Selling Event Tickets and Maximizing Impact as a Nonprofit

Welcome to the “Success Stories” section of the Ecwid blog, where we proudly present inspiring stories of business owners who use Ecwid by Lightspeed. Get ready to connect with like-minded entrepreneurs and discover valuable insights on using Ecwid to grow your business.

What is Aspen Gay Ski Week?

Aspen Gay Ski Week (AGSW) is a week-long gay ski event that has been taking place in Aspen, Colorado, for 47 years. The event is one of Aspen’s largest LGBTQ+ non-profit fundraisers.

45th Aspen Gay Ski Week Parade

All of the funds raised help support AspenOUT’s free mental health counseling, college scholarships, and grants to nonprofit organizations in the LGBTQ+ community.

AGSW has been using our ecommerce solution for the past 4 years and has recently adopted Lightspeed Payments as their payment provider for ticket sales.

3,750+ participants annually come to Aspen to celebrate, make connections, and ski. The organization also partners with local retailers and restaurant owners who help support the community, Lightspeed being one of them.

Aspen Gay Ski Week 2022 – Downhill Contest

Let’s look at how AGSW uses Ecwid’s shopping cart to sell tickets in order to maximize funds for their nonprofit and grow their fundraising efforts.

Challenge: Maximizing Funds as a Nonprofit

Lukas, the marketing and events coordinator for AGSW, emphasized the importance of optimizing revenue in the nonprofit sector. He explained, “In a nonprofit world, it’s important to maximize donations, operate on a small budget, and give the most back.”

45th Aspen Gay Ski Week Parade

Solution: Ecwid by Lightspeed Provides AGSW With a Cost-Effective Place to Sell Tickets

With an affordable and user-friendly solution, Ecwid by Lightspeed is able to help Aspen Gay Ski Week effortlessly maximize its funds and focus on growing the fundraiser. Here are the tools they’ve leveraged to achieve this goal:

45th Aspen Gay Ski Week Parade

An Efficient Payment Provider With Lightspeed Payments

$100k

revenue on a singular day processed without a hitch

To process payments in its online store, the nonprofit uses Lightspeed Payments. With an attractive percentage rate, Lightspeed Payments allows them to save on extra expenses that they could put toward their fundraising efforts.

 Lightspeed Payments makes our accountant very happy. The rate is very cost-effective, and we get all of our funds released in a timely manner without any holds or delays. Lukas Volk, Marketing and Events Coordinator, Aspen Gay Ski Week

Given ASGW’s popularity and the sale of both individual and weekly passes, significant revenue is generated all at once when tickets first become available for purchase. Lightspeed Payments releases all of these funds quickly, regardless of the amount, and without any issues.

A Seamless WordPress Integration

Aspen Gay Ski Week had built the website for their event on WordPress and ranked highly in terms of SEO. The team was searching to integrate a shopping cart onto their existing website — and Ecwid by Lightspeed has the capability to do so quite easily. 

AGSW’s homepage built on WordPress, linking to their shopping cart to purchase tickets

They simply added their shopping cart to their existing site and started selling their event tickets in no time. 

 Ecwid is a quality product that is easily manageable and very easy to set up on WordPress. It is just like advertised: you can have a store running in minutes. Lukas Volk

A Shopping Cart Without Unnecessary Fees

>18%

saved per ticket on service fees

Before Ecwid, AGSW used a traditional third-party ticketing platform to sell tickets for their annual event. But they were being charged a pretty significant amount per ticket sale. This did not leave them with much profit in return for their fund.

The executives then decided it was time to switch to an online shopping cart, and that’s when they switched to Ecwid by Lightspeed’s shopping cart, which does not charge any additional fees per sale.

Aspen Gay Ski Week tickets for sale on their storefront

Other Helpful Tools That AGSW Benefits From and Recommends

Abandoned cart recovery emails: When someone leaves items in their carts, gets sidetracked, or falls into a separate loop, ASGW sends abandoned cart recovery emails. Sending potential customers email reminders helps encourage that final purchase. 

$23k

revenue recovered from abandoned carts

Automated email sent to cart abandoners

Custom checkout fields: When offering apparel with a ticket sale, AGSW uses custom checkout fields to ask for the customer’s size and facilitate the process.

Donations: At checkout, the nonprofit asks for donations. The customer can select the amount they wish to donate. This helps collect extra money for the fundraiser. 

Real-time inventory tracking: Ecwid tracks inventory of all tickets and sponsored tickets, and AGSW can mark them as sold out (half their tickets for the 2024 event are currently sold out!) 

Sold out tickets and passes on their storefront

 The features that keep getting added on Ecwid are great; every year, the platform just keeps getting better. Lukas Volk

Result: ASGW Maximizes Funds for the LGBTQ+ Community and Continues to Grow

Thanks to Ecwid by Lightspeed, ASGW now sells their tickets through a user-friendly online store, saves on additional costs, and can focus on raising funds and expanding their event into different areas.

Supporting Pride Is Part of Our Culture at Lightspeed

With a cause so close to our hearts, Ecwid by Lightspeed is proud to be the ecommerce platform and one of the sponsors for this event.  

Lightspeed participates in a range of initiatives for the community, including donations to various LGBTQ+ charities, participation in pride events, a relocation policy that supports LGBTQ+ employees who wish to move to safer regions, among many other efforts.

Lightspeed at the Pride Parade in Montréal, QC

Lightspeed was founded in Montreal’s gay village — the founder and the first four employees were part of the LBTQ+ community. This helped shape our company culture, making diversity and inclusivity integral to our DNA.

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