Exploring the Role of Special Events in Relationship Fundraising

ABSTRACT

The relationship fundraising paradigm conceptualizes charitable giving as an outcome of ongoing interpersonal engagement between donors and organizations, often depicted in practice as a cyclical process with multiple phases. This study examines how special events—a widely used but understudied relationship fundraising tool—factor into this cycle and whether they are associated with gift‐giving. We analyze whether the number of events attended and event characteristics—length, intensity, and intimacy—shape three dimensions of giving: any gift, gift amount, and major gift likelihood. Using longitudinal data from a university foundation, we find that event participation operates as a cumulative mechanism, with repeated attendance strongly associated with donor giving, and more modestly associated with gift amount, but only weakly linked to major gift outcomes. Event characteristics exhibit distinct temporal dynamics: event intimacy is positively associated with near‐term giving but attenuates over time, while longer and more intensive events are associated with increased participation over extended horizons but do not promote major gift conversion. Rather, major gifts are better predicted by intense one‐on‐one engagement with staff as well as donor wealth. These findings suggest that events play a differentiated role in the fundraising cycle—facilitating broad engagement and early‐stage relationship development while remaining secondary to donor capacity and individualized cultivation in generating major gifts. The study advances theory by introducing a temporal and conditional perspective on event‐based engagement and offers practical guidance for aligning event strategies with donor development pathways.