Fundraising Auctions

An auction is a fundraising technique frequently used at charity events. Usually consists of a silent auction, live auctions, paddle raisers and special appeals. Here you will learn each of the components of an auction and how these will help your organization.

Silent Auctions- is a great, low-cost way to increase the income and return-on-investment for a nonprofit fundraising event. The basic idea of a silent auction is receiving donated items from businesses, individuals or other groups or organizations of goods, services, gift certificates, experiences, tickets, memorabilia or anything saleable to your target audience. Your

organization displays the items and provides a minimum bid and usually a minimum raise on a paper bid sheet.

Live Auctions- means that the attendees are bidding for the items out in the open for all to hear and see. A live auction requires an auctioneer who verbally calls out the auction item, starts the bidding and manages the bidding process. Bidders raise their hand, or a bidding paddle, to signify they are bidding. Usually live auction items are highly priced items, or experiential items that are hard to get. For example: a round of golf for 4 people at an exclusive club where memberships are difficult to get; a private, curator-led museum tour at night when the museum is closed.

Paddle Raisers- is used during the live auction. It is a way to sell off a high priced item that you have multiple of. The auctioneer will start the bidding at a high price and work their way down until you have enough paddles in the area to cover the number of the item you have. For instance: if you have 4 rounds of golf at a very high-end golf club. The auctioneer will start the bidding and lower the price until 4 paddles are in the air.

Special Appeal- is an opportunity during the auction for the auctioneer to take a moment to bring the focus of the evening back on the organization. This part of the evening is what benefits the organization the most. The special appeal is a great way to involve every attendee at your event and turn them into donors. This part needs to be crafted in such a way that the attendees feel the pull of their heart and their wallets. It is best to have a large goal in mind- say like a scholarship fund where you want to raise $50,000. The auctioneer will start at $50,000 and work his way down and hopes to raise more than the goal you intended.

To learn more about auctions and how to create your own join us on May 24th for Fundraising Auction Made Simple workshop. Learn more here- http://kazproductions.wordpress.com/auction-workshop/

Get more ROI out of your events!

Are you planning the same type of fundraising events year after year just because everyone is afraid of changing it? I am sure many of you have attended an event that was wildly successful and you thought- we just need to repeat that event ourselves. Are you sometimes feeling that you are working so hard at planning those events that you should be getting more out of it? Fundraising events are a lot of work and more often than not the return on investment is not very much. Are you measuring how much time, resources and money you are pumping into your events and how much your investment in paying off in terms of funding, awareness and donors? You have to ask yourself is it worth it?

Not to fear- all your hard work can payoff, you just need to put the right plan in place to make those events work for your development plan. Here are a few recommendations to get you pointed n the right direction:

1. Identify Your Goals: If you do not know where you are going how can you successfully plan how to get there. You would not head out on a road trip without an idea of where you are going. Make sure to review your goals throughout the process, as it will help you to make smart decisions.

2. Target Market: Do you know who would most likely support your organization and the work you do in the community? Who is your target donor audience? This is important for your fundraising events as it helps you determine what sort of event they would most likely attend.

3. Design Your Event: Now that you have your goals and know who would most likely give to your organizations let’s get creative and brainstorms different events ideas. Do not worry about what other organizations have done- that is another organization and not your organization. There are so many similar events that donors are getting bored and are ready to jazz things up a bit. Just brainstorm 3-5 ideas that you think would work. Do not worry about the details yet- just let the creative juices flow here.

4. Feasibility: It is important to make sure you have the resources, support and time to reach your goals. Looking at the 3 to 5 events ideas you came up with ask your self these questions: what resources do I need, is there support from staff, volunteers and board members for this, am I allowing myself enough time to executive this successfully. Hopefully you find that an event is the best vehicle for reaching your goals. Or sometimes you come to the conclusion that maybe an event is not the best way to reach your goals and that is okay! Sponsors and supporters will want you to be smart with you money so do not hold an event if there is a better way to reach your goals.

5. Leadership: An effective leader will make all the difference in your success. This person has to understand the expectations and be excited to take this project on. No coercing people into the position!

6. Devil in the Details: As you begin to put the details and plan together keep in mind a few things- your identified goals, target market, time of year, day of the week, length of the event and your timeline

7. Effective Marketing: Focus on who you want to reach and utilize who you know. Remember you have to spend money to make money- so don’t be shy at spending some money on your marketing efforts. Be smart about what you spend it on though. An advertisement in the local paper may have little ROI for you. Know your target audience and figure out how to reach them.

Finding the Right Part of the Market to Target

With the number of non-profit organizations climbing yearly, there is less and less funding to go around. It becomes important that you know whom you are targeting and how you contact that market.

What is a target market?

A target market is a group of people that the company has decided to aim for in its marketing efforts. A well-defined target market is the first element to a marketing strategy. The target audience or market for every nonprofit is its potential supporters: people who may be willing to support the nonprofit in some capacity, such as by volunteering, donating money or participating in other ways.


What is the benefit of knowing your target market?

1. Builds a great reputation for your organization. When people in your target think of your organization, they will think of how well you fit their needs and how blessed they are in having contact with your nonprofit.
2. Separates your organization apart from others. If your organization is known for making a difference by doing a narrowly defined task, your nonprofit becomes the kind donors and volunteers notice and want to support.
3. Gives more access to the target audience. When you become an expert in the needs of a concentrated group, doors start to open to deeper relationships in that community.
4. Brings almost instant credibility: Your knowledge of the community’s needs and the credibility that comes from your reputation causes the target audience to trust you more readily. When your organization builds credibility in your niche, you could become the default authority on the group you serve.
5. Clarifies your tasks. Instead of multiplying the number of things your organization does, you develop a sharp focus on a limited number of tasks and become a stronger organization. The keen focus leads you to become increasingly better at what you do.

How do you figure out your target market?
1. What need does your organization satisfy in the community?
2. Who feels that this need is important?
3. Develop your donor profile.- Determine who would be most likely to invest in the mission of your organization.

Describe your potential donor as fully as you can.
• What do you know about them?
• Where are they situated geographically?
• What are they likely to spend?
• Where do they shop?
• What is their annual income?
• What languages do they speak?
• What type of web sites do they visit?

Identify your donor profile before you do your marketing plan

Understanding Event Sponsorship

Companies sponsor events for several reasons but their number one reason is for Marketing and how it will affect their bottom line. Basically will they sell more products or services and will they make more money from sponsoring your event. Companies want to market to their target market- is your event audience that market? The return on investment (ROI) is hard to measure but we have put together a strategic sponsorship plan to help sponsors reach their goals. Remember it is about the focusing on the Sponsors needs in order to fulfill your own. It is a Win-Win situation!

Step 1: Determine what you have to offer a sponsor in benefits. This includes marketing benefits and hospitality benefits at your event. What can you offer a sponsor in terms of benefits?

Step 2: Identify who your event audience is. What type of person attends your event? Define your attendees’ demographics. This is important to a sponsorship because they want to make sure that they are marketing to their target market.

Step 3: Determine what levels you will offer your sponsorship packages. First go through and decide which levels will get what benefits. Each benefit has a value to it so determine your level amount based off that value. People and Companies want value for their money, who doesn’t? So, make sure you are offering enough value for their money.

Step 4: Research potential sponsors. The internet is a great tool to begin researching companies that might be interested in you. Brainstorm a list of companies that you think would be interested in your organization and your event audience. Then check out their website to see if they have sponsorship criteria listed or event a Corporate Social Responsibility plan outlined. This will give you clues as to where they interest is. You can also check out other organizations that are similar and what sponsors they have secured. This will help you identify more companies that might have an interest in you.

Step 5: The design of the proposal. The proposal should be focused on the potential sponsor and the benefits they would receive by partnering with you. The proposal should not be focused on your organization. It is about what you can offer the sponsor and what their return on investment is.

Step 6: Soliciting Sponsors: Have a Hot or Warm lead is always beneficial so look at your current contacts and see who might have that lead for you. From there it is about making relationships. Sending a proposal to a potential sponsor could be beneficial- some of them have specific guidelines to submitting proposals so do what they ask. Reaching out to them and setting up a meeting with the head of the Marketing Department is one of the best ways to make more happen. Sometimes it is tough reaching these folks and getting that appointment. In order to reach your goal you have to keep going and keep calling more people.

Step 7: Sponsor Fulfillment: Once you have secured a sponsor you want to keep them. Make sure that you fulfill everything within the agreement. Make you sponsor feel like VIP’s because they are. Go the extra mile with them and build on the relationship. We want them to feel like this was a good investment.

Step 8: Follow-up: First off make sure you thank the sponsor after your event. Putting together a post-event report also is very important. This allows the sponsors to measure their investment. It also ensures the sponsor that you fulfilled their sponsorship agreement. Make sure they feel appreciated and wanting to come back the following year.

Developing the $250 billion through special events

Individual donors gave 83% of the $295 billion donated to nonprofits in 2006, as stated in the Giving USA 2007 Report. Foundations came in at 13% and Corporations at 4%. If you do the math, you will realize that individuals give roughly $250 billion each year. “Charities’ direct market appeals are not raising as much money as they have in years past, and charities’ are losing more donors and attracting fewer new supporters”, according to the January 8, 2008 issue of Chronicles of Philanthropy. Many organizations focus more of their time and energy on the $50 billion (17%) rather than the $250 billion (83%).

Developing one relationship can be overwhelming and not an efficient use of an organization’s resources and time. Utilizing special events as a way to increase your individual donor base and build exposure within the community can be more efficient and beneficial for building a sustainable funding model for your organization. Here are 5 easy tasks you can do to begin increasing individual donors through special events:

Be strategic in who you invite: Your goal is to find donors who will have a vested interested in the great work you do in the community. Therefore you need to identify those donors. Figure out your target market of donors and invite them to your event. Ask board members to invite these potential donors to sit at their tables. Utilize your table sponsors’ givebacks in order to invite more potential donors.

Engage event sponsors’ employees: Engaging major event sponsors’ employees is an added benefit to these companies. It helps boost morale and puts the company in the community spotlight. Host company happy hours and share your mission with employees. Share with them the impact that a company like the one they work for creates positive impact on their community. Tell them how they can be involved on many levels as a volunteer, in-kind donor or even financial donor. Offer a discount to major sponsors’ employees to attend your event.

Assign staff, board and volunteers a list of people to schmooze: Your staff, board and volunteers are some of the best advocates for your organization. Provide them with talking points and even host a pre-event training on networking. Assign them with a list of people that they need to connect with at your event. Make sure that everyone is dispersed among your attendees. You do not want all your staff and volunteers sitting in the back all at one table. Get them out there talking about your organization.

Showcase the heart of your organization: An event should be a fun way to showcase your organization and give attendees a taste of what you do. You want attendees to walk away with an understanding of who you are and a desire to be more involved. Create an emotional hook at your event. You don’t need to spend lots of money on décor, entertainment or event centerpieces. Find creative ways to engage your attends with the heart of your organization.

Follow-up is key: Following up after an event is the key to cultivating that relationship with potential new donors. Thank them for coming to your event. Have board members, volunteers, staff and even clients personally call to thank them for attending. Invite them to tour a facility, spend time with a client or attend a luncheon with the President of your organization or maybe even the President of your major sponsors. Be creative in getting them more engaged with your organization.

Remember to keep focused on the purpose of your event and the mission of your organization throughout the process. An event is not over after everyone gets in their cars and goes home. The work is just beginning, but an event is a great way to take that first major step of introducing a potential donor to who you are, what you do and how they can be involved.