In February I was working with a new client who was sharing information about their live auction items from the prior year. The conversation went something like this: Me: So you sold a home irrigation system in the live auction last year? They: Yes. It's worth nearly $4000, so we put it in the live auction to get more money for it. We sold it for $1600. I think we had 3 bids. Me: We can find a better way to sell it. And we did find a better way. This year we sold that ... Read On >
[VIDEO] You can’t open auction checkout in 20 minutes
Last week I led a webinar on how to run a manual auction checkout process. During the webinar, one participant asked a question about timing. She wanted a 20 minute window between the time the silent auction closed and guests collected their items. Though admirable, I said that I didn't think her timeframe was realistic. To be fair, I don't know the particulars of her auction. The webinar system didn't allow us to have a free flowing conversation to explore details around her ... Read On >
[VIDEO] Free donations to sell at school auctions, like Spirit Rock
I'm working with a lot of schools right now as this is the height of school auction season. In keeping with the season, here's an idea specifically for you school auction committees. I'm often asked for ideas for items that a committee can procure for "free." By "free," the committee means they won't have to ask a company for a donation. It can also reference the fact that the item itself doesn't have a hard financial value associated to it. Some more common examples of free items are ... Read On >
[Video] Model this sound system for a silent auction
One of the most difficult venues to hold an auction is in a gym. Though the venue often offers adequate space, it is a difficult place to control audio. By design, gyms are noisy venues. No one wants to sit through a quiet basketball game, so gyms are designed to deflect the slightest utterance. The shape of the building and the hard surfaces reverberate the sound, bouncing it around the room to make the noise louder and less clear. This presents a problem for fundraising ... Read On >
School auction idea: Reward teachers with their own raffle
Here's a touchy subject. From a fundraising perspective, I'm not a fan of teachers attending school fundraising auctions. They often attend the event for free, which hits the catering budget. They typically don't purchase anything, as their lower salaries don't allow for it. That means there is no donation to offset the ticket revenue loss. And -- gosh, I don't know how to say this any other way -- if we have a loud group causing a distraction to bidding guests in the room, 99% of the ... Read On >