How To Capture Fund-a-Need Donations at your Fundraising Gala

Most events are incorporating Fund-a-Needs, Fund-a-Cause, or an Ask at their fundraising events these days. Many events are scrapping the live auction all together and focusing solely on this portion of the evening for donations. The fund-a-need is one of my favorite portions of the evening because it gives everyone in the audience an opportunity to make a difference. 

The biggest concern for my event chairs, directors of development and foundation directors is how to capture these donations. There are several ways to ensure that these donations are captured and I will cover three of the most common.

1. Paddle Raise - When bidders raise their paddles at the amount they would like to donate, volunteers come around and capture their bidder numbers under the amount they have committed to and it is added to their check out. This is the most traditional way to do capture bids. What's required? Many Volunteers, Bid Paddles, Pens and Paper. Pros: creates excitement in giving. Cons: room for human error as sometimes the volunteers don't see everyone or the bidders lower their paddles before a volunteer can get to them.

2. Commitment Cards - This is where we would ask people to raise their hands to show their commitment and build excitement and then we would ask them to follow through on their commitment by filling out a card with their credit card information and commitment amount. What's required? Pens, Premade Fund-a-Need commitment cards, Envelopes on each table.  Pros: Donors do not have to sit in check-out. Cons: Some people don't worry about raising their hands as they fill out their cards instead which will cut into the excitement and therefore impact giving as a whole. Also, some people do not feel comfortable filling out these cards at each table.

3. Mobile Bidding: This is becoming more and more popular as technology is becoming a bigger part of our lives. People would use a mobile bidding device (provided by the mobile bidding company) or their own smart phones. What's Required? Mobile Bidding software (Such as BidPal). Pros: Real Time donation tracking, no check-out, many donors give more than once. Cons: Mobile bidding software costs money.

I have done fund-a-needs all three ways and have had a ton of success with each one. If you are wondering what is the best way to capture donations during your fund-a-need, contact me today and we can discuss what will work best for your event.

Additional Fundraising Idea: PUNCH BOARD

I met with a client earlier this week who reminded me of one of my favorite additional fundraising activities for a fundraising gala: The Punch Board. 

I first saw one of these at one of my events a couple years ago. They had a giant board with about 50 holes in it. Each hole was covered by some tissue paper and had a special prize behind each piece of paper. Guests paid $25 to "punch" the paper and claim their prize. Prizes can include anything from a bottle of wine to a $50 restaurant gift card to a Kindle to a light up necklace. You really don't know what you are going to find. This punch board sold out in less than 30 minutes. Do the math: 50 holes at $25 a piece = $1250 in less than a half hour. The next year they raised their prices to $50 which allowed the board to be available a little longer throughout the cocktail hour, but it still sold out before the sit down program started and they raised twice as much money. 

Other clients I've worked with have had similar experiences with this game. It sells out fast! Some choose to have certain holes for different amounts and it will up your prize. You could select $25, $50 or $100 and know that the more you give the better your prize will be.

If you have a crowd that is competitive and loves games and activities, this may be a great option for you. Some event production companies have these available for their clients but it can be replicated by anyone who has a tiny handy bone in their body. 

For other great fundraising activities, contact me today!

Should Every Event Have a Live Auction?

Should every event have a live auction? As a fundraising auctioneer, I obviously want to say, "YES! Yes! Live auctions are the best things in the world. Ever." Although, I like to think live auctions are the best things in the world ever (right after my family and a good cup of coffee), they are not appropriate for every event. 

GASP! That's right, not every event is going to promote a successful live auction. There are several types of fundraising events that do not cultivate an atmosphere for a successful live auction. Keeping in mind that there are exceptions to everything, here are a few of the fundraisers that may or may not benefit from a live auction: Fundraisers with free admission, Mingle-style events (again, there are exceptions and it takes a well planned out flow of events to make it work), and Family friendly events.

