The Secret to Smart Gala Receipts: Understanding Fair Market Value (FMV)
You just hosted a fabulous gala, raised incredible funds, and now it's time for the equally important task: issuing tax receipts. But then you hit a common snag: Fair Market Value (FMV). What exactly is it for a big event like a gala? And how do you ensure your donors get the proper tax deduction?
Don't worry, you're not alone! This is one of the most frequently asked questions in nonprofit fundraising. Let's demystify it.
What is Fair Market Value (FMV) Anyway?
At its heart, FMV represents the commercial value of what a donor receives in return for their payment. Think of it this way: What would they pay if someone were not donating but instead bought a comparable experience commercially? That is the FMV.
This concept is critical for what the IRS calls "Quid Pro Quo Contributions"—where a donor gets something tangible back for their generosity (like a dinner, entertainment, or a gift bag at your gala).
Why it matters: For tax purposes, the charitable portion of a donor's payment is only the amount that exceeds this FMV. If a ticket costs $250 and the FMV of the benefits is $100, then only $150 is tax-deductible. If the FMV equals or exceeds the payment, there's no deduction for that particular contribution.
Gala Events: It's Not About Your Cost
Here's where it often gets tricky for galas. Many organizations mistakenly think the FMV is just the cost of the food or their total cost per person for the event. That's a common misconception!
For a gala, the FMV is not what your organization spent to put on the event. It's the commercial market value of the entire experience you provided to the attendees.
Think about it this way:
- The Meal: What would a comparable multi-course dinner with drinks cost at a nice restaurant or catering service in your area?
- The Entertainment: If you had a band, comedian, or special speaker, what's the market value of seeing that type of performance?
- The Atmosphere & Perks: Did attendees receive a valuable gift bag? Was there valet parking? What's the commercial value of these extras?
Even if a caterer donated the food or a venue offered a deep discount, you still need to estimate what a donor would pay for that same quality of food and venue experience if they bought it commercially.
So, How Do I Figure Out My Gala's FMV?
It comes down to a "good faith estimate" based on comparable commercial offerings. You will need to:
- Break down the benefits: List every tangible good or service an attendee receives (meal, entertainment, gift bag, etc.).
- Research commercial equivalents: Find out what similar quality items or services would cost from a non-charitable provider.
- Sum it up: Add the commercial values of all these components for a single attendee. This total is your per-person FMV.
Need More Details? We Have You Covered!
Calculating FMV accurately is key to your nonprofit's compliance and your donors' peace of mind. It shows transparency and helps ensure they can correctly claim their charitable deductions.
For a comprehensive guide, including detailed examples and step-by-step instructions on calculating FMV for all types of benefits, head over to our in-depth helpdesk article: Fair Market Value - Value of Goods and Services Received
By understanding and correctly applying FMV principles, you can streamline your post-gala operations and continue to build trust with your valuable supporters!
Read MoreStreamline Sponsor Registration: Introducing Pre-Assign Contact to Tickets (Beta)
We are excited to announce the beta release of our new Pre-Assign Contact to Tickets feature, designed to revolutionize sponsor registration and enhance overall event management. This powerful addition to Ticket Falcon addresses a crucial need for event organizers: ensuring accurate guest lists and simplifying the check-in process, especially for sponsored events and events utilizing our sub-event feature.
The Challenge of Sponsor Ticket Management:
Managing sponsor ticket allocations can be challenging. Our "sub-events" feature allows you to create private registration links, providing sponsors and other groups exclusive access to their allocated ticket blocks. This allows for controlled registration and ensures that reserved tickets are not publicly available. However, even with this targeted approach, sometimes sponsors or groups may not utilize all their allotted tickets. This can lead to gaps in your guest list, making it difficult to accurately gauge event capacity and plan effectively.
Our Solution: Pre-Assign Contact to Tickets
The Pre-Assign Contact to Tickets feature allows event organizers to:
- Quickly assign comped tickets: Bypass payment and pre-populate your guest list with attendees, saving valuable time and effort.
- Create Ticket Falcon accounts automatically: If the contact does not have an account, one will be created for them seamlessly. This allows the contact to manage the tickets and attendee information. Note: Ticket Falcon accounts are primarily used for ticket buyers or those managing tickets on behalf of others. Individual guests may not need a separate account unless they purchase or manage their tickets directly.
- Assign a single guest per submission: Maintain accuracy and organization in your guest list.
- Customize ticket types with sponsor names: For efficient check-in and sponsor recognition, include sponsor information directly on the ticket (e.g., "VIP | Sponsor: [Sponsor Name]").
