To encourage social media posts at your fundraiser (and perhaps promote an auction sponsor), consider a photo selfie frame. I've written before about the many ways photography can be used at fundraising auctions to provide an entertainment outlet. Here are two ways nonprofits are using photo selfie frames. ================= 1. Photo selfie frames can cross-promote your nonprofit and another organization. ONEHOPE Wine has a photo selfie frame its Boston representatives take to its ... Read On >
Benefit Auctions Blog
Fundraising thermometers are overrated for Fund a Needs
There, I wrote it. I'm entirely unimpressed with fundraising thermometers when used during Fund a Needs. Thermometers were rolled out with great fanfare from the auction software vendors who created them. As proceeds pour in, donations are tracked against the goal. Guests see it play out on a screen. Vendors like to say the tool boosts audience engagement. But does it? At a school auction meeting last month, the hired auction checkout guru asked if I wanted to use it. "The school is ... Read On >
Fundraising auctioneer nightmares: When all hell breaks loose
The National Auctioneers Association recently sent a survey to fundraising auctioneers, asking them about "tough situations that might arise during a benefit auction." They listed possible situations that may occur. I've posted them below and expanded on the suggestions. I don't pretend to have seen it all, but I have seen a lot since becoming a fundraising auctioneer. And if you have experienced a minor set-back or even a catastrophe at your fundraiser, you're not alone. This post may ... Read On >
Land acknowledgments in fundraising events
Call it coincidence, divine intervention or luck, but I'd bet that you've had a situation whereby you see or hear something, and suddenly it shows up somewhere else. For instance, you consider buying a particular type of car, and suddenly that model is all you see on the highway. That serendipity is what led me to write about today's subject. ============================== Thanks to a cancelled flight that left me scrambling to get from one fundraiser to another late last month, I've ... Read On >
Does mobile bidding raise more money in your silent auction (and other questions)
I worked a fundraising gala this weekend in Martha's Vineyard, MA and the nonprofit used mobile bidding in its silent auction. Because it's on my mind, today I'm addressing three conversations that often arise about mobile bidding. ============================= 1. "Mobile bidding" isn't synonymous to "nonprofit auction software." I know, the jargon is confusing. Better to say that mobile bidding is a feature of some nonprofit auction software platforms. Referring to them as the ... Read On >