Rocky Mountain Public Media Raised 30% More at a Signature Fundraising Event with Classy Live

Modernizing the event experience with Classy Live

Rocky Mountain Public Media (RMPM) was looking for a flexible tool to elevate its tedious and manual event processes when it found Classy from GoFundMe. After learning more about Classy Live and its robust event functionality, RMPM decided to use it for the 19th annual Live at the Vineyards event, a signature fundraising event for KUVO JAZZ, RMPM’s FM radio jazz station. The team immediately prioritized upgrading attendance tracking from spreadsheets to a system that could digitally track email addresses, phone numbers, and silent auction bids, which wasn’t possible before.

Leveling up a signature event with insights from Classy experts

With the help of Classy’s Growth Strategists, event experts who shared best practices for increasing revenue, RMPM created the exact event flow the team had always imagined. From setting up the ticketing options to sponsored tables and external bidders, which weren’t possible before, the Classy team ensured that everything about Live at the Vineyards was optimized for RMPM.

Guidance from the Classy team, such as asking for email addresses and credit card information before the event, led to more accurate data collection and time saved on the day. With mobile attendee check-in, the RMPM team could get guests in the door quickly and have more time to meaningfully interact with them throughout the event, rather than creating bottlenecks by taking down and confirming information at check-in.

Some of the Classy Live features RMPM utilized at Live at the Vineyards included:

• Attendee check-in: Over 1,400 attendees were quickly checked in, either by a person or on their mobile phones.
• Texting: All attendees were sent a link to the silent auction and follow-ups throughout the event, including notifications about auction item bids and a thank-you for attending.
• Silent auction: For each of the 52 items, there was a corresponding QR code that bidders could scan to place their bids. Even external bidders who were not on-site at Live at the Vineyards could place bids.

Live at the Vineyards raised over $100,000 from ticket sales alone, a 30% increase from the previous year. It sold 48 of the 52 silent auction items and increased the dollars raised for auction items by 150% year over year!

Empowering donors to give forward on Giving Tuesday

With Giving Tuesday fast approaching, RMPM is considering how to make the most of this season of generosity by continuing to innovate to elevate community fundraising and activate supporters. The team is especially excited about the potential of Classy’s direct integration with Meta, which connects fundraising with donors’ preferred social channels and empowers donors to not only give back but also give forward through social sharing.