A Compelling Case For Serving Great Wine at a Nonprofit Event

A Compelling Case for Serving Great Wine at a Nonprofit Event

Bryce Sanders, President

Perceptive Business Solutions Inc.

Serving great wines is not a high hurdle.  For some reason, the organizers of fundraising galas stock top shelf liquor, but often buy low quality wine or unknown brands.  It is easy to make the case to excel in this area.  It can drive current and future revenue in several ways.

Lets define great wine.  At a cocktail party or gala sit down dinner you are not going to serve the Napa cabernets you see at steakhouses or the high end Burgundies costing in the hundreds at retail.  The reason is unexpected simple.  There are too many distractions.  People are talking.  Canapes are passed.  The wine glasses are the type caterers provide, not the specially designed stemware wine fans use at home.  You want to avoid the wines people have never heard of or the generic varietals from a producer of negotiant known for bargain basement offerings.  Some people might use the term wine snob, which is derogatory.  A fairer expression is brand awareness.  Certain regions have a reputation for quality.  Put another way, there are Napa Valley cabernets that are affordably by regular people.

Here is an interesting exercise.  Do some internet research on the ultra luxury cruise lines offering all inclusive wine packages onboard.  You know the ones: “wine is included.”  Dig around their websites.  You should find a few that show the wines they are pouring.  You might be surprised to find some are in the $10 to $25/bottle range retail!  You were impressed by the names and regions.  That’s the effect you are going for when you host an event.

We recently followed this strategy at the annual member appreciation event for the nonprofit where my wife and I are active.  We underwrote the wine and made the selections ourselves.  We featured five wines at the bar. As the membership chair, I wanted to thank everyone for joining or renewing.  The easiest way to meet as many people as possible was to bartend!  I filled that role for almost three hours.

We served five wines:

·         Red Bordeaux (merlot and cabernet blend) About $13/retail

·         White Bordeaux (Primarily Sauvignon Blanc) About $13 retail.

·         Red Burgundy (Marsannay, a pinot noir) About $25/bottle

·         White Burgundy (Chablis Premier Cru, a chardonnay) Normally these are $45+ a bottle.  Costco carries one under their Kirkland label, priced about $18.

·         Bandol Rose (South of France, Mourvedre and Grenache grape)  The best are $25 to $60, but this was a closeout that was much less.

The lesson here is the major words are Bordeaux and Burgundy.  People associate those names with quality.  To let people know it was an open bar and they were welcome back, after naming each one, I would ask: “Where would you like to start?” 

To my surprise, people didn’t switch.  They picked one and kept coming back for refills.  They gave feedback like “That’s really good” and “I’ll have more of that one!”

How does this help the organization?

1.      Value:  People feel they are getting their money’s worth if they bought tickets to the event.

2.      Word of mouth:  People will talk it up.  “They served great wines!”  It will become a legend.  People compare the pros and cons of different events.  I envision people saying: “This is a good event, but the wines aren’t as good as those served at (your) event…”

3.      Future ticket sales.  If you have another gala or event coming up, the memory of the great experience might drive ticket sales.  This would be helped by “The people selecting the wines at (that) event will also be selecting the wines at (nest) event.

4.      Drive renewals.  People who liked the member appreciation event will want to come back next year.  This should boost renewals.

5.      Drive new memberships.  The people who attended will, tell their friends who did not.  It’s likely wine fans will tell other wine fans.  This should boost the flow of new members.

Cost is always a factor.  To my surprise, people drank less than I expected.  Over a two to three hour period, I thought 120 guests would average half a bottle each or 60 bottles.  They actually consumed about 25 bottles.  There were a couple of beer drinkers and some people chose still or sparkling water.

Regarding cost, with a nonprofit event, it might not be difficult to get someone to underwrite the wine.  They get listed in the publicity and signage, plus thanked during the spoken part of the program.

It might sound like an afterthought, but serving better wine at your next nonprofit event can boost your future bottom line.

Bryce Sanders is president of Perceptive Business Solutions Inc.  He provides HNW client acquisition training for the financial services industry.  His book, “Captivating the Wealthy Investor” is available on Amazon.