The Sacramento Bee printed an April 11, 2010 tax-related "Ask the Expert" style article ("Set up IRS Payment Plan Online") which was picked up and re-broadcast by www.AZCentral.com, where I read it. Lo and behold, one of the questions was related to benefit auctions and the tax deductible nature of a timeshare. The question was answered by IRS specialist Jesse Weller. I've reprinted the question and answer in its entirety below, or you can read the complete column by clicking here. Q: My ... Read On >
Administration
She’s got a feeling (and it came from the school auction)
This past week I learned that one of my clients is a fellow blogger. A witty blogger. And she's letting me re-post one of her clever posts here. But first, here's the back story. In 2008, I worked with Christ Church School in Fort Lauderdale, FL. For the first time, they broke the 6-figure mark in their auction returns. After that gala, Shayna Altman-Neal, the Auction Co-Chair, wrote: Our event was awesome! We feel the night was incredible. We surpassed our goals, and set a new ... Read On >
Three free phone resources every Auction Chair should use
Benefit auction ideas don't always need to be about items and games! Here are three productivity tools to help stressed out Auction Chairs more easily plan the auction. 1. Free conference calls - No Cost Conference Your Auction Committee needs to regularly touch base. Use this free service to chat it up. No Cost Conference has successfully managed my teleclasses with hundreds of people on the line, so I know it will work for your 5, 10, or 15 person committee. One of the nice capabilities ... Read On >
About last night… Proof these auction ideas work!
UPDATE 12/5/09 After I posted the original blog (scroll down), Maria wrote me this email: On behalf of our auction team, I wanted to thank you for meeting with us last night. We enjoyed your talk on procurement and we are fired up and ready to go after your ideas. This morning we got the PTA Chairs to approve the software agreement. I believe we can pay the full cost of the software with sponsorships. Well, as of this morning we have two more sponsors for our auction webpage. I didn’t even ... Read On >
Three license laws affecting benefit auctions
When I worked as an event planner for GE, I would have been mortified to inadvertently overlook a detail which could have shut down my event. With so many rules to follow from municipal, state, and federal bodies, it's difficult to stay on top of everything. As a benefit auctioneer Florida ... and in Virginia ... and in Kentucky ... and in New Hampshire .. and in some other states, I've learned that licensing varies greatly from location to location. Nonetheless, here are three more common ... Read On >