Nantucket

The Assignment & Challenge:

AJ Events was hired on the spot to fundraise, brand and elevate the event experience for Nantucket Island Safe Harbor for Animals’ (NiSHA) annual fundraiser, although NiSHA had already hired a local planner.  The event lost their $50k sponsor and this event is one of their main sources of fundraising.  Services started with fundraising consulting and a goal setting session to increase needed dollars.  The event is heavily themed on a garden party and its mission around animal shelter and welfare for animals and families for the community of Nantucket. The event had inconsistent event names and logos, so we conceptualized an “Animal Wonderland” theme where guests could bring their pets (added component) and renamed the event to “un-Leashed!” We launched a campaign to create buzz for the new event brand and opportunities for funding. We worked with NiSHA’s Executive Director on an event strategy to tap into the relationship of their top funder and it worked. We worked with the event’s committee and co-chairs on auction management and event promotions to keep them engaged in the process. The event design, program, event publicity, and graphics were handled by our team. As a part of the night of event, we coordinated timelines, registration, solicited and secured auction items and donors, program scripting for all speakers, stage management, design of the PowerPoint slides, night of live auction fundraising, the fundraising script, overall logistics, activations on-site, volunteer training, and VIP handling. 

The results:

• Created buzz and media

• Elevated overall attendee experience for people and their pets

• Increased the level of attendees

• Raised $176k night of during the live auction (in 2018 they raised $106k)

• Raised a total of $390k 

Photos by: Katie Kaizer Photography