- Ensure Full Utilization of Allocated Ticket Blocks for Sub-Events (Private Registrations): By allowing event organizers to pre-assign the remaining tickets within these private allocations, you can guarantee that your guest list is complete and accurate. This is crucial for precise capacity management, table assignments, and overall event planning.
- Empower sponsors and guests: Allow contact (ticket buyer) to manage their own attendee information and ticket distribution through their Ticket Falcon accounts.
- Improve check-in experience: With pre-registered guests, check-in becomes faster and smoother for attendees and staff.
How It Works for Sponsors:
Imagine a sponsor has a private link for 10 tickets but only registers 5. With the Pre-Assign Contact to Tickets feature, you can pre-assign the remaining 5 to ensure they are accounted for. This finalizes your guest list and leverages our existing communication tools, like reminder emails, to engage these newly assigned attendees. The guest assigned will be able to log in to their Ticket Falcon account to edit their attendee information or send the ticket to another guest. This process defaults the guest's name to "Guest of [Contact Person's First Name and Contact Person's Last Name]" (using the contact information provided in advance). This way, even if the attendee information is not edited, guests can still check in by giving the name of the person who invited them or registered on their behalf. Additionally, attendee survey questions are bypassed during this process since the tickets are pre-assigned.
Benefits for Event Organizers:
- Significant Time Savings: Eliminate the need for manual, one-by-one guest entry, freeing up valuable time for other crucial event-planning tasks.
- Accurate Guest Lists: Gain a more complete and accurate picture of event attendance, crucial for capacity management and planning.
- Streamlined Check-in: Reduce wait times and improve everyone's check-in experience.
- Enhanced Sponsor Management: Simplify sponsor registration and provide them with greater control over their guest lists.
- Improved Communication: Leverage our reminder email functionality to keep attendees informed and engaged.
- Better event planning: Knowing the exact number of people attending helps with table assignments, catering, and other important aspects of your event.
Ready to Streamline Your Sponsor Registration?
Event organizers can contact us to activate this beta feature and start experiencing its benefits. We appreciate your feedback during this phase.
Offer Flexible Ticket Pricing with Multi-Level Pricing for Reserved Seating
We are excited to announce a powerful new feature for reserved seating events: Multi-Level Pricing for Ticket Types. This enhancement allows event organizers to offer different ticket prices for the same seat based on attendee type (e.g., adult, child, senior, student). With this flexible pricing option, you can maximize your revenue and cater to a wider audience.
Previously, managing different ticket prices for reserved seating was complex. Now, you can easily define multi-level pricing for seats across your seating map.
How Does Multi-Level Pricing for Ticket Types Work?
It's streamlined and user-friendly. You can now set different prices based on the selected ticket type for any seat in your reserved seating layout. For example:
- Adult Tickets: Set your standard price for adult attendees.
- Child Tickets: Offer discounted pricing for children.
- Senior Tickets: Provide special rates for senior citizens.
- Student Tickets: Cater to students with reduced ticket prices.
Accessing Multi-Level Pricing:
You can access this feature directly from the Create/Edit Tickets page. Select Multi-Level (Tiered) Pricing from the Ticket Price Strategy dropdown menu. This will allow you to set different prices for each ticket type associated with your reserved seats.
The Benefits for You:
- Increased Revenue Potential: Capture a broader market by offering varied ticket prices for different demographics.
- Simplified Ticket Management: Easily manage variable pricing within ticket types without manual adjustments or complicated workarounds.
- Enhanced Reporting: Gain valuable insights into ticket sales by type, helping you optimize pricing strategies for future events.
The Benefits for Your Attendees:
- More Affordable Options: Attendees can select the ticket tier that best suits their age or status, making your event more accessible.
- Clear Pricing: Pricing is transparent and easy to understand, avoiding confusion and frustration at checkout.
- Greater Flexibility: Attendees appreciate having different ticket options for the same great seat location.
Ready to Get Started?
This feature is available now for all reserved seating events. We are confident that Multi-Level Pricing for ticket types will streamline your ticketing process and boost your event's success.
Read MoreMaximize Your Event Success with New Ticket Type Visibility Options
We are excited to announce powerful new ticket visibility features to help you take even greater control of your event promotion and sales. While the classic "Visible" and "Not Visible" options remain, we added three game-changing capabilities to give you more flexibility:
- Not Visible Once Sold Out: Automatically hide a ticket type once it's sold out.
