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Nonprofit event planning checklist
A working checklist for the people, deadlines and handoffs behind a community event, charity gala or member gathering. Start with the goal, give each task an owner, and carry the plan through event day and follow-up.
Prepared by ADGEvents. Suggested roles and timing are planning prompts; adapt them to your team, venue and program. This template does not replace your organization’s financial, safety or privacy procedures.
How to use this checklist
- Open the CSV in Excel, Google Sheets or your preferred spreadsheet tool. It contains the same tasks and notes shown below.
- Replace each suggested owner with a named person. Fill in the due date and status columns, then add program-specific tasks.
- Review open items with your team. If you use ADGEvents, create the relevant event tasks and assign owners manually; this file is not an automatic task import.
Phase 1 · Start here
Define the event
Set the purpose and constraints before booking suppliers or opening registration.
Agree on the purpose and measures of success
Suggested owner: Program lead
Write down the community outcome, audience and attendance target. For a fundraiser, distinguish gross proceeds from the net amount after event costs and provider fees.
Build a budget and approval process
Suggested owner: Finance lead
Record venue, catering, accessibility, insurance, staffing and contingency costs. Name the person who approves spending and the person who reconciles the final records.
Confirm the venue, date and access requirements
Suggested owner: Event lead
Check capacity, accessible routes, transport, setup time, cancellation terms and any approvals your organization needs. Record decisions and unresolved questions.
Assign work and decide where records belong
Suggested owner: Event lead
Give each task an owner and due date. Agree where donor records, registration data and supplier documents belong, and which team members need access.
Phase 2 · Before invitations
Prepare registration and partners
Test the attendee experience and make the handoffs between your tools explicit.
Publish clear event and registration information
Suggested owner: Registration lead
Include the correct time zone, venue, capacity, arrival instructions and contact for questions. Keep forms focused on the information needed to run the program.
Test a complete registration on a phone
Suggested owner: Registration lead
Complete a sample free registration, locate the attendee record and test QR check-in with an authorized account. Check the event and organization before inviting real attendees.
Confirm the live payment or donation process
Suggested owner: Finance lead
Paid tickets require approved live Stripe Connect setup. Online event and trip donations require your configured live organization Stripe account; staff can record cash/check gifts. Check the public donation link and staff permissions. Payment acknowledgments are not tax receipts; arrange tax documentation and auction processing separately.
Record sponsor promises and deadlines
Suggested owner: Sponsorship lead
List the logo, signage, program mention or other agreed benefit, its due date and the person responsible. Have staff verify completion and retain appropriate evidence.
Phase 3 · Before event week
Prepare the team
Give staff and volunteers enough detail to act without sharing unnecessary personal information.
Review volunteer applications and outstanding questions
Suggested owner: Volunteer coordinator
Request missing information, record approval decisions and complete any separate screening or training required by your organization.
Confirm shifts, leads and arrival instructions
Suggested owner: Volunteer coordinator
Identify meeting points, breaks, accessibility arrangements and a contact for absence or late arrival. Ask leads to review gaps and plan cover.
Build and rehearse the run of show
Suggested owner: Production lead
Give each cue a start time, action and responsible person. Confirm speaker, supplier and venue dependencies, and decide which times are hard stops.
Review permissions and the contingency plan
Suggested owner: Event lead
Test the actual devices and venue network. Arrange a controlled offline fallback, identify who can access attendee data and limit copies to people who need them.
Phase 4 · Event day
Run the event
Use the agreed plan while recording changes for the people who need to act on them.
Brief staff and check in volunteers
Suggested owner: Volunteer coordinator
Confirm who has arrived, fill critical gaps and repeat the escalation and safety instructions. Make the current schedule easy for leads to find.
Open attendee check-in
Suggested owner: Registration lead
Test scanners before doors open. Assign someone to attendee lookup and exceptions so a question at the desk does not leave the queue without support.
Call the program and verify sponsor delivery
Suggested owner: Production lead
Have the designated lead manage timing changes. Record completed sponsor benefits and any follow-up needed instead of assuming the planned delivery happened.
Phase 5 · After the event
Follow up and improve
Close outstanding commitments and preserve the lessons your next coordinator will need.
Reconcile attendance and financial records
Suggested owner: Finance lead
Review registrations, confirmed donations, refunds and recorded cash/check gifts. Verify supplier costs and processor fees, then reconcile any external donation or auction reports before reporting results.
Send appropriate follow-up and gather feedback
Suggested owner: Communications lead
Review recipient lists and consent, thank participants and volunteers, and gather feedback. Do not automatically add event attendees to unrelated marketing lists.
Review retention, access and next steps
Suggested owner: Event lead
Close completed tasks, record unresolved commitments and review who still needs access. Follow your retention policy for exports and sensitive information, then document improvements for the next program.
Turn the checklist into a shared event plan
ADGEvents brings event tasks, free registration, volunteers, sponsors and schedules into a workspace. Live paid tickets require approved Stripe Connect setup. Event and trip donations use your configured live organization Stripe account or staff-recorded cash/check gifts. Donation tax receipts and auction processing are not yet available.