How to know which auction items will sell well at your fundraiser

So you are planning a fundraising auction and you want to stack your event with stellar auction items! But how do you know if anyone will buy them? I know these are the things that keep you up at night, so I’m here to help. You don’t have to go into your auction willy nilly just hoping that you picked the right items. You can be prepared and validate which items will sell at your event.

How to know which items will sell well at your fundraiser?

Look at previous data

The first and obvious thing you can do is to pull the reports from previous events. If you use a mobile bidding system, all of that data will be easily accessible. You can pull the live auction items and see which ones sold the highest and try to solicit items that are similar for this year.

What if this is our first event? Don’t worry, if this is your first event and don’t have the data to pull. This is your first year and you are just getting to know your audience. Instead focus on a varied live auction line up to ensure there is something for everyone. This will appeal to a broader audience and allow you to tap into different donors interests rather than focusing on a few specific spenders in the audience.

CHECK OUT THIS POST ON THE 5 TYPES OF LIVE AUCTION ITEMS YOU NEED FOR A VARIED LIVE AUCTION

Poll your attendees

Send out a Google Form to your past attendees and straight up ask them what items they would like to bid on this year. This is a good opportunity to get feedback and direction on your event in general. Just make sure to keep the survey short. If you have too many questions, you run the risk of people giving up and not submitting the survey. So focus on short form answers or ranking questions to help get guidance from your attendees. This is also a good opportunity to ask them if they have any good ideas or connections for auction items. I had a client do this and it turns out they had a donor on their list who was a Food Network featured chef and they offered a private dinner for their live auction! You never know what you’ll get!

Focus on items with a broad appeal

Auctions raise money by having people bid against each other and the more bidders you have, the faster those bids go up. Focus on finding items that would intrigue many people rather than focusing on niche high-end items. I’ve done events where they have a piece of art valued at well over $10K and have struggled to find even one bidder willing to raise their hand at the minimum bid, while with the same audience sell a pizza party at a brewery for several thousand dollars. Curating unique experiences that would interest many different people in your audience is important.

Consider your audience

What does YOUR audience care about? Focus on what brought your audience together: your mission. A great way to appeal to your specific audience is creating Mission-Centered Experiences. These will appeal to your audience while costing you next to nothing to curate.

Ask your auctioneer

If you are working with a professional fundraising auctioneer who does these events every weekend, they should have great insight into what people in your area are bidding on currently. Every year I put out a post updating what items are selling the best and the auction trends that are popular. They’ll have the best insight.

Questions?

Hey! What questions do you have about your live auction. Pop them in the comments below, because I’ll be checking back to answer those for you! 👇🏼👇🏼👇🏼👇🏼👇🏼

This is what happens if you have fewer items in your fundraising auction

Planning a fundraising auction or gala can take a lot of work and the idea of soliciting new items can be overwhelming. I get it! What if I told you that you don’t need as many auction items in your auction?

What if I told you having fewer auction items will actually raise you more money?

How?

Well, there are a couple reasons for this.

Supply & Demand.

Simple and straight forward. The fewer auction items available to your attendees mean that the bids will compound on the items that exists rather than being spread over hundreds of items. Not everyone will walk away with an item or spend money in the auction, but that is the magic of it. Those bidders will have more money to spend in your Fund-A-Need. So not only are your auction items raising more money, but you will begin to see more revenue in your Fund-A-Need.

Your mission matters

The second reason is that more and more, people are caring less about getting something in return for their money. When we remove distractions like hundreds of auction items, you can focus on the core of your mission which will lead to a powerful Fund-A-Need. Auctions are still a powerful for building momentum and raising literal thousands of extra dollars at your event, but a Fund-A-Need will capture donations from more of your audience and allow you to develop lasting relationships with them as donors.

CASE STUDY: Campfire MN

I had a first time client this year called Campfire MN (they provide outdoor education opportunities to underprivileged youth in our community). I do not have the official Fund-A- Need totals yet as it was very recent, but am happy to send them once I receive them.

Here is a note from their development person about the live auction,

“And in terms of revenue, our live auction did so much better than last year (6 packages gained $10,400 revenue) whereas this year 3 packages gained $13,000. Our Fund A Need was extremely successful as well! Thank you again.”