- Visible Once Ticket Sales Start: Keep a ticket type hidden until the official sales launch.
- Not Visible Once Ticket Sales End: Ensure a ticket type disappears once sales close.
Why These Features Matter:
These new visibility options open up a world of possibilities for how you manage ticket sales and engage your audience:
1. Not Visible Once Sold Out
- Declutter Your Event Page: Keep your event page clean and focused by automatically removing sold-out ticket types. This prevents confusion and highlights the options that are still available.
- Create Urgency: When attendees see a ticket type disappear, it creates a sense of scarcity and encourages them to act quickly to secure their spot.
2. Visible Once Ticket Sales Start
- Build Anticipation: Generate excitement and buzz by keeping certain ticket types hidden until the official sales launch. This can be especially effective for early bird discounts or exclusive VIP packages.
- Control the Narrative: Focus your marketing efforts on specific ticket types at different stages of your event promotion.
3. Not Visible Once Ticket Sales End
- Streamline Post-Sale Management: Once sales have closed, ticket types are automatically hidden to avoid confusion and ensure that attendees see only relevant information.
- Focus on Attendee Experience: Once ticket sales are over, focus on providing the best possible experience for those who have already registered.
Use Cases and Creative Ideas:
- Early Bird Specials: Hide your discounted early bird tickets until your official sales launch to encourage early registrations.
- VIP Packages: Create a sense of exclusivity by revealing limited VIP packages only after a certain date or once general admission tickets reach a specific sales threshold.
- Flash Sales: Generate excitement with limited-time flash sales by making special ticket types visible only for a short period.
- Contests and Giveaways: Hide a special "contest winner" ticket type and reveal it only to the winners.
Start Using These New Features Today.
We encourage you to experiment with these new visibility options and discover how they can help you achieve your event goals. These options are located on the create/edit ticket types page.
Read MoreIntroducing Stock-Based Coupon Restrictions
The Power of Stock-Based Coupon Restrictions:
With our brand-new stock-based coupon restrictions, you can directly link your coupon redemptions to the stock available for your tickets/products. Let's illustrate this with a couple of scenarios:
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Scenario 1: Early Bird Discount: You're offering an "Early Bird" discount on a $100 ticket, but you only want to sell a maximum of 10 tickets at this special price. Previously, you'd have to monitor sales and manually deactivate the coupon closely. Now, set your coupon to be redeemable until ten tickets are purchased, and Ticket Falcon handles the rest!
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Scenario 2: Sponsor Registrations: Five sponsorships are available, each including a free event registration. With stock-based coupons, create a special "Sponsor" coupon code, set the stock limit to 5, and share it exclusively with your sponsors. They can now register themselves for free, and you have complete control over the number of sponsor spots filled.
Benefits for Event Organizers:
This new feature unlocks a whole new world of promotional possibilities:
- Precise Inventory Control: Run flash sales, limited-time offers, or exclusive discounts with confidence, knowing your inventory is protected.
- Boost Early Sales: Encourage quick action with limited-quantity deals, creating a sense of urgency and excitement around your event.
- Enhanced Flexibility: Experiment with different coupon strategies to find what resonates most with your audience.
- Streamlined Sponsor Management: Simplify the sponsor registration process and ensure they receive their complimentary tickets.
- Seamless Experience: No more manual coupon management. Ticket Falcon automates the process, saving you time and effort.
We are committed to continuously advancing Ticket Falcon to meet the evolving needs of event organizers. Stock-based coupon restrictions are a testament to that commitment. We're excited to see how you leverage this new tool to create even more successful events.
Skip the Sign-Up, Score the Tickets: Guest Checkout Now Default on Ticket Falcon!
We're thrilled to announce a change that makes buying tickets and registering for events on Ticket Falcon even smoother! We've listened to your feedback and are excited to share that guest checkout is now the default option during our checkout process.
This means you can purchase/register tickets without creating an account or remembering a password. Simply add your ticket(s) to your cart, breeze through checkout, and prepare for an unforgettable experience.
Here's why you'll love guest checkout:
- Lightning-fast checkout: No more passwords to create unless you want to. Get your tickets instantly.
- Focus on what matters: Spend less time checking out and more time getting ready for your event.
- Security guaranteed: Rest assured, our secure checkout process keeps your information safe.
Of course, creating an account is still available if you prefer to manage your past purchases and upcoming events in one place. But when you want to purchase tickets on the go, guest checkout is here to make your experience on Ticket Falcon seamless.
Get ready for a checkout experience that's as exciting as the event itself.
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