Client Testimonials

Sherry’s excitement, charisma, and skill enabled us to exceed the expectations for our charitable auction nearly 5 fold beyond what we expected. I was very impressed with the environment she so easily produced! I would highly recommend her and look forward to working with her in the future.

Our Gala on April 15, 2022 included a silent auction, live auction, paddle raise, and lots of dancing! The focus was donor cultivation with a specific focus on new donor acquisition. This was our 6th Annual Gala, which was themed Second Chance Prom. In previous years, the live auction had a mild level of interest and the paddle raise resulted in a few higher-level gifts from current donors.

Bringing in Red Apple Auctions this year was a complete game changer. Our guests said both in person and in surveys that they enjoyed the energy and excitement that Sherry brought to the event. Her ability to encourage giving and adapt to the room is truly amazing. From the initial planning meetings to the event day and the wrap-up meeting, Sherry brought in tons of new ideas, ways to increase giving, shared current trends with us, and helped us elevate our event from making $45,000 to $105,000!

Her live auction and fund-a-need guidance were essential to our success. Red Apple Auctions brought our event to an entirely new level, and we are so grateful! We certainly want Sherry again next year!

Sherry, you truly put our event over the top! Not only did you bring an incredible energy and enthusiasm on the night-of, but your expertise in advising us during the planning stages was truly invaluable. You brought so many new ideas to the table that made our event experience unique, and it showed in having record attendance and fundraising. It was a true pleasure working together and hopefully we will do it again!

We’ve had the pleasure of working with Sherry twice now – once as we celebrated the agency’s 50th anniversary, and recently during our first gala since 2019! Her passion and commitment to working with non-profits is remarkable. Starting several months before our gala, she worked with us regularly to review key aspects of a successful live auction and raise-the-paddle. Sherry made personalized recommendations based on both her prior work with us, as well as examples of success stories from other experiences – what worked, what didn’t, and why.

On the day of our gala, we had the added bonus of an auctioneer friend of hers joining in on the action. Our guests loved the energy and fun they brought to the auction process. Her stage presence and command of her audience was impressive, and paddles were up in the air and waving in record time.

If you are looking for an auctioneer that brings professionalism, knowledge, experience, energy and passion to your fundraiser, Sherry is the gal to call!

Sherry Truhlar and her team have been an invaluable resource to us in planning our auction. Our revenue was decent before bringing them on board but now the numbers are better than we could have imagined.

I really appreciate the detail in which Sherry reviews our plan and our items to ensure that we are doing everything we can to bring in the highest possible revenue for our event. And I appreciate that she is always quick to respond to our questions and will take the time to really explain the nuances of the auction world and how it may apply to our audience and specific event. We couldn’t do it without her.

I’ve been following Sherry for more than 10 years – and finally had the good fortune of bringing her expertise to our organization in 2020, when we did our very first virtual event – at the height of the pandemic. We are so lucky, blessed and thankful to have Sherry’s expertise.

You just feel confident that you are in good hands with Sherry – her depth and breadth of expertise, her engaging and friendly personality and wow, the research that she does to prepare for your auction – these are just a few standout qualities that make Sherry a joy to work with. And she has raised record numbers for our gala in a short period of time.

Our Sunshine Gala 2022 was another remarkable event – and our secret sauce for success is Sherry Truhlar!

Covid hit less than two weeks before our 25th annual auction / 70th anniversary event. Sherry was an answer to prayers! Her energy and excitement gave us the motivation we needed to clear hurdles standing in our way.

Sherry’s knowledge and experience, combined with her ability to accurately read and keep a pulse on national fundraising trends and developments means that you are getting the very best.

She is a true professional and goes the extra mile to help her clients succeed! Because of Sherry, we were able to pull off an extremely successful virtual event that surpassed all expectations! In fact, the fund-a-need portion of our event brought in twice what it did last year at our in-person event. Just hire Sherry, you will thank yourself later!

Our school auction had become somewhat predictable over the past 25 years.The first thing I did when starting out on our auction team was start researching, and I quickly found Sherry’s website. I spent hours pouring through Sherry’s blog posts and free resources trying to glean as much information as I could. This led to several changes that allowed us to both streamline our event and raise significantly more for our school than we had in years.

I also had proof for what I already knew by then: that Sherry’s advice and methods were top-notch. It was easy to convince our leadership that we needed to hire Sherry for the following year’s event.

She and her team impressed us with their expertise, professionalism, and warmth. Sherry served as an invaluable sounding board and stress-reliever, providing direction and advice that filled in the gaps in our knowledge and allowed us to keep moving forward with confidence.

Her clients-only resources were also extremely valuable.

Our event was a great success, in large part because of what we learned from Sherry. I wouldn’t want to run this event without Red Apple Auctions – hiring them was worth every penny!

I saw Sherry this week at the Chef’s Best auction, which has the critical mission to raise money to fight hunger among the most vulnerable families in our community. Now, I’ve read all the other reviews here, and they are all entirely accurate. Sherry is professional. She is energetic. She is entertaining. It is all completely true.

But one thing about Sherry that really stood out to me was the sheer finesse she demonstrated the entire time she was on stage. Sherry managed to be funny and charming, all while being uncompromisingly professional, at the same time. It simply blew me away how she balanced these little reminders of the evening’s mission, with this laugh-out-loud banter with the audience.

At one point during the night, I remember saying to my wife about Sherry, “She is like a magician. She just touched his heart and out comes his wallet!” Sherry’s the perfect balance of entertainer and auctioneer. I know I opened my wallet deeper than I had expected and my friends and I are still taking about how much fun we had. And, it was all for a good cause!

Thank you Sherry, for a memorable evening.

Hiring Sherry for our auctioneer/consultant insured that we received the highest value possible for our Live Auction items and raised as much as possible during the Fund-A-Need portion of our event. She does not let up! She became a very valuable member of our auction committee and shared her expertise every step of the way.

Over the years we have worked with many different auctioneers. None of the others provided as much coaching and support as Sherry has.