In the summer of 2015, the nonprofit division of Venable law published "Busted: Nonprofits Will Have to Pay the Photography Piper." The article itself is short and worth reading, but here's the synopsis. For many years, nonprofits have pulled images from the internet and used them in their publications or websites.Until recently, software didn't exist to make it easy for photographers and their agents to track down these copyrighted images. Now the software exists, and nonprofits are ... Read On >
Administration
Two pieces of advice for planning a fundraising auction
It's January -- a time of new beginnings. Many volunteers will start working on their 2017 fundraising auctions in earnest.I offer two pieces of advice, based on my own experiences.==========================Last October I worked with my team to launch V.4 of my website -- the fourth version in 11 years. The website launch went smoothly, in large part because I was working with a great technical team whom I've worked with for a few years.My joy was short-lived. Though the ... Read On >
Auction Flu: An epidemic among Gala Auction Chairs
I'm keeping it real in this post.My tradition has been to share gala auction tips in my articles, but there is an entire sub-section of posts I could write focusing on the cultural and sociological elements of fundraising auctions -- articles that would go beyond the mechanics of "how to run a gala auction."Articles about why Auction Chairs run an auction (E.G. Though many are compassionate people who want to help their chosen cause, some have an underlying desire to demonstrate how ... Read On >
How to control your loud school auction crowd
Is your school auction crowd obnoxiously loud?Though any auction crowd has the potential for being deafening, the loudest auctions tend to be Catholic schools. The parents know each other so quickly find their friends to chat. And let's be honest -- Catholics aren't timid about drinking alcohol, and that has a tendency to increase anyone's personal volume when consumed in excess.This past spring I had a new Catholic school group who prepared me for the worst. "Our crowd is loud," they ... Read On >
This benefit auction blog is temporarily closing
Dear Readers,For July - September, this blog will go silent as my team works to build a new website and implement other behind-the-scenes changes. If you're seeking benefit auction help, search through the 550 blog posts dating back to 2009. There's plenty of content to explore and thousands of ideas to incorporate into your next auction fundraiser.(As a side, if you subscribe to Benefit Auction Ideas, that publication will still arrive on schedule. The next issue is July 5.)We'll ... Read On >