Why Use Event Management Software?

If your school, church, or non-profit organization is running its auction, golf tournament, or other fundraising event manually, here are six ways you can benefit by using event management software like Tofino™:

1. It cuts check-out time and errors.  It’s a sad truth that no matter how successful a fundraising event is – no matter how much fun your patrons had – a bad check-out experience can trump the successes. And it is so very easy for a manual check-out system to go awry: a volunteer doesn’t show up, a stack of bid sheets goes missing, a harried volunteer misfiles a few items, an unexpected wave of patrons want to check out early. . . Good event management software helps ensure that the check-out process is quick and easy. Your patrons (and volunteers) will leave remembering the evening’s highlights – and looking forward to next year’s event.
2. It helps you make the most out of your volunteer's time.   Consider what you could accomplish if you didn’t have to do the “busy work” of manual event management. Manual tasks such as continually updating and distributing donation lists, creating bid sheets, and organizing the manual check-out system can consume a lot of volunteer time. Imagine what your event might look like if volunteers used those same hours to make more personal solicitations of big ticket donations, to form a more audacious publicity and promotion plan, and/or to create the “special touches” that will make your event unique and spur your patrons to feel especially generous.
3. It speeds up your learning curve.  If you’re running an auction or other fundraiser manually, your event is probably young or small or both – which means that your volunteer base is probably also inexperienced. Event mangement software can boost your learning curve: good event management software will help you collect and organize the right information (not too much, not too little) and prevent problems that can overwhelm and discourage volunteers.
4. It reduces duplication of effort, and your last-minute workload.  Good event management software creates a common record that multiple volunteers can utilize – so you won’t be faced with trying to reconcile one volunteer’s spreadsheet of donated items with another volunteer’s handwritten list of thank you notes sent. Good event management software will also automate some of the most time consuming tasks which are ideally tackled just prior to the event (ie. printing bid sheets and item descriptions for auction displays) or after the event when everyone is exhausted (ie. check-out, sending donor thank-you letters).
5. It creates “institutional memory”.  Good event management software can help ease the transition between management teams by offering an easily accessible reference to past events – from donor and attendee lists to timelines to donation and sales histories.
6. It helps you track your progress.Good event management software makes it easy to assess your event’s progress. How many donations have you received – both in quantity and retail value? Do you have the desired mix of donations? How are ticket sales?

Why Use Tofino™ Auctions?

Like all good event management software, Tofino provides effective solutions to the challenges described above. But Tofino outperforms other software in four key areas:

1. Tofino is easy to use. Really. Tofino was designed for organizations that won’t have an IT department standing by to assist them. Even folks that consider themselves technology-challenged are comfortable using Tofino. But don’t take our word for it, take the tour or contact us for a demo, and see for yourself.
2. Tofino is web-based. Because every member of your team can access Tofino from their home computer, job assignments can be shared, and every team member has instant access to the most current information posted. And Tofino’s on-line catalog feature allows all potential guests to preview the donations as they are received.
3. Tofino is flexible. Tofino works with all of the major web-browsers, on a wide range of computers (PC, Mac and Linux). Tofino does not require any proprietary hardware; it can use your organization's printers and common, inexpensive card readers. And Tofino reports can be easily exported to text, csv or Microsoft Excel™ files. Tofino also works with any credit-card processor you want to use, which leads us to...
4. Tofino is affordable. Tofino is priced for small, volunteer-run fundraising events. Your first year, a Tofino subscription costs your organization $995. You can run multiple (consecutive) events, and an unlimited number of online auctions. There are no charges for “additional” users, and no upgrade charges. You can renew your subscription each year thereafter for $695. And as mentioned above, Tofino works with the credit-card processor you prefer. If you don't have one, we can provide a turnkey package (contact us for rates), but you can also set up your own account with someone else.

Tofino™, Tofino Auctions™ and the Tofino™ logo are trademarks of Northworld, L.L.C. All text and images copyright © 2007, 2008 Northworld, L.L.C. All rights reserved.