Worcester Business Journal

wbjournal.com | October 14, 2019 | Worcester Business Journal 17 By Julie Bowditch Bowditch is the advancement officer for community fundraising at UMass Medical School & UMass Memorial Medical Center in Worcester. Reach her at julie.bowditch@umassmed.edu. 10) Form a strong committee. As with most endeavors, being surrounded by the right people is key. Find volunteers with energy, a diverse skill set, and the ability to commit to the planning and execution of the event. 9) Choose the perfect venue. Every event has different needs. How many guests are you expect- ing? Is the parking sufficient? Are there enough bathrooms? Is accessibility prohibitive? What out- side vendors will be required? Ask these questions before determining where to host the event. 8) Set goals. It is important to know what your resources are and what you expect the event to net. Create a realistic budget and set manageable but optimistic fundraising goals. Break down your goals into categories such as ticket sales, sponsorships and auction revenues. 7) Are you not entertained? How will you keep your guests captivated? Will there be a special speaker or celebrity? Are you planning music, danc- ing, comedy or another form of theatrics? 6) Get the right people in the room. Anyone can fill a room, but having the most engaged guests/ attendees present will set you up for the most suc- cessful outcome. Spend some time contemplating this as you form your initial guest list and reach out personally or even offer to comp the tickets of the top tier of potential or past donors. 5) Every auction is not created equal. There are many interesting and unique ways to run a raffle or live/silent auction, but there can be plenty of pitfalls, too. Bidder fatigue can occur when you oversaturate; package smaller items together if needed. Know your audience. Be sure the auction is a central focus of the event both in the space layout and in your timeline. 4) Sponsorship should be your highest ROI. Event sponsors, when solicited appropriately, will cover all of your event costs and then some. 3) Promote, promote, promote! The kiss of death on any event are the words "I didn't even know that was happening!" Ouch. Utilize email, social media, strategically placed flyers (depending on the event), and send out a press release. Ensure your messaging and graphics are concise, dynamic and consistent across all media sources. 2) Thank your supporters. This is probably the step most often overlooked; yet, one of the most valuable. A person who feels appreciated will always do more than what is expected. 1) Love your cause. The most vital piece of any fundraising effort is to be passionate about what it benefits. If the charity your event supports does not have a mission lighting your soul on fire, you will have a very difficult time convincing anyone else they should contribute. K N O W H O W Return-to-work programs benefit companies & employees 10 1: T A C K L I N G T A R I F F S T ariffs – also known as import duties – are taxes levied when products are shipped from one country into another. Tariff increases on Chinese goods have been in the news lately; U.S. companies using imported materials are impacted via their supply chains. How can businesses, especially smaller ones, handle the effects? Search for new suppliers. Vetting alternate suppliers is something your business should do regularly anyway, says Vanessa Merit Nornberg, president of New York City body jewelry supply company Metal Mafia. Looking for new ways to do things well ensures quality. "Looking outside of your usual production areas may be the way to go," she tells Inc.com, with exploration of alternate suppliers a way to safeguard your supply chain. Know your pricing, Lyneir Richardson of Rutgers Business School tells BusinessNewsDaily.com. Business owners should be aware what costs cannot be absorbed and if any expenses can be reduced to offset tariff hikes. "Raising prices is a dangerous game … Sometimes a price hike might be necessary to stay profitable when suppliers increase the cost of doing business, but it could keep customers away, damaging revenue," he notes. Richardson advises business owners research how their prices compare with the market average. Communicate with customers on tariffs every step of the way, says Ari Zoldan of New York's Quantum Media Group. He says you cannot overcommunicate on this issue. "If … you are unable to absorb or offset the rising costs of tariffs, you'll need to pass on the excess to your customers in the form of price increases," Zoldan tells Inc.com. "Understanding what they are willing to accept and making clear to them your rationale for doing so are important aspects of retaining their business." He warns revenue will sink if you hike prices too high and lose customers, making higher operating expenses much more difficult to handle. 10 T H I NG S I know about . . . ... Running a successful fundraiser BY MATT PILLSBURY Special to the Worcester Business Journal M any business owners think it is better to have someone out on worker's comp than to pay them for a lesser job. Aer all, worker's comp will pay for them to be out. e reality is it costs at least twice as much to put in a worker's comp case based on the large premium increase losses cause. It is far better to bring someone back to work, in almost any capacity, than to have them out collecting worker's comp. In almost all cases, it is better for the employee and the employer if the employee continues working. is seems counterintuitive, so let's look at what an injured employee can do and what that means for your worker's comp costs. Let's say, for example, an employee who does manual labor is injured on the job. is person may need to work a desk job until they are cleared to resume more physically demanding work. is person may not be doing as valuable work as they were before, but this is still cheaper than the rate increase you'd see on your worker's comp insurance. Remember, losses stay with your experience for three years, so losses are not a one-time thing. Every employer should create a job bank of different roles people could perform while adjusting back to their previous job. ink about ways to do things less physically demanding or less stressful. Studies show once people are engaged, they are more likely going to try to be more and more useful on the job. ere is no evidence people will try to stay doing the less demanding job as long as possible. In fact, just the opposite is true. In the case of temporary injuries, the employee will not make as much money while being out on worker's comp as they would if they continued to work. For this reason, as well as many others, your employee will want to resume work as soon as they possibly can. Getting your employee back to work should be treated as part of your wellness program. You are providing an opportunity for them to continue getting full pay and benefits a short time aer injury. You recognize the need to recover and are sensitive to your employee working their way back to normal workloads in a respectful way. You can get employee buy-in by letting them help you design different jobs in your job pool. Let them understand this allows workers to keep full pay and benefits while being sensitive to their injury and their need to work their way back to their normal position. Remember, in most cases, it costs an employer at least 200% of their workers' comp costs through lost wage payments. A good return-to- work (or stay-at-work) program will be a great incentive to get employees back to work quickly and help create a positive attitude. Matt Pillsbury is a workers' compensation specialist with Knight-Dik Insurance in Worcester. He can be reached at mpillsbury@knightdik.com. BY SUSAN SHALHOUB Special to the Worcester Business Journal W W W

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