One 2014 Auction Chair has notecards labeled with different auction subjects. This card was “Setup / Decoration.” During our meeting, she would list all the tasks related to that topic on the card. It was a quick reference for her to see what else needed to be done.
As mentioned in Part 1, I thought about writing on this topic a few months ago and decided, “Nope. I need to save this topic until January.”
The reason being is that January is the month that many stores — Home Depot, Walmart, Kmart, Target, Staples, The Container Store (the annual Elfa® sale) — advertise one particular theme.
Getting organized!
This is THE month that many stores promote organization.
Volunteer Auction Chairs need to be organized. They are often working with many volunteers to plan the fundraising auction. Keeping track of the big picture — AND the details — is part of the job.
Here are four organizational tools I’ve seen other Auction Chairs have success using:
- Google Calendar and Google Docs: This combination is perhaps the most popular online method for staying organized and sharing information. The tools are free and enable your entire committee to keep up-to-date.
- Standard paper calendar: Whether it’s an “At a Glance” or some other brand, paper calendars are still popular among auction chairs. It allows for the entire month’s activities to be seen on one page, which many people like.
- Electronic calendars: With so many people using their phone to keep up-to-date, it’s no surprise that tech-savvy Chairs opt to use their mobile phone as their master auction calendar.
- Subject-related notecards (see photo): Last month I had a meeting with two Auction Chairs. One had brought notecards labeled with auction topics, such as Setup/Decoration, A/V, Silent Auction, Food & Beverage and so forth. As we talked through different subjects, she’d list “to do’s” on each card related to that topic. She could then follow up later on those tasks, or hand it off to the appropriate volunteer managing that activity. Clever!
Do you have any tricks for keeping your charity auction organized? If so, share your ideas below.
Trello is awesome. Trello and Bitrix24 are the best free productivity tools in the history of humanity.
“…history of humanity.” That’s quite the vote of confidence, Nadya. Thanks for sharing.
Sherry,
As usual – great article!
I would put my vote in for Trello for managing auction items during the setup/procurement phase. Trello is a pleasure to use and easy to get up and running with it. We like it so much I would love to integrate it into Handbid in the future so that “approved/ready” items would flow directly into the auction system.
Its so flexible that you could organize it in a number of ways. At a minimum, you could have columns for each of the states for an item:
Last Year (list of items from last year)
In Progress
Approved (by donor)
Acquired / Ready
Cards in each of these states (lists) could be assigned to members of the team to acquire
On each card, you could track the item details (description, fine print, starting price, increment, donor information, etc.), photos, etc.
Best of all, Trello is free to use for all of the necessary features 🙂
Let me know your thoughts…
Hi Jeff! Thanks for commenting. Ah, well, I wasn’t really thinking in terms of “auction software management” when I wrote the article (which is an entirely different topic, in my mind). Nor was I thinking of “volunteer management” (in which case, VolunteerSpot and others have nice programs). But … OK … we’ll run with it. 🙂
Check out Wunderlist! It is a free online tool and phone app where you can divide the different categories of “to do” items, prioritize, move around, etc. Just started using this a few months ago and it is a great tool! (with the Pro option, you can share certain lists with others)
Thanks for the tip, Sheila!