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! 👇🏼👇🏼👇🏼👇🏼👇🏼

How much should you charge for tickets to your Hybrid Fundraising Event?

Events are coming back, slowly but surely. However, we will not be seeing ballrooms filled with 1,000+ guests for a while still. So, the events that used to have 1,000 in-person guests are probably going to be sitting at 250-500 guests in person, with everyone else attending virtually.

We know that not everyone will be able to attend your in-person event. If you aren’t sure who to invite, make sure you check out this post on who should be attending your in-person event.

With fewer attendees, but similar expenses, how do you know what to charge?

The good news is that fewer guests, means fewer people to feed. However, you’ll still be dealing with the cost of the venue, AV, staff, etc, which means ticket prices will need to go up.

How to know what you should charge for tickets to your fundraising event?

Have a clear budget and charge accordingly

Make sure you know how much your event will cost. If your event will cost between $50,000-$60,000 and you plan to have 250 people attend, you should aim to charge $250/head. Simple. Take your budget and divide it by the number of attendees and make that your ticket price. If you don’t want to charge as much for your event, you will need to cut your budget and find ways to save money at your event. I know in the past, your event may have cost $100,000 and with 1,000 guests you could charge $100 a head, but now you are creating a more exclusive event and the ticket prices will need to reflect that.

obtain sponsors

I always tell my clients to aim to have the ticket prices cover the cost of the event, but to set a goal of having the same amount raised by sponsors, so that you start your event profitable. So if your event costs $60,000 to put on, and you have 250 guests at $250 ($62,500 total), you should also aim for at least $60,000 in donations from sponsors. This way your event is profitable from the beginning.

Have a FREE virtual option

The virtual option for your event will be FREE. This will allow anyone to attend your event even if they cannot afford to come in person. In hybrid events, the in-person portion will be more exclusive and the experiences there can reflect that, but the virtual option can still offer a great experience and a way for people to get involved with your organization. In 2020, we found that by offering free admission to virtual events, nonprofits were seeing a significant increase in new donors (up to 70% in some cases). I recommend bundling the cost of the virtual event in with the overall budget so that the ticket prices and sponsorships can cover the cost of the events.

Start the event profitably

These are just guidelines and recommendations for where to start with pricing. Based on your location and demographic you might find you can charge more or you may have access to even more corporate sponsors. The goal is profitability at your event, and starting with charging enough for tickets is a great place to start.

5 Things to plan your Hybrid Fundraising Gala

Exactly one year ago, I opened up my inbox and found it full with emails from my contracted clients telling me they needed to cancel their fundraiser due to the pandemic. My heart sank, first for me as I watched my entire business disappear in an instant, but I knew I wasn’t the only one suffering a loss. All of my clients were having to give up their biggest revenue generator of the year, so I knew we couldn’t let that happen. For many of my clients fundraising galas are the only way they are able to do the work that they do. We had to do something - anything - to help them.

Enter Virtual Galas

Over the past year my clients have successfully transitioned their in-person events to Virtual Galas. It was scary and overwhelming for them at first, but then as we continued to see more success and figure out the tried and true processes for what made them work, it became a breeze! I even launched a course to help smaller nonprofits produce their own virtual galas on a shoe string budget!

Will virtual gala’s replace in person events?

Absolutely not! While we learned that virtual galas had many MANY benefits to them (lower overhead, more attendees, similar or increased net revenue, increased sponsorship opportunities, ability to attract new donors, less volunteer management, etc), nothing can replace the energy of a live event. We saw a lot of success with virtual galas last year, and they will continue to be profitable going forward but at some point as vaccines are rolled out, and people start to take off their masks, guests and event planners alike will be ready to party.

Enter Hybrid Events

What is a Hybrid Gala?

A Hybrid Event or Gala is similar to a live in-person event that offers a virtual option to engage guests from home.

5 things you need to know when planning for a successful Hybrid Fundraiser:

1. Choose a venue with GOOD and reliable internet. Live streaming an event takes up a lot of bandwidth and will require reliable internet for it to work.

2. Invest in a good event producer. Having a professional who can call the shots and keep the program on track and flowing well will bring your more money than you will ever know. Or maybe I should say NOT hiring aa professional event producer will to cost you more money than whatever their fee may be.

3. Hire a professional Fundraising Host (hint: that’s what I do). A traditional emcee or a volunteer charismatic emcee will not know how to engage both a live in-person audience while also engaging an audience through a screen.