We intentionally reduced the number of live auction items to keep momentum high for the Fund-A-Need moment so we could engage more donors. In the live auction, with similar items as they had the year before, I was able to increase the average auction price item from $1733 (with another auctioneer) to $4,333 (with me as the auctioneer). The Fund-A-Need was increased from $28,860 in 2017 (with their previous auctioneer) to $38,550 in 2018 (with me as their auctioneer).

This is not an isolated experience. Time after time, I work with nonprofits who are tired of spending weeks or months soliciting items or paying out the big bucks to consignment shops who are going to take the majority of what they “raised” in the auction.

You can do this too!

How many auction items should you have?

For a Live Auction shoot for 4-6 items. This is enough to build momentum, but won’t be too long to take away from the mission of the evening or lose the interest of the non-bidders in the crowd.

For a Silent Auction try for 1 item per 5-10 guests. I can hear you sighing with relief from here. You. Are. Welcome.

Are you going to try reducing your items this year? Do it! You can thank me later.

4 of best selling auction items for your nonprofit gala in 2021

As a fundraising auctioneer, I get asked two questions more than any other question. The first question is “What auction items are selling best?” And the second is “How do I get good auction items donated?”

Over the next few weeks (heck maybe months… we’ll see where this takes us), I’m going to answer these questions for you and then some!

It is only fitting that we start with the first question: What auction items are selling best?

I have a popular blog post that I wrote called “The 5 types of items you need on your live auction” that goes over the basics that will help you plan a well-rounded live auction, but let’s dig into what is selling best RIGHT NOW, in 2021.

What auction items are selling best in 2021:

Outdoor Experiences

This was something we saw a rise of in 2020 and seems to be continuing in 2021. With all of the restrictions on indoor activity and in restaurants, donors are craving outdoor experiences more than ever. Some examples that we sold this year were:

• Guided Fishing Trips

• Golfing Packages

• Snowshoeing Experiences

• Private Box at an outdoor music festival

• Top Golf Party

• Boat rental

These types of items sold much higher than similar sporting experiences that would be done inside a venue or in a large crowd.

Anything Fitness Related

In a similar fashion, people were looking to get active and move their bodies this year. The experiences that came with exercise equipment or outdoor sporting experiences continued to sell well above retail value. These were things that in the past, I would have recommended putting in your silent auction, but now due to the broad appeal, definitely need to be in your live auction. Some examples I have sold lately are:

• Paddle boards

• Peloton (went for nearly 2x retail value)

• BowFlex Weight set (hard-to-find fitness gear is great)

• Private Yoga class

• Wellness retreat

Domestic and Local Travel

It will be a little while before the international travel becomes the hit again. With another year filled with uncertainty, gala guests (virtual gala guests) have been bid on travel when they don’t know if they will be able to cash in the trip. So when looking for trips to book, think domestic or even a getaway that is driving distance. Many of my clients are in Minnesota so northern MN getaways tend to go well. People don’t know if they’ll take time to go to Italy in the next 2 years, but they can guarantee they can drive 3 hours for 4 days sometime this summer. Some examples include:

• Family Disney Getaway

• Stay at a Luxury Cabin

• Colorado Ski Resort

• Guided hunting or fishing trip in Montana

Booze

Yes. This has been the item that have consistently sold above and beyond in the auctions this past year. Whether it is a live auction whiskey tasting experience or a margarita basket in your silent auction, bidders are going nuts for booze this year. We can avoid the question of whether this is a healthy obsession or not, and just recognize that this is what the people want. The best part is that you can get alcohol donated to your gala so that all the revenue goes straight to your bottom line. Some examples for Live Auction alcohol items would be:

• Private wine tasting with food pairings

• Wheelbarrow of Booze

• Wall of Wine

• Brewery/Vineyard/Distillery Tour

If you are looking to stock your silent auction, cocktail baskets are very popular. This is where you would pick a cocktail and add all the fixings and glassware necessary. Popular cocktail baskets include:

• Moscow Mule Basket

• Old Fashioned Basket

• Margarita Basket

What will you try?

Which of these items are you most excited to get for your auction this year? Let me know! It will be fun to see what you come up with!

Getting your guests ready for your Fund-A-Need before the event begins

Imagine hosting a fundraising gala and getting to your big fundraising appeal and all you see is a sea of hands in the air. Donors who are ready and excited to give to your organization. This could happen to you, but it won’t happen by accident.

