Your gala has more great ideas than it has time.

I see this ALL the time.

We want to add another speaker. Another story. Another video. Another recognition moment. Another fundraising activity. And honestly, they can all be really great ideas.

The problem is, we only have so much time with our guests.

Every time we add something to the live program, we?re deciding how to use some of the most valuable minutes we have with hundreds of our donors sitting in one room.

So one of the gala performance metrics I look at after my events is Revenue Per Minute of Program Time.

Basically: How much time did we give something in the program, and what did we get from those minutes?

Think About Your Program Minutes Like Money

Here?s how I want you to think about this.

Imagine you get dropped off somewhere you?ve always wanted to visit. Paris. South Africa. Wherever your dream destination is.

And someone hands you 100 one-dollar bills.

That?s it. That?s all the money you get for the entire day, and your job is to use it to create the most incredible experience possible.

You?d probably be REALLY thoughtful about how you spent those dollars.

Do I want to spend $20 on this? Is this worth $10? If I spend $30 here, what am I not going to be able to do later?

Because once those dollars are gone, they?re gone.

Your gala program works the same way.

You only get so many live program minutes.

And during those minutes, you have hundreds of people sitting in a room who care about your organization. This is your chance to help them understand the mission more deeply, get them excited about being part of it, and yes, raise some money.

That time is incredibly valuable.

So, What Is Each Minute Producing?

After my events, one of the things I look at is Revenue Per Minute of Program Time.

The calculation itself is pretty simple.

How long did the live auction take? How long was the paddle raiser? How much time did we spend on an additional fundraising game?

Then, how much money did each one raise?

And I want to be really clear here: this does NOT mean every minute of your gala has to make money.

That?s not the point.

A story might deserve five minutes because it connects your guests to the mission in a way nothing else can. A recognition moment might be really important to your organization. There may be a game your guests absolutely LOVE.

Great.

Revenue Per Minute just gives us another piece of information when we?re deciding what deserves those minutes.

Here?s a Real Example

At one of my events, I spent nine minutes facilitating Heads or Tails.

If you?ve never seen Heads or Tails, it?s a fun little fundraising game. Guests pay to play, I flip a coin, people choose heads or tails, and eventually we get down to one winner.

At this particular event, it raised $450.

So we spent nine minutes to make $450.

That comes out to $50 per minute.

Now, in the real world, making $50 a minute sounds AMAZING.

Until I tell you what happened later in the program.

Our paddle raiser raised $75,000 in 14 minutes.

That?s more than $5,300 per minute.

So now I?m looking at:

$50 per minute versus $5,300 per minute.

That?s a VERY different conversation.

Does That Mean We Never Play Heads or Tails Again?

No.

And this is something I really want to emphasize with all of these gala performance metrics.

They aren?t hard and fast rules.

I?m not going to look at those numbers and automatically tell you Heads or Tails has to go.

Maybe your guests LOVE it. Maybe it creates incredible energy in the room. Maybe there?s another really good reason it belongs in your program.

I just want us to know what that reason is.

Because if we?re going to give something nine minutes of our live program, I want us to understand why those nine minutes are worth it.

And I also want us asking: What else could we do with them?

Could we tell one more incredible story of impact?

Could we help our guests understand the mission a little more deeply?

Could we give a few of those minutes back to one of the highest-performing parts of the program?

There isn't one right answer for every gala. But now we have more information to help us make the decision.

Every Time You Add Something, You?re Taking Time From Something Else

This is the part I think gala planning committees sometimes forget.

When someone says, ?It?s only five minutes,? those five minutes have to come from somewhere.

And five minutes here, seven minutes there, another nine minutes for a game...pretty soon we?ve built a VERY long program.

Meanwhile, our guests only have so much attention to give us.

So the goal isn?t to fit every great idea into your program.

It?s to make really thoughtful decisions about the time you have.

Look at the money something raises. Look at the energy it creates. Look at participation. Look at how it supports your mission and your goals for the night.

And yes, look at Revenue Per Minute of Program Time.

I

t?s one more piece of information that helps you decide what really deserves a spot.

Because your gala has more great ideas than it has time.

And I want every one of those valuable live program minutes working as hard as possible for your mission.

???????Before you add another fundraising activity to your gala, watch our video on choosing additional fundraising activities and whether they?re actually worth adding to your event.