4. Focus on Quality over quantity during the in-person event (and let the ticket price reflect it). Because the event can be open to anyone virtually, don’t be afraid to make it feel exclusive and charge a premium ticket price. Then, allow the people watching virtually join in on the event for free.

5. Find ways to engage your at-home audience in the live event. They want to be recognized and they want to know that the in person audience knows they are there! Thank virtual gala attendees by name during the fund-a-need! Involve them in the raffle. Work to engage them in the live auction.

Hybrid events are going to be the trend through at least 2022

So it’s time to start brainstorming and get planning on the event.

Was this helpful? Sign up to be the first to receive my FREE Hybrid Fundraising Event Guide when I release it! My Virtual Gala Guide helped THOUSANDS of nonprofits plan profitable virtual galas over the past year, and trust me when I say that the Hybrid Guide will be just as jam packed with tactical tips and tricks.

I want the Hybrid Event Guide

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.

Coronavirus & Your Fundraising Event: How to prepare for your event so you don't lose money due to COVID-19

Bringing you this special mid-week blog post on a topic that is on the front of all of your minds: How will the Coronavirus impact our Fundraising Events and how can we prepare for it?

While there are some obvious things that may happen from attendance being down or decreased giving due to the economic impact due to the international reaction of COVID-19 or even needing to postpone the event to a date later in the year. While some of these scenarios may be inevitable, it is my goal to help you mitigate the risk and give you the tools you need to maintain profitability at your event.

Many event planners are addressing the logistical side of how to handle the threat (see a helpful post by my friends over at Do Good Events for some of these tips) like reviewing contracts and asking all your vendors about their cancellation policy with this so you can make informed decisions.

But let's assume you are planning to move forward with your spring fundraiser, I want to help you make sure you are doing everything you can to ensure that your event is profitable.

What can you do to prepare your fundraising for the possible impact of the Coronavirus?

1. Invest in Mobile Bidding

If you do not have mobile bidding set up for your event, you will want to invest in a company like One Cause (BidPal) or Greater Giving so guests who choose to stay home from your event (because you can count on some attendees to do so out of concern for their own health). They can give to your fundraising appeal online as well as bid on silent auction items from home. A couple years ago, a client of mine had to cancel an event due to a Blizzard (yay Minnesota!) and their guests were so grateful for the organization's concern for their personal safety that they bid even more competitively on the silent auction than they had in previous years and many guests gave large open donations to the organization right on their phones. Their event remained profitable even though it was cancelled! As a side note, if you have not invested in mobile bidding in the past, and you have a silent auction, I can assure you that it will basically pay for itself as it promotes much more competitive bidding and makes checkout a breeze!

2. Rethink selling European Trips in your Live Auction

A normally exciting and competitive item, may fall dead this spring auction season due to the recent suspension of European Travel. If these items were donated, talk to the donor about how they would like this item handled. Will they be offended if it goes for less than it's worth? Would they want to give it anyway knowing it might not bring in as much as it would have another time? Could they commit to donating it again next year? Even if the trip could be used within a full year, bidders may be hesitant to bid on a trip to Europe at this time. Swap it out for a luxury domestic trip. If you don't have access to something like this, there are several options consignment trips that offer domestic vacation experiences.

3. Focus on YOUR mission

While you should communicate with your guests prior to the event on how you plan to handle the Coronavirus risk, it should not take up any stage time at your event. Yes, try to have lots of hand sanitizer around (if you can find any) and encourage people not to shake hands using signs at checkout and the bar, but unless it has any direct impact on the work your organization does (maybe you work with refugee camps in Italy and need to provide extra support at this time due to coronavirus), do not spend any time addressing it during your program. Your program should continue to focus on the people you serve and the work you do and should engage your guests to partner with you in your work. Don't allow this to become a distraction from what is important at your event.

4. Secure your momentum donors

With any fund-a-need or fundraising appeal, I always encourage my clients to have momentum donors. This is especially important now, knowing that some of your guests will opt to stay home from your event. Having conversations with loyal donors (especially if they fall in the high risk 60+ group) prior to your event and empowering them to be momentum donors, will ensure that you will not lose their donation even if they choose to stay home. Ideally they will still attend your event and will be one of the first donors to raise their paddle, creating a powerful momentum in your giving moment. However, if they choose not to attend for their personal safety, you can announce their donation(s) to lead in to the giving moment, which will still create momentum. For more information on how to secure momentum donors, check out this resource on "How to determine giving levels and secure momentum donors."