Preparing your donors for your Fundraising Appeal

From the very moment you come in contact with your guests (the save the date) you should be walking them through the necessary steps to becoming a die-hard donor to your organization. I go over all of these steps in my free “Fund-A-Need Framework,” but here are some practical ways to apply this framework before your event even begins so that guests come to your event prepared (and excited) to give!

Introduce your guests to a problem

In all of your marketing materials, address the problems your organization solves. On everything from your save the date to the invites, educate the guests on the problems that exist as they relate to your intended Fund-A-Need. 

In your save the date and invite, share statistics about the demographic you serve, so that they become aware that there is a problem before they even RSVP.

I work with a wonderful community center in Saint Paul that hosts a Fund-A-Need only event every fall. They have many different programs, but every year they focus on one program at their event. Last year they focused on their senior programs. 

On their invitations and save-the-dates and on their social media communications about the event, they shared statistics about the seniors in their community. How many don't have access to healthy food, how many suffer from Alzheimers and dementia, and how many have have health problems directly related to lack of activity. 

When their guests show up to their event, they always know what the needs in their community look like.

Get your guests to care about the problem

Once invites and save the dates are out, start sending stories of people you serve either via email or through social media. Add pictures and video if you can. These stories will help you make a connection and build a relationship with your guests. You should have testimonials and stories at your event, but you serve so many people every week, month and year that you should have a wide selection of stories to share about. 

If you don't have access to a videographer, share a picture and a short write up of the person you helped or even a quote.

Leading up to the event, after guests RSVP, you can follow up with a story a week or every other week. Share these stories on your social media and have them listed on the event page on your website. There are so many ways to get your stories into the hearts of your guests before they even show up.

Empower them to be the solution

Remember, you are not the solution, you are the tool that your guests will use to solve the problem on their hearts. To prepare them, you can send out your Fund-A-Need donation levels before your event so that they can take a look at what it actually costs to deliver the programs and services to the people they care about.

This will help them set a realistic and generous budget, while also setting the expectation that they are expected to give. You will likely receive additional donations from supporters who may not be able to attend your event. Remember, you are hosting a fundraiser, not a party. Nonprofits are often very shy about asking for money. This is why I love this approach (aside from the fact that it works so well), all of a sudden you are not asking people for money. You are providing them a solution to a problem that is on their heart. If you do the first two steps well, they are going to want a solution, and at your event, you are going to give it to them.  

If you plan this out well, and start from the date of mailing out Save-The-Dates (or posting it online if that's how you do it), you will see an increase in revenue at your event this year. Prepare them to give and they'll be more willing to give.

How to Get Dining Experiences Donated for your Fundraising Auction

One of the first questions I get when I sit down for a strategy call with clients is “What are the HOT items right now that people are bidding on?” And, for the past several years the answer has remained “Focus on one-of-a-kind Experiences!” Bidders are continuing to bid on experiences over things and some of the most popular experiences are Dining Experiences! Guests love to bid on these because they are experiences they can share with friends and more people are able to go in on this donation which drives the bidding up pretty quickly.

There are so many different dining experiences you can integrate into your live auction, I have a list of them in my post about Meal/Dining Experiences, and I also cover them in my FREE Auction Item Guide. But what you are probably wondering is HOW do I event get these experiences donated?

How to get dining experiences donated to your Fundraising Auction?

1. Tap into your network

   This would be the first place to start. Brainstorm who you know in the restaurant industry and who they could connect you with. I just did an event for a male choral group and one of their supporters worked in the restaurant industry and was able to connect with some of his friends to get not one, not two, but THREE James Beard Award-winning chefs and a couple other Chefs to come together and create a once-in-a-lifetime dinner party for an auction item.

   Start with the people on your auction committee. Do you know anyone? Are you connected to any chefs or restaurant owners?

   Ask your supporters. Reach out to your donor base. Maybe you have some wonderful supporters who are well-connected and tell them you are looking for an in-home catered meal or an exclusive chef’s dinner and ask them who they know. Your supporters are so happy to help with this because it costs them nothing to make an introduction and share their passion for your organization.

   If you can’t think of anyone specific to ask, just put it out there to your donor base via an email blast, social media and word of mouth. Share some examples of meal/dining items and ask who they know that could connect you.

2. Reach out to local restaurants, chefs and cooking schools

   If you don’t have any connections (which if you start asking around, I promise you will surprise yourself), go ahead and cold call restaurants, chefs, catering companies and cooking schools to see if they ever offer experiences like this. Many do offer experiences like this for a cost. Even if you have to pay $500-600 for the chef’s time and cost of groceries, I promise it will be worth your investment. This cost could easily be underwritten by a sponsor and therefore be a full donation. A dinner party will sell for far more than the “retail value” listed because it is such a fun experience for guests.

