Who doesn’t love saving time and money when planning an event? Waivers can save you money before and after a fundraising event by preparing attendees for what to expect. They’ll also help protect your organization from legal liability and set you up with important information that will empower you to stay connected with donors after the event.
Waivers can include all kinds of coverage for your event, so let's dive into the essential components of a waiver for your next fundraising event!
Essential Components of Fundraising Event Waiver
- Online Accessibility
- List of Responsibilities
- Release of Liability
- Photo Release Agreement
- Contact Information Section
Online Accessibility
Ending an event by scouring the venue for every piece of paper that might be a signed waiver, not to mention organizing all your loose pens, is not many people’s idea of fun. Be sure that your forms are online to avoid disorganization and chaos from physical paperwork.
Online waivers cut the costs of paper, pens, physical storage, and save you time by automatically transferring records to your database as opposed to photocopying or manual input. Using online waivers also makes communication more accessible for those with motor or visual impairments, as they have more options to view your waiver on their own devices.
Rechairity’s waiver guide can help you choose the online waiver software that will both streamline the waiver-signing process and help protect your next event from any legal trouble. Look for a provider that offers valuable features like accessibility, easy organization, donor contact lists, and secure data.
List of Responsibilities
Waivers can provide volunteers and guests with expectations for the event they’re attending. When they know what to expect, there hopefully won’t be any unhappy surprises when it comes to the day of.
Clearly listing out responsibilities can help supporters decide if they would rather contribute their time or effort in a different way.
Volunteer activities
Your volunteers committed their time to you because they support your mission, so it is helpful to provide information about their responsibilities prior to the day of. Offer information about shift lengths (e.g., “Shift will be from 4-6 PM”), physical strength needs (e.g., “Must be able to lift 15 pounds”), and attire information (e.g., “Please wear closed-toed shoes and gloves.”) This can make volunteer activities more accessible, in case volunteers have needs that require a position change.
This can make your event more efficient. If you have people fully prepared to help, you have a better idea of who will show up and who will be in charge of certain tasks.
Attendee activities
You fundraiser participants sign up and contribute to your cause because they are excited for your fun event. They would be disappointed to arrive only to find out they can’t participate. Include a list of anticipated activities for the event in your waiver so there are no surprises for your guests. Go through your event itinerary to identify information that people may want to know of ahead of time, such as:
- Length of event. Guest attendance can affect pledged funds or may impact their experience. Detail how long your event is planned for so attendees can make proper arrival and departure arrangements.
- Any physical activities. Be specific about activities that involve physical movement, especially those during race events like running, walking, lifting, or obstacle courses.
- Possible food allergens present. Take extra care to highlight food and beverage allergens that may be present in any food.
By including these activities on your waiver, you can get everyone on the same page for expectations of the event day. You can get back to what matters most on the day of the event—having fun, educating people about your mission, and raising funds for your next initiative.
Release of Liability
Spare yourself from legal headaches by including a release of liability in your event waivers. Including this in your online waivers will protect your nonprofit from liability in the unfortunate circumstance that there is an injury or damage to attendee’s property. For example, sports liability forms can be used to protect your organization in case of participant injury or damage to their equipment. This is an agreement between your organization and your attendees that they are prepared for the event and take responsibility for their activities and actions during the event.
Photo Release Agreement
Some of the best marketing materials for your nonprofit come from engagements with real donors, volunteers, and guests. To be sure that you can show images of your community from your event, include a photo release agreement section in your online waiver. A photo release agreement will allow you to use photos taken at the event that include people who signed the form.
Once signed, these images can be used in any of your storytelling materials like advertisements, social media, or online graphics for promotion of your organization. If any guests are minors, highlight the requirement for a guardian to sign the photo release agreement. Take care to strike images that include people who did not sign the form. There is nothing worse than complaints about images after you’ve used them across all of your marketing platforms!
Contact Information Section
Waivers are the perfect tools to naturally collect contact information from donors and attendees. Include a contact section that asks for personal information, like:
- Full names
- Phone number
- Preferred form of communication
- Whether they would like to receive further information or updates
You can easily collect this donor data and store it in your online directory for future reference. You’ll be able to add many new donors and prospective donors to your directory just by having attendees complete your online waiver! This is invaluable information that you can use to create audience lists for your next fundraising campaign, helping you maximize the use of your donor data.
No one anticipates anything going wrong at their fundraising event, but it’s always better to be safe than sorry. Add an online waiver to save your future self frustration. Using waiver software to create your documents gives you access to a full range of customizable waiver templates like Smartwaiver’s sports liability waiver, activity waivers, or even race and event waivers.
Once you have online waivers as part of your event registration or sign-in process, you’ll be able to update attendees on prospective activities, record donor information, and provide event details in an accessible format.
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