Event Planning Resources
Event Branding: Maximizing Your Guild’s Connection to Seattle Children’s
Does this scenario sound familiar? A friend invites you to a fundraiser, and you go along to be supportive even though you’re not precisely clear about what you are fundraising for. The Guild Association and hospital staff have developed an array of clear event branding tools that can help your guild generate more meaningful connections with donors and increase fundraising success.
For information on how to receive or reserve items listed below, talk to your guild association liaison or call Malia Dalio at 206-987-6928.
Keep Seattle Children’s Front and Center
Make sure your audience knows what and who you are fundraising for. Capitalize on Seattle Children’s strong reputation to show guests you will steward their dollars well. Use repeated visual reminders on invitations, flyers, posters and all event materials. See Seattle Children’s Brand Guidelines for approved fonts and logos and how to use them.
The Guild Association has promotional materials available for guilds to borrow, including banners, table runners, and beautiful posters featuring patients – and at times we can offer giveaway items such as pens, hand sanitizer and lip balm. Our supplies are limited, however, so please make requests early, especially during summer and the holidays. We also have Strong Against Cancer items available for loan.
Be Specific About How Donations Make a Difference
Remind guests of the impact of dollars raised at your guild’s previous events. For example, “Our 2016 auction provided $30,000 that helped researchers find lifesaving cancer treatments.”
Provide Guests With Materials That Support Your Message
Check with the Guild Association about stewardship reports, videos, brochures, website info, and facts and stats booklets to help convey your message. If you are fundraising for a specific area, try to specify the tangible donation benefits – for example, “Your donation of $100 buys four jackets for patients in need.”
Spotlight a Persuasive Speaker
Invite a physician or a patient family to share their story with your event guests. No one speaks more effectively about how donations support the hospital than those delivering and receiving care.
Guild Association staff can also help you decide how to best feature a patient story, whether on stage at the event or in promotional materials. If you decide to feature the patient or a family member on stage, we can help with age-appropriate questions for the patient that will result in positive feedback. We can also help plan how to best acknowledge speakers, both during and after the event.
“Being involved with the Guild Association for the past 10 years, nothing has had a bigger impact on me in terms of reinforcing my commitment to Seattle Children’s than a story shared by a patient or doctor at a guild event. These are the people on the front lines who remind me why I am involved. Hearing directly from doctors delivering world-class care, or sick patients expressing their gratitude for making even one day easier for them, reinforces the importance of our work and shows we’re truly making a difference.”