The work your organization does is so important

It's important to me that all nonprofits have the tools they need to be successful and engage donors in their mission. I know a lot is up in the air, and we're all taking it day by day, but right now is a great time to ensure everything is in place to maximize fundraising.

We are all doing our part to keep people safe, and as professional fundraisers, but your events are important to the work your organization does on a daily basis. I understand how important your event is to the livelihood of your organization and the weight of the choices you have in front of you. My hope is that these tips will help your staff and volunteers be more prepared and help your event remain as profitable as possible.

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?

5 Things that are a Waste of Money at Your Fundraising Event

So you’re planning a fundraising event to raise money for your nonprofit, and you want it to be amazing AND profitable, right? I want that for you so much too! A great event is one that guests love and want to keep attending year after year and that they want to GIVE to each time (and hopefully become donors outside the event).

There are a lot of things I’ve seen organizations do to “beef up” their event in hopes that they will make it more appealing to guests, or to draw guests to the event and end up losing money on their event. Not only because of the actual cost of these things, but also because of the distraction from the organization’s mission (which costs money in lost donations). While there is nothing wrong with spending money on these things for your event, I have seen these things take away more value (and revenue) from an event more often than I’ve seen them ADD to it.

1. Celebrity Emcees

   Celebrity emcees are a popular addition to an event. I value the work of an emcee so much. They help keep the flow of an event and make transitions smooth and are a steady face throughout the night to keep guests engaged and make sure that everyone knows what is going on at all times.

   That being said, paying a celebrity to “host” or “emcee” your event is not going to bring you more revenue, unless they have a close affiliation with your organization. I did an event recently with a couple of local radio hosts as the emcees, but they did not have a close affiliation with the organization. Their jokes did not land and there were a lot of awkward and uncomfortable moments through out the night. They became a distraction and took away from the momentum of the evening which is so important with fundraising.

   Who are good options for Emcees?

   1. Local Newscasters are AMAZING emcees. Yes, they are technically a “celebrity” but many of them will host events for free if they have an affiliation. What I’ve noticed about them is that they can follow a script well and they know the value of storytelling so they can tie anything back to the organization’s mission. I’ve never had an experience with an ungrateful newscaster, but I do notice them go under-appreciated for their time and talent at some events. If you can get a local news personality to host your event, allow them a guest and tickets to your event and don’t forget the thank you note!

   2. Someone within your organization! This goes overlooked, but you probably have someone in your organization who is charismatic and energetic enough to host the event for you. Some of my BEST emcees have been staff or volunteers from the organizations. They know everyone who comes to the stage and are passionate about the work being done. They communicate your mission better than anyone.

   While a “celebrity” emcee may get people into the room, they aren’t going to get the money out of their pockets and they may even distract from the mission.

2. Fancy Themes

   Themes are a fun way to get people engaged in an event, but there is a fine line between engaging guests and distracting them. Fancy, overdone themes can not only distract from your organization’s mission, but I’ve seen nonprofits shell out big bucks on decor, entertainment and venues that made for a fun event, but did not bring any more revenue to the event.

   Will fancy themes always lose you money? Of course not. We see huge organizations all the time that have themes and their events are incredibly profitable.

   Here are some things to keep in mind when considering having a theme for your event:

   1. Weigh the costs. Will the cost to execute the theme bring in more revenue or attract the right type of people? Can you offset the cost with a higher ticket price and create a more exclusive event that attracts a higher level of donor?

   2. Consider creating a theme that reflects your mission! I work with a Wildcat Sanctuary that has themes each year that reflect their Fund-A-Need for the year. One year the theme was a white party where everyone wore white and then during the Fund-A-Need we raised money to rescue some White Tigers from an abusive situation. Instead of being a distraction, the whole theme reminded people WHY we were there. These are the types of themes that work really well.

   3. How well do your guests know your organization? If you have a lot of devoted donors attending your event, a theme may be a fun way to unite them. However, if you have a primarily newer group of people, I recommend hosting events that focus on your mission and the demographic you serve. People should walk away from your event connected to YOU!

3. Hired Keynote Speakers

   Keynote speakers can draw a certain crowd, but think through all of the details before hiring a keynote speaker. I’ve seen some do a wonderful job, but more often than not, there are problems with Hiring a Keynote speaker. Here are the most common problems I see Keynote Speakers adding to events:

   1. They talk too long. During a fundraising program, you have to keep the night moving along so people don’t get bored. Most keynote speakers have talks that are 45-60 minutes. The nonprofit will tell them they have 20 minutes, and the Keynote speaker will either say “that’s fine” or they’ll say they can’t do it in 20 minutes and either way, they are almost always going to talk longer than they have budgeted. Remember at a fundraiser, time is money. As you start to lose attention, you will also lose revenue.

