Bridging ticketing and fundraising through a unified platform
Fundraising organizations rely on both ticketing and auctions to engage guests and raise donations. They were closely connected in practice, but existed as separate products in the platform. Linked Events connected them, creating one journey for organizations, attendees, and event staff.
The problem
Attendees and bidders were managed separately, so staff prepared the same guests twice by hand.
The shift
Let a ticketing event link to a fundraising event, so guests flow from attendee to bidder.
The result
Less manual setup and guests ready to bid before event day.
When product friction became a retention problem
Organizations use ticketing and auctions together, but the platform treated them as separate workflows. As organizations prepared for events, staff were forced to manually bridge the gap between attendees and fundraising participants.
Separate lists
Attendees and bidders were managed separately.
Manual setup
Event preparation relied on manual setup and coordination.
Scattered info
Guest information was spread across disconnected experiences.
What I aimed to achieve
Connect ticketing and fundraising
Create a clear relationship between attendees, bidders, and fundraising activities.
Reduce manual preparation
Minimize the admin work needed to prepare guests for fundraising.
Improve event-day readiness
Help organizations prepare attendees before guests arrive.
Constraints
Existing architecture
Ticketing and fundraising already existed as separate products.
Flexible workflows
Organizations use different event structures, bidder setups, and processes.
Shared guest data
Changes had to work across attendee, bidder, paddle number, and payment workflows.
Organizations saw one guest journey, the platform saw two products
Through conversations with Customer Experience teams and fundraising organizations, we found that preparing guests for fundraising required work across multiple disconnected experiences.
The platform treated ticketing and fundraising as separate, but organizations viewed them as a single guest journey:
Linking ticketing and fundraising events
A gala's ticketing event and its auction were two separate events with no relationship.
Linked Events lets a ticketing event connect to a fundraising event.
Creating a shared attendee-to-bidder journey
Attendees and bidders were managed independently, creating duplicate setup and admin work.
Attendees can be prepared for fundraising through connected event workflows.
From separate events to a connected guest journey
Reduced setup
Organizations no longer prepared attendees for fundraising by hand across disconnected events.
Better readiness
Attendees could be prepared for bidding before event day.
A foundation
It set up attendee-to-bidder workflows, payment sharing, paddle assignment, and future fundraising features.
Design around customer workflows, not product boundaries.
One event, not two products
Organizations saw ticketing and fundraising as a single event. That distinction redefined how the platform supported them.
Remove setup work
The biggest challenge wasn't new fundraising features. It was eliminating the manual work before event day.
Connections open doors
Linking events created room for bidder preparation, payment sharing, and deeper integrations.