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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Hosting your Fundraising Auction on a Saturday

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

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

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

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

Thought about hosting your fundraising auction on a weeknight?

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

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

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

Videos at your Fundraising Auction

Does your organization have a video to play at your fundraising auction? If so, think about it, is it filmed and edited by a professional. Besides hiring the right auctioneer, this is one of the most valuable things you can spend money on. A well edited video will open the hearts, and correspondingly their wallets, in 5 minutes or less – really 2-3 minutes is ideal.

Professional editing is HUGE! Just think of any chick flick you’ve watched recently and how the soundtrack alone controlled how you responded to the scene. It’s important to have a video that will move the audience to feel emotionally invested in your organization because if they are emotionally invested they are more likely to become financially invested. They want to know their money is going towards a good cause.

I have a couple really awesome videographers all at different price points, so reach out if you need suggestions.

Below is a video used by one of my clients that were used just before the fund-a-need to help tug at the audience's heart strings.