Fundraising Fuel
How to Plan, Execute, and Maximize Impact on Your Next Nonprofit Event
Learn how to connect donors to causes through shared guest experiences
Kristin Watkins
Founder, Stephanie Rose Events
Planning a nonprofit fundraising gala is one of the most rewarding things your organization does all year. It’s also one of the most complex. You’re managing donor expectations, Board hopes, budget pressure, a hundred vendor details, and the weight of representing your mission in a single evening. I’ve planned these events from both sides of the table, and I wrote this book because I know exactly how much easier it gets when you have the right roadmap.
Nonprofit professionals are stretched thin. I know, because I’ve been one. You’re wearing five hats before 9am, and gala planning is just one of them. But here’s what 20-plus years of doing this has taught me: the most successful galas are not won on event night. They’re won in the months before, with the right strategy and the right preparation already in place.
I wrote Fundraising Fuel: How to Plan, Execute, and Maximize Impact on Your Next Nonprofit Event to give you that roadmap. It’s a practical, no-fluff guide to planning galas that actually perform. Because when you do the groundwork right, you don’t just meet your goals. You blow past them. And that’s a feeling I want every nonprofit leader to experience.
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I’m Kristin Watkins, the founder of Stephanie Rose Events and the author of this book. I’ve spent more than two decades working with nonprofit organizations across the country, and I’ve raised millions of dollars through fundraising galas that were beautiful, strategic, and built to perform. I’ve sat in the Executive Director’s chair. I’ve managed the Board expectations and the donor relationships and the vendor chaos, all at the same time. I’ve stood in the back of a ballroom at the end of a gala night watching the revenue board light up and felt that specific, incredible feeling of knowing we got it right. I wrote Fundraising Fuel because every nonprofit leader deserves to walk into their event with that same confidence.
When I’m not planning events, you’ll find me planning my next adventure. I’ve traveled to 19 countries and all 50 states, and I’m convinced that experiencing how different cultures celebrate has quietly shaped every event I’ve ever produced. At the end of the day, I believe the most powerful thing an event can do is bring people together, create shared experiences, and fill a room with genuine laughter and joy. I’m also a self-described genealogy nerd and a grower of heirloom seeds — I like knowing where things come from, whether it’s my family roots or my tomatoes. I bring all of that curiosity and care to this work, every single day.