If you are wondering if your fundraiser would benefit from a live auction or if you want ideas for additional creative fundraising activities, I can provide consultation. If you are hoping to have a live auction at your fundraiser, I can help you prepare in advance to ensure that we are creating an environment that cultivates generosity and active participation in bidding. 

Earn 12% More at your Fundraising Auction

Yesterday I had the chance to meet with a colleague in the industry who works with BidPal, an electronic bidding system. She shared with me an interesting result from a recent study they did with their clients.

They compared clients who used their system for their silent auction. Some of their clients only allowed bidders to view and bid on silent auction items during the night of the event, while other clients opt to open up bidding on their items before the event starts (sometimes a full week in advance). They found that the auctions that were available for bidding prior to the night of the event in the silent auction, raised 12% more than the auctions that were only open during the night of the event. 

There's an easy and profitable idea for you: open your silent auction up to attendees prior to the event. I've personally seen success with some of my clients doing this. It's a newer idea, but technology is providing us with these awesome opportunities.

Note: this statistic did not compare organizations that did not use an electronic bidding system. However, silent auctions tend to bring in more revenue when using an electronic bidding system because bidders receive text messages when they have been outbid and they can raise the bid again right from their smartphone or electronic bidding device provided by the company.

Having Reserves on your Live Auction items

When soliciting items, you’ll come across certain “donations” that require a reserve, or a minimum bid, to sell the item. Now, although having reserves on your items is not ideal for your fundraising auction, it happens and it isn’t all bad. There are several reasons that an item could be assigned a reserve:

1. Your organization had to pay a firm dollar amount (though lower than retail value) to have this item at auction. There are companies that will “donate” extravagant items at wholesale prices to the nonprofit. The reason you need a reserve on these items is to break even! Avoid these items. Say the reserve is $2000, and you raised $2500, your organization only raised $500 for this item. You may say, “YAY!!! $500 is better than nothing.” The bad news is that you had a donor in your audience that evening that just gave $2000 to another company when they were intending to give it to your organization.

2. On the other hand, there are companies that will donate items to organizations and take a percentage (say 30%-50%) of the money earned. These sort of donations are MUCH better because your organization has a greater chance of raising more money on the items, and they are usually worth it because of the unique nature of the items. The reason that there are reserves on these items is because usually the donor knows the value of the items and is concerned about using their donations wisely – ensuring that they are actually raising organizations money rather than just practically giving away once in a lifetime opportunity.

3. Sometimes artists will put minimums on their work so that they maintain their own retail value. This is something that we need to respect. They’d rather have their work not sell than go for something below what it is worth. Again, this is a fundraiser – not a time to get good deals.

If you have items that have reserves on them, please reach out to me and I’d be happy to walk you through how to handle the reserve.

Hosting your Fundraising Auction on a Thursday (or any other weeknight)

So you’ve never thought about hosting your fundraiser on a Thursday? See the following reasons as to why hosting your fundraising auction on a Thursday is a killer idea:

1. People rarely have scheduling conflicts, so more people can attend!

2. People still give money on week nights – not just on weekends!

For a guest receiving an invite to an event, there is less to think about before responding “Yes – Chicken” when it’s on a Thursday. They already know they don’t have a wedding to attend that night, plus they can come straight from work and eat at your event.

If your annual event is more of a sit down dinner style with speakers who educate the guests on the amazing things your organizations provides to our community, this might be a good night for you! It’s easier for press to attend and cover these events as well because it’s not as competitive as Fridays or Saturdays.

Hosting your fundraiser on a Thursday can be wildly successful, but the only thing you need to do is be mindful of time. It’s helpful to put a start and end time on the invite so people can know how late they will be out on a weeknight. 6:00-9:00, for instance. I’ve even done successful Thursday events that are only two hours long 6:00-8:00. They’ve achieved this by either cutting out a silent auction all together or cutting out speakers and focusing on a live auction and fund-a-need. Guests are always appreciative when they know that the organization values and respects the guests’ time and it makes them more willing to come back and give year after year.

