Charity auction theme idea: Money and Banking

By Sherry · Wednesday, November 25th, 2009

The invitation text was set against pinstripe blue. The individual pages were held together in the envelope by a money clip. The dollar featured the roastee.

The invitation was loose-leaf and held together in the envelope by the engraved money clip. The $100 dollar bill featuring the roastee was used throughout the gala.

Each year, one of our clients conducts an auction fundraiser roast of a well-known local figure. The theme represents the personality and profession of the one to be roasted.

In this case, the honoree (i.e. the one to be roasted) was a banker, so the auction theme and decor followed a button-up conservative tone, as seen in these visuals.

The invitation was sent loose-leaf, but held together by a gift – an engraved money clip.

Fitting of a banker, pinstriped dark blue, gray and white were the predominate colors.

The bid paddle, table placemat and an oversized bill used for decor purposes.

The auction bid paddle was sponsored by the honoree’s bank. It was heavy-weight plastic in the shape of a house (because banks give home loans…). The bank’s name was on the reverse side.

Placemats used the pinstripe theme and had the honoree’s photo.

Table signs were a $100 bill on one side, and on the other listed the sponsoring company’s name.

Many $100 bills in both regular size and oversized shapes were scattered on tables.

The event had five roasters, which might have worked had they not spoken for so long. They clearly enjoyed speaking and were reluctant to limit their remarks to the allotted time period. Sadly, by the time the live auction began, at least two-thirds of the 800-person crowd had left.

There are few feelings worse than ascending a stage to an empty room.

Even so, the event chair wrote to me in the days following the charity auction, “While I don’t yet know our bottom line, our revenues were up significantly (over 10%) above the prior year. The reverse auction was almost double and the live was up substantially. So although the room cleared after the long running roasts ended, those that stayed were in the mood to bid and you did a great job of accommodating them.” (Watch videos of other auction clients here.)

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The table sign, live auction catalog, and program.	The money tree stood near registration.

The stage with its money green drape.	Tables looked sharp with the placemats.