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.

Must Have Live Auction Item #2: Meal/Dinner Party

These are one of my favorite things to sell ever and every auction should have one. What I like about this item is that you don't have to be well connected to have this item. You don't even need to know a chef, you just need to have someone who is willing to host a dinner party for 6-10 people and cook food and provide wine. This could be hosted at a popular restaurant or even in someone's home.

Criteria For a Successful Meal/Dinner Party Item:

Hosted by a likable person. Not necessarily a famous person. Just someone that people enjoy being around.  If you have a willing participant, but their personality is just a little choppy or hard to be around, no one will bid. 

Multiple Courses. Hors d'oeuvres, salad, dinner and dessert would be enough, but if your chef can do other courses (soup, cheese, whatever else all those extra forks are for type courses) , that makes the meal stand out more.

Wine. Must I say more? Wine or beer pairings included are a must!

6-10 people. I have found that this is the sweet spot for number of people included in successfully selling an item of this type. 4 people is too few and 12 can be too difficult to coordinate with guests.  

An Expiration Date. This is important so people actually claim their meal with the donor. Usually one year from the date of the event is a good expiration. This is also out of respect for the donor and their time. 

Examples: 

• Chef's dinner at a highly anticipated new restaurant prior to the restaurant opening. 
• Meal prepared by a chef featured on the Food Network (seriously, there is probably someone in your area featured on the food network) 
• Meal prepared in YOUR home by the principal of the school. 
• Meal in the home of a CEO of a fortune 100 company in your area with the CEO and spouse. Meal prepared by catering company. 
• Authentic Italian dinner prepared by someone closely associated by the organization who grew up in Italy - secret family recipes. 
• Dinner prepared by a well known local chef. 

Again, these are all just examples, but the possibilities are endless here. Just start brain storming with your auction committee and pick whatever sounds most fun to you. Contact me if you want to my professional feedback. I will be honest, because I want your even to be as successful as possible.

Earn 12% More at your Fundraising Auction

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

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

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

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