   Tell them about your organization’s mission, who you serve and how it impacts both your and THEIR community. Share how many people attend your event and the demographic of the guests because this will help them decide if this could also be a good marketing opportunity for their restaurant, personal brand or school. Whenever soliciting auction items, always remember what THEY get out of it too!
   Let them know what kind of experience you are hoping for and ask if they would ever consider doing something like that? Remember they are busy and this is their livelihood, so if you have no connection with them, be respectful of their work and recognize that they may charge a fee. It’s important to them that you respect what they do as work because they will be more likely to offer their services for your event.

3. Get scrappy

   Maybe you don’t have connections with professional chefs and maybe your local restaurant community is stingy and doesn’t want to offer anything to your organization. Don’t fret! You have one more trick up your sleeves: you are going to get scrappy. You are going to work with what you’ve got! This means creating an experience out of what you already have. Maybe your Executive Director has a lovely home and one of the Social Worker’s on staff is known for her famous Jambalaya. You are going to host a “World Famous Jambalaya Jam” in the home of your Executive Director, who is well-loved by many of your donors. Your board of directors will cover the cost of wine and groceries for the evening and you will sell this meal experience for WAY more money than it’s worth.

   When it comes to dining experiences, it is mostly about creating community. Bringing together people who are enjoyable to be around eating food that is delicious. The good news is that you can have delicious food without having a name-brand Chef. You can create a competitive item with what you have at your disposal. You’ll be surprised how well this will go for you.

What are some of your ideas for meal items?

I’d love to hear your dream meal experience! What would you LOVE to offer your guests at your next event? How can you make it happen?

11 Ideas for Silent Auction Baskets or Raffle Baskets

Are you struggling to come up with ideas for your raffle or silent auction? The possibilities are endless, but I totally understand how sometimes it can feel like when the time comes your brain just goes blank and you don’t know where to start. This week I worked with a client who did a Basket Raffle who had a great selection of baskets for which the guests could drop their tickets. Below I’ve included several of the baskets they hosted as well as some ideas that were inspired from each of the baskets. After you take a look, make sure to share in the comments some of your favorite ideas or any new creative ideas you or your committee come up with. We’re all here to help nonprofits make a greater impact on our world!

*This post may contain affiliate links. See my affiliate policy for more information.

Netflix & Chill

I know they technically called this one the “Take-Out food and Movies” basket, but I would call it “Netflix and Chill,” because…you know. This basket included some gift cards to local chains. Another option would be Door Dash or Grub Hub gift cards so they could receive delivery from any of their favorite restaurants. Add in a Netflix gift card to apply to their current membership (because lets be honest, we all have one already) and it’s a great option for someone to bid on or win something that they know they will already use!

Family Game Night

This particular package was built around the popcorn maker, but included a few games. Creating a basket around family bonding is a great idea because family unity is a core value for so many gala guests. Add in your favorite games that are easy to engage multigenerational players and some snacks. You don’t need a popcorn maker to make this basket a success. Pick the things that your family loves and you can be sure that others will appreciate it too!

“Get Hygge With it”

Yes, I’m renaming the baskets here. Get over it. I love a good pun and so will your guests. This Hygge, or Cozy Night In, basket was filled with hot cocoa, mugs and included a gift card to Barnes and Noble for some new books. If you want something more tangible than a gift card, pick out whatever Reese’s most recent Book Club choice was for a best seller that would intrigue most any bidder at your event. Facial masks, wine or cozy throw blankets would also be a great addition to this type of basket!

S’mores Basket

This one is pretty self-explanitory. All the s’mores essentials. Instead of a basket, they packaged this bad boy in an actual fire pit which was a great way to display all the goodies and really made this basket stand out. It also may inspire other baskets like “grills night out” or “grills just want to have fun” with a bunch of grilling essentials all packaged in a small tailgating-ready weber grill. Also, if you have an idea for a basket and need someone to create a pun, please reach out because I will be ready with ideas. I am 💯 percent serious.

Lucky Lotto

This item received the most tickets. I can’t guarantee that it would be as profitable as a silent auction item, but for a basket raffle it made bank. This basket was filled with lottery tickets, scratch tickets and other lottery-based items. You could add a giftcard to your local Casino. Most of our local Casinos donate a one-night stay which includes a buffet for 2 to most nonprofits for fundraisers, so you could reach out and get an overnight to make this prize even more compelling!

Margarita Madness

This basket included all the fixing for a Margarita night. Vodka, Margarita Mix, Margarita glasses, salt for the rim, some small batch craft salsa and guacamole mix. The winning bidder just needed to provide some friends and chips for a great time. This is another basket that received a lot of tickets in this basket raffle and the winner had a lot of fun taking home! Some other ideas would be some fixings for tacos or gift cards to a local favorite Mexican restaurant.

Craft Beer Basket

Your town likely has a thriving craft brewery scene. A great basket to offer is a Craft Beer Basket including some of your favorites. In my experience if you approach your favorite local breweries with a pitch for your nonprofit, you will probably get a growler or 6-pack along with some brewery swag to add to your basket. It’s a great chance for them to get exposure and give back to their own community. Sure it’s easy to buy craft beer and add it to the basket, but your local breweries may surprise you, don’t be afraid to ask. See my post on how to get beer, wine and liquor donated for tips on how to get these items for FREE!

CRAP Beer Basket

This one made me audibly laugh out loud. I have never seen this one before, but place it right next to your “Craft Beer Basket” to amuse your guests and get some engagement. This would not be a profitable silent auction item, but worked great as an option in the Basket Raffle. Throw some of your favorite domestic options in this one. I know our craft brew scene is strong, but you may have some bidders who like their classic easily drinkable domestic beers. While this didn’t get the most tickets, it definitely had people talking. Very cheap to assemble but it is something people will remember.

Single Cocktail Basket

This Old Fashioned Whiskey Basket was a hit among the guests. As a craft cocktail lover myself, I can imagine having an entire basket raffle filled only with single cocktail baskets. Think Manhattans, Old Fashioneds, Moscow Mules, Margaritas, etc. Purchase everything you need to assemble the perfect cocktail, including glassware, and add a recipe card so the winner knows exactly what they need to create the perfect cocktail at home. The creator of this basket picked some tasty whiskeys which was definitely a selling point. This would be a great item to pitch to local liquor stores as a donation for some free publicity and community outreach!

Italian Dinner Basket

This basket includes everything you need for a delicious Italian dinner. Pasta, wine, seasoning, sauces and more. Like the Old Fashioned basket above, this item is a great jumping-off point for brainstorming basket ideas. How many meal-inspired baskets could you come up with? Juicy Lucy Basket, Homemade Sushi Basket, Instant Pot Success Basket, etc. The possibilities are endless. This was a fun addition to the basket raffle and inspires so many more ideas. I’d love to hear what you come up with in the comments!

Self-Care Basket

This self-care basket included home facial masks, a luxurious Volcano Candle from Anthropologie, a self-help book by the inspiring Brene Brown and more. You could also include salon or spa giftcards, bath bombs, body lotions and oils, hotel giftcards (which you should 100% be getting donated from local hotels), essential oils, spotify gift cards, babysitting coupons, wine, coffee, a cozy one-size-fits-all robe or anything else that you would consider self-care. Think of what you love to have to pamper yourself and add it in this basket for the most competitive bidding.

What are your ideas?

I would love to hear some of your most creative ideas for baskets for silent auction or raffles. Have you ever done a basket raffle? Give it a try. It gives donors a chance to pick which prizes they want to be drawn for while skipping over the baskets that don’t give them much interest. It also lets the guests who just want to win, stock pile their tickets in the baskets with the fewest tickets so they increase their chances of winning! Thanks to the Fridley Schools Foundation for letting me share your wonderful baskets!

Golden Ticket: A Fundraising Auction Enhancer to Raise Money At Your Next Event

The Golden Ticket is an exclusive high price point Raffle Game where the winner gets to pick ANY of the Live Auction Items as the prize.

I work with some local and regional nonprofits that have amazing donors and raise good money at their events through the Live Auction and Fund-A-Need, but struggle to solicit high value items. Their largest item may be a trip valued at $2,500 (though it would sell for more in the auction). The Golden Ticket is an excellent game for organizations like theirs because even though they may “lose” a live auction item through the Golden Ticket winner, the proceeds from the Golden Ticket sales far exceed what the item would have sold for in the auction. And, in my experience, roughly 50% of the time my clients play this game, the Golden Ticket winner donates their item back to the auction, generating even more revenue, because people are just amazing sometimes.

Who would benefit from offering this game?

This would benefit your organization and enhance your event if…

1. You are a small to mid-sized event (250-999 guests) that has live auction items with values all under $5,000.

2. You are an organization hosting a gala of 1,000+ because you have a larger pool of donors to whom you can sell the tickets

   Who should skip this game:

   If you are hosting an event with less than 500 people and are offering auction packages that have values over $5,000 there is a good chance you could actually lose money by offering the Golden Ticket to your guests. It works better when the ticket sales will exceed the price of your most expensive live auction item.

What you need to play?

• A roll of raffle tickets

• Dynamic and engaging Volunteers who can sell the tickets

How to set up and play:

Determine how much you want to make from the game:

Set a goal for how much revenue you want to earn from the “Golden Ticket” Game. Your goal should be equal to or higher than the value of your most expensive Live Auction item so you don’t end up losing money on your game.

Say your biggest Live Auction item is a trip to Italy valued at $6,500, your goal should at least be to sell enough tickets to meet $6,500 (though, if you have enough attendees, shoot for higher). For the sake of the instructions, I’m going to use the goal of $10,000, but know that depending on the number of people you have attending and their giving capacity, you will need to adjust your personal goal.

Decide how many tickets you should sell and how much to sell them for.

If you are hosting an event of 1,000, you should easily be able to sell 100 tickets and could likely sell them at $100 a piece to reach your goal of $10,000. You could also try for 200 tickets at $50/piece or 50 tickets at $200/piece. Remember the higher the price, the more challenging they are to sell, but the exclusivity of the raffle increases a lot which will be appealing to many of your donors.

Selling your tickets somewhere between $50 and $100 is a great place to start and fill in your numbers from there. If you have a group of 250 people, a goal of raising $10,000 with the Golden Ticket may be too high (unless you have exclusively high rollers at your event), but you could work to sell 50 Tickets at $100 and raise $5,000.

Keep in mind the winner may pick your most expensive item, so whatever you raise in the Golden Ticket needs to make up for the potential revenue you might sacrifice on that Live Auction Item.

Get the most charismatic and sales savvy volunteers you can and sell those tickets out STAT

This game can only be truly successful when you completely sell out your tickets. These volunteers should be fun, extroverted and feel comfortable chatting with strangers and know how to clearly communicate the message. I’m sure you can think of a few volunteers right now who would be perfect for this job. They will feel honored when you let them know they were the first person you thought of for this role!

EXPERT TIP:

If there is a trip or dinner experience for multiple people (say 6-8) on your auction lineup, have your volunteers go up to groups of people that are clearly friendly and have them each buy a ticket to increase their chances. “Hey, you should ALL buy one or two and then if one of you wins you can still all go to Mexico! Do it! How fun would that be?!” I have seen tables of friends go absolutely WILD when they win a trip with their besties!

Pull the Golden Ticket Winner right before the Live Auction

Bring the raffle tickets up to the stage and have the auctioneer (or whoever you want) pull the winner. Your auctioneer will remind the audience,

“I am about to pull our Golden Ticket winner. The winner will get the choice select any of the Live Auction Items we have tonight or donate it back to be bid on in the auction. Now let’s see who our lucky winner is…..Which item are you going to claim tonight?”

I like to give the choice to give it back BEFORE selecting the winner because it is off putting and a shame strategy to put a donor on the spot after you’ve called their name. Remember, every part of your event is about nurturing donor relationships because that is going to make you more profitable in the long run.

Remove the item from the live auction

When they announce their selection, congratulate them cheerfully and have your AV team remove it from the slide show or have the auctioneer skip it during the live auction, acknowledging the winner and thanking everyone who participated in the Golden Ticket Raffle.

Are you going to try it?

This game is a fun way to get more revenue out of your live auction items! It’s exclusive and a great way for donors who may not be able to afford bidding on the Live Auction, but have their eyes on certain items. They get a fighting chance as 1 of 50 people for only $100 instead of dropping a couple thousand on what it would actually sell for in the auction.

Comment below if you’ve tried this or have any questions.

I’m always happy to give feedback to make sure your event is a success!

3 Ways to get Wine and Alcohol Donated for Auction Items and Fundraising Games

One of the most important questions to ask yourselves about auction items is, “Does this item have broad appeal?” Meaning, is this something a lot of people like and would be willing to bid on? If there is one thing that you can guarantee a lot of people could bid on it is….(drumroll please)… alcohol.

There are several different auction packages you can compile around a theme of wine, beer and/or spirits. To see some ideas, check out this post on Alcohol-related auction items or grab my FREE AUCTION ITEM GUIDE below:

Once you brainstorm a bunch of items that you know will get your guests’ hands high in the air, the question remains…

How do you get wine, beer and other forms of alcohol donated to use at a nonprofit auction or for fundraising games?

When I go to events, I see the three different types of donors of wine/beer/alcohol items.

1. Ask a local, privately owned, Liquor Store to sponsor your auction item or game.

   What do I mean by this? Say you are doing a Wine Pull and need 50 bottles of wine. You can pitch this to local liquor store owners and ask if they would be interested in Sponsoring it. You could even name the game after them: “Anderson Liquor’s Wine Pull.”
   How does this benefit the liquor store? The same way any sponsorship (either cash or in-kind) benefits a person or company. They get name recognition and advertising at the event. Asking them to sponsor a game is especially appealing because they are typically in a prime area at the event and get a lot of attention. They should also be listed in all other places that sponsors are listed.

2. Ask the board to come together and donate

   Alcohol-related items are commonly donated by the board. Things like the “Wall of Wine” or “Wheelbarrow of Booze” that are compiled of several different types of wine, beer and spirits can be pulled together by several different people. Ask the board to contribute one to two bottles of their choice (remind them they need not be stingy 😉). This is a great way to easily collect a wonderful collection that can be used in auction items or for a game like a Wine Pull or Whiskey Pull.

3. Reach out to restaurants, breweries, wineries and distilleries in your community.

   Similar to reaching out to a liquor store, the local restaurants, breweries, wineries and distilleries in your community can gain name recognition, advertising and good will with your guests through sponsoring your event by providing beer, wine or spirits. This is a great option if you have a venue that allows you to bring in your own alcohol at the event because they could even sponsor the bar.

   Could they sponsor the bar, or offer up one case/keg to sell at the event?

   I went to an event recently and a local brewery was willing to donate a keg of a crowd favorite beer. At the event, the organization let everyone know that if they selected that specific beer 100% of the proceeds could go back to the organization. So instead of paying $8 to the venue, they were racking up $8 donations one after another.

   Could they donate an alcohol-related experience?

   Could they host a tasting or a tour? Could their craft bar tender put on an exclusive cocktail class for 12? If they can add some food to this, even better! This is a great LIVE AUCTION item!

   Could they put together a basket or donate a gift card to the silent auction?

   I go to a lot of silent auctions… A LOT of them and since my husband loves craft beer, I keep a close watch on the brewery donated items. It will usually be a couple 6-packs, a brewery gift card and some swag (sweatshirts or coozies or anything with the name on it) and even in the silent auction these items go well above retail value because of their broad appeal. It’s a great, low cost way for the breweries, wineries or distilleries to give back and be involved in their community.

Give these a try and watch those donations come in. Keep coming back for more ideas on auction items, fundraising ideas and how to get donations.

Market your Live Auction Items before the Event

You have spent so much time and energy getting ready for your BIG fundraising gala. You’ve secured some kickass items that you think people will really LOVE, now you just cross your fingers and hope they bid (or expect your auctioneer to work some voodoo magic on them to make their hands go in the air). Here’s the deal, sometimes people spend the big bucks without any planning or forethought, however I can guarantee you that you’ll make so much more money on your live auction if you Market the items before the event happens.

Just think of the last major purchase you made. Maybe it was a car or a vacation. You likely did not do it on a whim (if you did, we could probably be best friends). No, you thought long and hard about what you wanted and how much you were willing to spend on it. Your gala guests and donors are no different.

You must absolutely market your Live Auction items before the event. 

This may be obvious to some of you, but you'd be surprised how many events I've shown up at where the guests had no idea what was on the Live Auction that night. 

Start Soliciting your items early

One reason most organizations don't market their items is because until the last minute, they have no idea what they are. As soon as you think about planning your event and setting a date, start talking about live auction items. Brainstorm them with your team and take action on pursuing the items. 

Get firm commitments and all the details from your item donors ASAP

As soon as you think you have an item. Close the deal. As soon as you have the firm (hopefully written) commitment from the donor, get all of the details including pictures, dates, etc so you can start an item write up early on in the event planning process. The more you know ahead of time, the more effectively you'll be able to market your items during the planning process. 

Feature the items in the Save-The-Date

Because we are focusing on spectacular items that are exclusive and offer a broad appeal (see my video from Monday if you aren't sure what I'm talking about), you are going to want to tease your guests with these items from the moment they think about the event. This will help them to prepare accordingly. If they are already thinking about taking a trip in the next year, they can plan to bid on the trip in your auction.

Help them remember the items are 100% for a good cause

I welcome you to use tag lines like: 

"A trip that's for the kids, except you don't have to bring your own." 

"A dinner experience that feels as good as it tastes." 

Ths is a playful way to remind them that while they are getting amazing items, they are also supporting your organization. It's more than a large purchase. 

Share the items in your email and social media communications leading up to the event

The two weeks or so before the event, send out emails and social media posts featuring the items. You want your bidders to be thinking about these as they plan the budget for the evening. Whether you like it or not, everyone comes to your event with a budget in mind, but you can help them determine whether they will spend their $5,000 at your event or at the one the following night, by letting them know what you have to offer.

If you are sending things via social media, share it multiple times because everything moves so fast online and you don't want anyone to miss it. 

Feature them online through your mobile bidding website

Even though bidding is not available online for the live auction items, you should still list it on your mobile bidding website. Most companies allow you to have items that aren't open, but you can list a picture, description and all the nitty gritty details for your guests to view before they arrive. 

Some organizations mail out programs in advance. This can get expensive because most people forget to bring the program to your event, so you have to print twice as many. This is a great alternative.  

Keep marketing them the night of the event

Most of you know to have a clearly marked display of the live auction items where everyone can view them. While this is so necessary it still doesn't give people all the time they need to read all the details they need to make an informed decision. All of the items should be listed and described with all the details in the program as well. 

Get creative

I recommend printing the live auction items and putting them on the doors of the bathroom stalls and by the line at the bar. This is a perfect place where you have a captive audience to view the items.

Why this is so important: 

You want your guests to come to your event with the decision to bid so that you can leave it up to your auctioneer to get them to give beyond their budget.  

It is much more impactful to get more money out of a guest who already decided they wanted the item. They've been thinking about it for weeks and will be disappointed if they don't win it. Compare this to springing live auction items on your guests and expecting them to drop $1,000 let alone $10,000+ without any prior thought.  

Get those live auction items out there before the event, so that your guests come to the event ready and excited to bid. 

2 questions to ask before you put an item on the Live Auction

I want to introduce the 2 questions you need to ask before you place an item on the live auction.

Hopefully you have gone through my posts from last week featuring how many Live Auction Items you should have, the 5 live auction items you should look for and mission-centered live auction items. Now, once you have identified items that would be great options for the live auction, there are 2 questions I want you to ask yourself:

1. Is this item exclusive?

Meaning could your guests get this item anywhere else?  

This is honestly one of the biggest issues I see with selling vacations on the Live Auction. Most vacation packages offered are nothing special. With the internet, most people can easily curate their own dream vacations for way less money than the "estimated value" of the trips on the auction. 

Make sure the items on your live auction have a sense of exlusivity because that will encourage quick and competative bidding. They need to know that they have to raise their hand to bid or they will actually miss out on this item.  This is why meal experiences tend to be some of the highest selling items.

If you are worrying about having the right connections to obtain "exlusive" live auction items, refer to my post on mission-centered Live Auction items to find some inspiration. I passionately believe that most "exlusive" items are the ones that will cost you nothing to obtain. I'll get into my beef with consignment live auction items another day, but just know that I'm not a huge supporter.

2. Does this item have a broad appeal? 

Does this item interest many people in your audience?  

Technically, you only need 2 people in your audience interested in your items to make it an auction, but the more you have the faster and higher those bids go up.  

This is important for a couple reasons

It creates competitive bidding

The more people that the item appeals to, the more people will bid. It's as easy as that. Supply and demand.  

It keeps more people engaged

If you have been following me for a while, you know how I love to use the live auction to build momentum up to the Fund-A-Need, and if you can curate a live auction lineup that appeals to as many people as possible in your audience, the more effective you will be at engaging your guests and building that momentum.

When the answer is "yes" 

If you create a live auction lineup that is both exclusive and has a broad appeal, you will see record breaking numbers in your live auction. This is a simple but effective tool that will increase revenue at your fundraising event.