating a valuable stewardship opportunity. Similar to the way university units use athletic tickets or games to cultivate prospects, a popular author series event is a time to highlight donors and can connect to the library people who may not have been identified before. And although it can be argued that a university has events going on all the time that can be used for donor cultivation, having one closely associated with the library makes that job easier. A regular event also encourages library leadership and development staff to create a stewardship and cultivation strategy to make the best use of the opportunity to engage with donors and prospects.

Modeling the university athletics department or alumni association with a library version of an “on the road” event is another opportunity to spread the library mission, visit with many prospects in a single trip, and cultivate gifts. This kind of event is particularly valuable for a capital campaign. Getting the dean and the development officers in front of a lot of potential donors can bring real dollars in for an initiative. This works well if the host of the event is willing to ask the guests to support a project following project presentations from the dean and event faculty.