   2. They plug their own mission instead of YOUR mission. While it is so easy to find a Keynote speaker that represents they type of work that you do, I have rarely seen a speaker come in and be able to accurately promote an organization’s mission. They talk about their own experience and their own work, and rarely do a good job of tying it back into the organization that hired them. This distracts from the mission. I’ve even see keynote speakers plug their own nonprofits at events which makes it very challenging to go and raise money for THIS organization after they spent 30-45 minutes talking about something different.

   3. They are expensive. Keynote speakers get paid to speak, and they do not come cheap. They will likely run your organization $10K-20K+ to hire a professional, desirable speaker.

   Who should speak instead?

   My recommendation is to have someone internally talk about the organization. Maybe it is the Executive Director, or a staff member. Try having a testimonial from someone your organization served. Or, instead of spending money on a keynote speaker, hire a professional videography company to come in and make a stellar video that tells your organization’s story. It will be engaging to the audience and it will also be an asset you can use on your website and will bring you much more revenue.

4. Entertainment

   Are you seeing a theme here? Anything that will distract from your mission, is going to lose you money. Entertainment is not bad, but you need to ask “will this bring us more revenue?” I am all for entertainment during the cocktail hour or after the fundraising is accomplished, but the entertainment you hire should not take up the prime time in your program.

   Your live program should be very strategic in leading up to your Fund-A-Need in order to build momentum and bring in the most revenue for your organization. Hiring entertainment for the sake of entertaining your guests, can risk distracting from your purpose for the evening. Now, if you have music or some other performing arts as a part of your mission, your whole program will probably be entertainment which is perfect because it continues to bring the audience back to your mission.

5. Open Bar

   Does this one surprise you? There is an idea that people have that if their guests have a couple cocktails, they will loosen their purse strings a bit. While, this may be true (though there is no hard evidence to support it), there is a fine line between a couple cocktails to loosen up the crowd, and losing them all together.

   Hosting an open bar all night is not only going to cost you a ton of money, but you are risk a crowd that becomes chatty and distracted when you need them to be alert and engaged for fundraising.

   What can you do instead?

   Try hosting an open bar during the cocktail hour

   If you want to treat your guests to a few free drinks, host an open bar for an hour or 90 minutes at the beginning of the evening. This will give them some time to loosen up and enjoy themselves before the big program starts.

   Incentivize people to come early with free drink tickets

   A client of mine just did this over the weekend. They found that their group used to parade in to their event late, which impacted giving during the silent auction, so they promised that if people arrived between 5-6 (in the first hour of registration), they would get 2 free drink tickets. This got people in the door early and they could use those free drink tickets at any point in the night.

   Have wine served at the tables at dinner

   This is a great option to give people a drink during the program. It’s not expected, but always appreciated by guests.

What is the common theme?

Before you spend money on anything at your event, ask yourself, “Will this distract from our mission or remind our guests of our mission?”

In and of themselves, none of these things are bad, but more often than not I’ve seen them create more harm than good for my clients. My goal for you and all of my clients is to be as profitable as possible while educating as many guests as possible so they can begin to build life long donor relationships. My fundraising strategy is very mission-focused, which leads to record-breaking events.

If you want help with emphasizing your mission, I recommend checking out my Free Fund-A-Need Framework below. This will help you tell your organization’s story throughout the night at your fundraising event and turn more guests into donors.

Whiskey Wall: A revenue-generating game for fundraisers that all the men will love

Let’s be honest, a lot of fundraising galas are planned by women for women. Raise your hand if you are a man and/or have a man for a partner who has complained about having to “put on a tux and go talk to a bunch of people he doesn’t know.” Yeah, me too. Here is a game that the men LOVE every time my clients have done it. In fact it’s usually the first game to sell out.

The Whiskey Wall

What you need:

1. 25-50 bottles of assorted whiskey (get a good mix of scotch, bourbon, rye an whatever other kinds exist…Canadian or Irish?). Make sure you check out this post on how to get liquor donated for your fundraising event.

2. Gift tags (you will use these to number the bottles)

3. Pieces of card stock to write corresponding numbers on for them to draw.

4. Basket or hat or something to put the numbered card stock in

5. Fun volunteers

How to set up and Play Whiskey Wall

The Whiskey wall is very similar to a Wine Pull, except with whiskey.

SET UP

You simply set up by having all the whiskey displayed on a table. Finding a way to display it on a tiers so that each bottle is clearly displayed is ideal (you can do this by draping table cloth over boxes). Guests love to take a look at all the whiskey on display and pick out their favorites and which ones they hope to win.

TICKETS AND PRICING

You can sell opportunities to play at the booth. You will want to determine your price based on the caliber of whiskeys. If MOST of your bottles are valued around $20, I would recommend sticking there. However if you have several that range $40+ you could charge $40 to play. Remember it will sell out quicker with $20 chances, but depending on your audience and your selection you may be able to sell chances for more.

I recommend $20 or $40 because if people are paying cash, it’s easier to stay in $20 increments. However if you are working with a mobile bidding company, ask your rep how you can add the games so they can easily purchase tickets via mobile bidding.

Volunteers could also take down bidder numbers and charge it to their “tab” at the end of the night if you want to skip the cash handling all together. This allows more people to participate and not have to rely on carrying cash to play the games.

How they play

After they pay for a chance to play, they will draw a number from the basket or hat and will be rewarded the whiskey with the corresponding number. Easy as that!

Will you give this game a try?

The Whiskey Wall typically sells out fast and is where the men hang out and examine the bottles together. It’s a fun change of pace from all the events that offer wine. The fun thing is that this doesn’t have to replace the Wine Pull! You can do it in addition to earn even more revenue.

Let me know if you try this game! I’d love to hear your experience.

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!

Wine Pull: A revenue generating game for fundraising events

The Wine Pull is a great way game to play throughout the night of your fundraising auction or charity event. The majority of the wine pull will happen during the cocktail hour or silent auction.

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What you will need:

• A variety of donated wine: a couple really nice bottles, mostly $10-$15 bottles, and you can even throw in a one or two $3 buck chucks if you are feeling particularly silly (see here how to get wine donated for auction items). Ideally 25-50 bottles.

• Wine sized paper bags (these would work, but even though these are a little more expensive, people appreciate having a handle so they can still mingle while carrying their wine).

• Corks (as many as you have bottles), so start drinking. Only sort of kidding, you can get some on amazon too. I’ll let you decide how you acquire corks, but I know which one sounds more fun.

• A basket or something to place the corks in

• Permanent Markers

• 1-2 volunteers to run the booth

• optional: Red and White ribbon. This is if you want to give your guests the option of selecting a red or white wine. Poll your committee and see if this matters to them. I don’t believe it impacts the success of your wine pull, but some guests may appreciate it.

• optional: gift tags

How to set up the wine pull:

You will start by collecting all your bottles and placing them in the paper bags and then number each one. Then take your corks and use a permanent marker to number the corks. You will have the same number of corks as you have bottles. You can reuse the same corks year after year (yay!). If you are choosing to let your guests choose red vs. white, make sure you separate the corks with the corresponding bags so they don’t get mixed up.

When you get to the venue, you will have all the bottles out on the table, with the numbers facing forward. (note, if you would rather have the bottles on display, you can use gift tags to number the wines).

Place the numbered corks in a basket (two separate ones if you are doing red vs. white)

How to play the wine pull:

After the guests pay to play “Wine Pull” the volunteer will hold out the basket and the guest will pick a cork. The volunteer will grab the corresponding wine bottle for the cork.

Side note: many guests will ask if the volunteers can hold their bottles until the end of the night. This is why I recommend using the bags with the handles because it allows the guests to take the wine with little inconvenience. If you have multiple volunteers at the table, you could receive the bidders name and bid number and bring the bottle to silent auction checkout. It’s a hassle, so my recommendation is that you just encourage the guests to carry the bottle with them so there are no mix-ups at the end of the night.

How much should a single “wine pull” cost and how should they pay?

If you are asking the guests to pay cash, it should cost $20. Most of the bottles donated will be around that $10-$20 mark, but a few will be worth way more. This is the fun of the game.

If you are using a mobile bidding software, talk to your contact with the software you chose and they can help you set up an option to buy a turn at the wine pull in the mobile bidding software. This is my recommendation because fewer people are bringing cash to these events since mobile bidding makes purchasing items and donating so accessible.

If you are not using a mobile bidding software, and you want to offer your guests an option other than cash, have the volunteers collect the guests’ names and bidder numbers and then they can pay at the end of the night during checkout with the rest of their auction items and donations.