For most busy event managers, the prospect of having a tool that accepts online registrations, promotes their event, and automates paperwork and invoicing is an absolute no brainer. If you feel the same way, but want some ideas for how to get all the amazing BirdEase features without spending any money, this article is for you. Because, hey, we understand that even the $299 can be a scary number for some nonprofits and charitable organizations. If you’re thinking, “It’s too expensive, we don’t have the money, we can’t do it,” hold it right there! In this article, we share clear cut, simple ways to recoup your investment tenfold. With BirdEase, increasing revenue, cost reduction and saving valuable management time is unavoidable, and you’ll quickly see why.

Create a Website Sponsor Package (increasing revenue)

Your BirdEase package allows you to create an unlimited number of registration items and sponsorship packages. And, having a website is impressive to potential registrants and sponsors. Capitalize on this by adding an additional sponsorship package to your “Sponsorship” page called “Website Sponsor.” It is a simple way to allow a local company to participate in your success and support your organization. Here’s what we’re talking about:

There are many companies and individuals who want to support your organization, but don’t have $500-$5000 to buy a sponsorship package. Events that use “BirdEase” have an “Our Supporters” page which can list small companies and individuals who want to support your cause without having a large investment. The Our Supporters page is a great feature to show off smaller donations which can add up to big money. Just ask yourself a few questions:

• How many small businesses/professionals would donate $25-$50 if they were asked to do so?
• How many would be interested in having their name and logo represented on an “Our Supporters” page that links back to their website?
• How many of these people would I need to offset my BirdEase investment?

If you answered, “A lot, a lot more, not many,” then you’re on the right track :)

Opportunity cost is the opportunity you’re not capitalizing on. In BirdEase-world, this can mean many things but one thing is for sure:

Consider the following questions, and try to assign a dollar amount to each of them:

• How many more golfers would know about your tournament if it were online?
• How many more sponsors would support your event if their company would be represented in a prominent position on a website that would be viewed by many thousands of people?
• How many more golfers would register if they could do so easily, online with a credit card?
• If you answered, “A lot, a lot more, not many,” then you’re on the right track :)
• How many times has someone asked you about your tournament, but you don’t have a flier to hand them?
• How much is your time worth per hour? How about the other committee members? Now, multiply that by the number of hours you’ll spend sorting through paper invoices, chasing sponsors and registrants for money, compiling reports, and all the other management tasks that are no fun.
• How many hours could you be spending getting more sponsors for your event if only you didn’t need to deal with manual paperwork and reporting? How many sponsorship dollars would those hours generate?

Most events already have a few standing sponsorship packages that are offered year after year. Additionally, most events also have a listing of standing sponsors that support their charity consistently. Simply adding an additional $25 to each sponsorship package will likely go unnoticed, and will quickly allow you to recoup your BirdEase investment. You can even give the surcharge a name, like “Website Logo Placement.”

The amount of paperwork generated by most charity golf tournaments is astonishing. If you’re an event manager, you can identify. Paper registration forms, paper invoices, mailing invoices, mailing checks, the list goes on. Not only do these things cost your organization real money (every penny counts), but they’re a serious annoyance and management hassle. Most of this goes away when you’re using the BirdEase tool, because your invoices, paperwork, and reporting are all automated.

Email software is included with your BirdEase subscription. This means all your golfer and sponsor information lives in the tool all year and is easily accessible when it’s time to get early registrations for next year’s event. Sure, there are other software platforms that will allow you to do this… but none this easily.

Here’s how easy it is to send a message to all of last year’s registrants: