Fundraising gala auctioneer Sherry Truhlar

Revenue Generators

Gift tree, Wish Wall, and other direct sale items in your auction

I received this email from Jessica. She wrote: "I follow your blog and I recently had an idea I wanted your thoughts on. We always do a Silent Auction at our Benefit Event and sometimes get bids of $100 on a $20 gift card. So my thought was to create bid sheets for items that our non-profit needs. For example, we could have one that says Pizza Night for Youth – $50, or sponsor a Foster Child's Birthday – $25. Have you seen anything like this before? Do you have any suggestions?" The short ... Read On >

Land acknowledgments in fundraising events

Call it coincidence, divine intervention or luck, but I'd bet that you've had a situation whereby you see or hear something, and suddenly it shows up somewhere else. Like when you consider buying a particular type of car, and suddenly that model is all you see on the highway. That serendipity is what led me to write about today's subject. ============================== Thanks to a cancelled flight that left me scrambling to get from one fundraiser to another late last month, I've ... Read On >

Grape expectations: Selling premium wine as a revenue generator

Wine is a commonly included item at many fundraising auctions. It's used to bring in money via games such as wine pulls and ring toss games. It's sold as complete packages in silent auction and live auction lots. Bottles are often added to other packages to enhance them. Select wine tastings can be offered to sponsors as a benefit. And -- the focus of this article -- wine upgrades can also be sold outright as a money-making activity. Selling better wine to be served at one's ... Read On >

Kendra Scott: An easy jewelry donation for many nonprofits

If a Kendra Scott jewelry store is in your area, call the community / charity relations contact in your local store.  For the last two years, my clients have received generous donations from the retailer via its "Kendra Gives Back" program. Frankly, I haven't seen this kind of generosity since Keurig hit the market several years ago. Do you remember that?  Not so long ago, every auction I worked had at least one Keurig coffee system in its silent auction.  It was often accompanied by a ... Read On >