If you have questions about hosting your event on a Thursday night, contact me and I can walk you through some success stories and how this can be done efficiently and effectively.

Hosting your Fundraising Auction on a Saturday

This is the night of the week you’ve all been waiting for. You’ve worked Monday through Friday and are ready to kick off your shoes and party. 

If you are planning to make your event a party for your attendees, Saturday is a good night for it. People are looking to unwind and they will come to your event if they know that’s what you have in store for them. People look forward to many fundraising events because they tend to be unique social occasions!

I did an event last fall for the Madison Claire Foundation. It started with hors d’oeuvers and a cocktail hour (which lasted stricktly an hour) and then they had a speaker for 5 minutes just before we dove into the live auction. After the live auction, the showed a short video and I facilitated a fund-a-need which lasted a whopping 5 minutes. After only using about 45 minutes of their time, they had a band get on the staged and they boogied the night away! I can’t even begin to go over the positive feedback from that night. They had created an event that people looked forward to and will come back to year after year. They won the hearts of some generous donors, but also gave them another reason to keep attending their event: it’s a blast!

Saturday nights are a valuable thing, so use it wisely! Make sure it’s an event that people feel excited to go to rather than an event that they feel obligated to go to.

Thought about hosting your fundraising auction on a weeknight?

What’s the big deal about Saturdays? Have you ever thought about hosting your event on a different night of the week? Fridays? Even Thursday (GASP!)? Why not? 

Some of the events that I have seen bring in the most money have been on weeknights! Why? Because people are available to attend. As a professional fundraising auctioneer, there are 24 Saturdays in my fundraising season (February, March, April, May, September, October, & November), but there are hundreds of organization vying for donors to attend their events on these nights. That’s just the fundraising events they have to choose between! Let’s not even get started with weddings and other personal engagements they have on their calendar. Unless your event is their #1 priority, there is a chance they’ll choose to decline.

Fridays are less popular nights to have fundraising events so more people are able to attend. Thursdays are perfect for organizations who are concerned about bringing in revenue, because with enough advance notice, the majority of your invites will be able to attend. In coming posts, I will address the feel and flow of your event for the different nights of the week.

What Time Should You Begin Your Fundraising Auction

There are several options and it will depend on the flow of your evening. Are you having a dinner?

Do you have a performance or speakers?

 The one thing I suggest is not to wait until the end of the night when your guests are stuffed, tired, drunk and sick of all the small talk. It’s important to put the live benefit auction at a time when people are engaged and excited to be there. As soon as they become fatigued, you start loosing money – literally! People spend less when they start looking at their watches. A lot of people assume that the best time for the live auction is after dinner. I like to do the live auction during dinner for the following reasons:

1. It’s extra time to raise more money that most people don’t utilize.

2. They have something to do that keeps them in the room.

3. People expect to be entertained during dinner.

4. They are still fresh and excited to be there and become more engaged with the bidding.

More bidding = more money for your organization!

5. Once people finish their dessert they are mentally done and start thinking about leaving.

6. Their mouths are full and therefore less chatty. Once they don’t have food to stuff in their mouths, they start talking to the people around them and become distracted from your #1 goal…giving to your organization.

If you have concerns about when to start your live auction at your charity event, reach out to me and I will walk you through what will work best for your fundraiser.

50 Ideas for Fundraising Auction Items:

People always ask me for ideas for their fundraisers. I want to give lists on an annual basis to help my clients. Here are 50 ideas for auction items* to get you started on your search for donations:

1. Hotel Stays

2. Massage at a local salon or chiropractic office

3. Week at someone’s cabin

4. Restaurant Gift Cards

5. Theater Tickets

6. Pet Grooming

7. Lawn Care Service for a summer

8. Cut and Color at a local Salon

9. Family Portrait Services

10. Major League Sports Tickets

    Get the rest of the list right here: