But when it was quiet a few months ago, I looked at the calendar and selected THIS Thursday as a great day to hold a free call on benefit auctions.  It’s called “The Five Myths Holding You Back From Making Big Money at Your Auction Fundraiser.”

If you haven’t yet registered for the call (click here for details), I wanted to give you some reasons as to how you’ll know if the call is right for you.

1. You’re in charge of planning a benefit auction, and it’s the first time you’ve overseen one.

2. You’ve Chaired an auction before, but you hardly feel like a pro. You’re on the hunt for better information.

3. You sit on a benefit auction committee and want to gather tips to help your group.

4. You’re an “experienced” auction planner (i.e. you’ve overseen one before), but the charity for which you’re planning the auction hasn’t (i.e. they’ve never hosted an auction).

5.  Your committee feels fairly confident with the planning, but you’d like a boost of energy to kick off the event.

6. You’re the self-educated sort.  If there’s a class that sounds interesting, you’re in it.  (I’m like that, too.)

I’m looking forward to leading this call because I enjoy shaking people up a bit with their established beliefs about benefits.  I’ve got juicy information to share that auction planners should hear.

I’m also looking forward to the call because it’s been a few months since I’ve led any free calls, so it will be nice to connect with the wider Red Apple Auctions community of readers in a “live” format.

And I’ll be a bit stressed, too.  My constant fear is that I’ll accidentally press a button that will disconnect everyone from the call.  (It’s not happened yet!)

Register here.

© Red Apple Auctions Co. All Rights Reserved

Here’s the kicker:  It had been donated to be sold in a benefit auction to benefit the Lexington affiliate of the Susan G. Komen for the Cure.

The bike had been stored inside a trailer secured by chains in the organization’s parking lot.  When employees returned to the office after the weekend, they noticed it was gone.

Sad.

The bike sounds irreplaceable, but I hope at least they had some insurance.

From my event management days, here are some types of event-specific insurance you can consider as you plan your benefit auction.

Property Damage Insurance

Covers the damage or loss of the property of the policy owner.  For instance, if you have your auction set-up the night before and a thief slips in during the night and steals a registration laptop and some items, the typical Property Damage Insurance policy would cover those items.

Commercial General Liability (CGL) or Comprehensive General Liability

This is a basic business policy and covers major risks, including property damage and injury to people.  Usually higher-risk activities (serving alcohol comes to mind) require an additional policy or rider.

Fire Legal Liability

I once worked at a benefit auction where a centerpiece started to burn.  Thankfully, it was only starting to smoke when it was extinguished by the startled guests!  A fire legal liability insurance policy is for such instances.  Assume your auction volunteers accidentally bump a table and cause a can of sterno to ignite nearby curtains and burn down the venue.  This is the policy to have on hand.

Event Cancellation

If you are holding a benefit auction outdoors and fear bad weather might cause the cancellation of the event, this policy protects against unforeseen circumstances such as that.  It may also cover labor disputes or damage to the event facility or venue.  (Imagine if you’d scheduled to hold your benefit auction in the Opryland Hotel in Nashville in late May 2010.  The flood waters of May 3 would have prohibited you from holding the gala.)

P.S. Need auction item ideas?  Get Benefit Auction Ideas … it’s free!

© 2010 Red Apple Auctions Co.  All Rights Reserved.

Is your benefit auction gala award-winning material?  I’ve got just the thing for you competitive Auction Chairpersons reading this in Chicago.

First, some bad news.

The bad news is that there isn’t any award (of which I’m aware) for benefit auctions specifically.  But this isn’t a biggie bad news; it’s an itty-bitty bad news.  Because you can still submit your auction fundraiser into almost 20 different categories differentiated by budget, concept, and other elements.

The good news is that I have had two auction clients in 2008 and one client in 2009 selected for inclusion in “Washington’s Top 100″ events as judged by BizBash magazine.

And now you can do the same in Chicago.

So – yup – if you’d like a feather in your Auction Chair cap (or your event management cap, if you’re a professional event planner), submitting to BizBash Chicago awards might be the place to start.

Think of how excited your volunteers would be to be a part of a “can’t-be-missed gala,” as judged by a third party.  You could (and should) use this in your P.R. campaign.

Currently, I’ve only seen advertisements and deadlines for the Chicago market.  Your event (charity auction or otherwise) must have taken place between June 1, 2009 and May 31, 2010.

Private social events are not allowed for judging.  (Though I’ve yet to see a “private” benefit auction anyway).

You’ll need to submit up to five photos and a 400-word description of the event.  The description should address all the standard stuff:  event purpose, target audience, intended result, guests’ reaction, and other companies involved in the success of the gala (like, AHEM, your benefit auctioneer company).

Here’s the kicker:  The Chicago application is due 5 p.m. CST this Wednesday, July 21, 2010.   Get crackin’!

Those of you organizing Florida benefit auctions, it appears that those deadlines aren’t until 2011. You’ve got time to prepare and make sure your final photos are perfect for the application.

There doesn’t seem to be anything about the Washington, D.C. awards right now, though from a conversation I had with the editor a couple of years ago, I know the D.C. awards — at least at that time — had been chosen by a set of panelists and not via a “submission” process.  Maybe that’s in the works to change.

Good luck to all of my Chicago readers!

P.S.  Sign up for my (free) Benefit Auction Ideas e-newsletter to get more advance notice of information gems like this.

© 2010 Red Apple Auctions Co.  All Rights Reserved.

Signage designed to turn out the vote is common here in D.C., but in this sign, the message is geared for an online contest.

Recently I’ve had a number of our benefit auction clients participating in online contests for non-profits.   Most of my clients are not feeling “warm and fuzzy” when the contest ends.

“Don’t even mention the word “Pepsi” to me,” said one, who was exhausted after coming *that* close to winning in the Pepsi Refresh challenge, only to lose by a handful of last-minute votes.

Then she said something I’ve also heard from others:

“With so much time having been devoted to getting the word out to our supporters to vote, I feel that we’re now behind in planning for our annual charity auction.”

Yikes!

Benefit auctions are reliable income.  If you’ve been operating one for a few years, you can – with relative accuracy – plan for the amount you want to raise.  Using tested formulas, your auction fundraiser can become dependable income for a group.

But contests?  Not so reliable.

It’s almost like hearing your friend invested $100,000 in lottery tickets instead of buying the house he’d been admiring.  Your response:  “You …  did  … WHAT?!?”

A sign at a busy intersection promotes voting in an online contest.

Contests are chances.  By following guidelines, you can improve your odds at winning, as benefit auction team member Julie — an expert in winning sweepstakes — once shared.

And sure, some of the strategies individuals use to win contests isn’t much different than what a non-profit can use to marshal support.

In my own condo community of 1600 units, I’ve been voting for one of my neighbors as she competes in the Sears Chef Challenge.  I don’t know Pam, but she’s been sending out emails to the community list serve and posted signs around the area to get the vote out. (Or “get the vote on.”  Technically she’s getting the vote “on” because it’s an online contest.)

Some of the strategies are similar, such as sending an email reminder to vote every day (if voting is allowed every day).  And it’s a good idea to encourage fans to ask their friends to vote, too.

Heck, if you can offer your fans an incentive to advertise on behalf of your submission, that’s even better.  You can create a “contest within a contest.”  Maybe the individual who refers the most votes wins two free tickets to your annual benefit auction gala.

But boy, I hate the idea of spending loads of staff time on a contest if it’s competing with the planning of your annual auction fundraiser.  Your charity auction is a “sure thing;” the contest is a chance.

My advice:  See if the contest work can be given to a volunteer or intern. Maybe someone like Julie, who has a knack for it.

P.S.  You won’t win free cash, but here’s a way to get a free auction gift from me that will teach you how to raise more cash in your benefit auction.

©2010 Red Apple Auctions Co.  All rights reserved.

The September/October issue of Arrive magazine from Amtrak has an article called Fashion’s Makeover (page 34) by Michele Meyer.

The article is about how the fashion industry has changed in light of the economic slump. Meyer proposes that to survive in this new climate, apparel designers and merchants must rely on instinct, innovation, exclusivity, and the Internet.

Sounds like there’s some advice in here that benefit auction committees would also be smart to follow.

Let’s dig deeper.

In the “instinct’ category, Meyer writes the following:

Paring back not only helps stores but also helps shoppers.  Scaled-down inventory offers a sharpened point of view and a sense of urgency:  If there’s just one fabulous blouse in your size, it may be gone if you wait for a sale.

Then, a bit later…

Rather than risk closure, Manhattan’s Henri Bendel dropped clothing and hones to accessories, cosmetics, and gifts, its most lucrative items.  “It was a smart move,” says John Mincarelli, fashion merchandising professor at New York’s Fashion Institute of Technology.  “The American mentality of ‘grow, grow, grow’ failed.”

And OMG – if you go to the Henri Bendel site, look at the homepage, and watch the short video, it’s ALL about accessories.  Bye bye clothes.

OK — so how does this relate to you? There are two points.

1.  Auctions are based on scarcity.

If you have too many items, your prices will fall and certainly your ROI (return on investment) will shrink.  But if you have a lot of competition for a few choice items, it will drive prices higher.  You’ll earn more money for less work … and doesn’t that sound like a good idea?

2.  Pare down and focus on what is making you money.

What do your guests like?

If your research shows that spa auction packages are always the top sellers, target spa auction packages.  And not all the *same* spa auction packages, mind you.  But here’s a massage … and there’s a mani/pedi … and over here we have a day-long, “I’ve died and gone to heaven” spa package.

Or if your bidders consistently snap up restaurant packages, send your auction procurement team to restaurant after restaurant to develop great dining excursions.  And if no one ever buys the Starbucks coffee basket (as much as I might like that) … don’t go seeking it as an auction donation (or at least not that coffee basket).

Remember:  Fewer choice items that the guests crave will be less work for your auction team, but greater yields when the cash is counted.

(c) 2009 Red Apple Auctions LLC