Rebecca Elcome, director and lead producer at Coveted Events has been hosting catch-ups with charity sector event managers every few weeks and the discussions have been really enlightening. She chats with M&IT about what’s been happening in the non-profit sector.
Our work is split between conference events and gala dinners.
We work with charities and non-profits, largely UK-based and run many fund-raising events as well as delivering charity galas and large-scale events that generate from £75,000 to several million.
Before the coronavirus pandemic we had a full calendar.
A number of organisations were beginning to run code red teams alongside the normal planning – to handle any emergencies. The scenarios were ‘If we lose half a million in income how do we replace it or can we deliver?’ In 40 per cent of our clients, that money is critical to their services.
Rebecca Elcome.There are large organisations like BAFTA who were able to pivot quite quickly to stop some of their activity, They are confident that they will ride this out, whereas others are saying that if we lose half a million, they don’t have reserves to continue to deliver their charitable services. That ranges from local hospices to much larger organisations.
My concern is that some charities will not survive.
A lot of vital services will have to come to an end as a result of this situation. The arts world has pivoted quite quickly to deliver digital events and raise some donations online. Smaller charities will fold, particularly if you are a grassroots organisation.
I have been hosting informal conversations with charity event managers. The big issue is replacing the income from fund-raising events through other sources. That might be corporate partnerships, applying to trusts or launching an emergency appeal. The difficulty is if you are not a frontline service, such as a hospital.
We were talking on a webinar about the potential for charities to join forces.
Possibly some of those mergers needed to have happened years ago. This will give them the impetus to do so in order to be able to continue their services.
We are doing a lot of contingency planning.
We are working out how you break down the large gala dinners with more than 1,000 delegates into four smaller events, with perhaps 400 people into a series a smaller events with no more than 100 people, anticipating restrictions on larger gatherings. We are also offering free consultations.
If you’re a charity events manager, Coveted Events is hosting the next #CovetedCuppa on Friday 15 May at 12pm and the link is here bit.ly/coveted-cuppa3
. Join the conversation to discuss the challenges the current situation brings to the non-profit sector. Email here to find out more.
