Yesterday I was delighted to again talk with Renee McGivern from Nonprofit Spark. Renee is a nonprofit consultant based in the Minneapolis area. One of her outreach ventures is a helpful little WebTalkRadio program called Nonprofit Spark. She consistently churns out great content, miraculously managing to find someone interesting to interview each week (wow!). I've not heard all the shows, but it seems every guest has a different type of expertise. It's amazing how many people she's found to ... Read On >
Schedule / Timeline
Spring auctions suck. Have a winter benefit auction instead.
My company has four auctions booked for Saturday, March 2, 2013. Last Friday, yet another school called asking if I had any auctioneers available on that date. "We thought we had one," she shared, "but apparently we don't. And here it is November and I'm calling for a March auction ..." Her voice trailed off. Yeah, she knew she was in trouble. By my count of bookings and schools I've already declined, that is 9 Washington D.C.-area schools that *I* know of competing for donations for March ... Read On >
PODCAST: Charity auction date — Spring or Fall?
If you follow good planning principles, you can have a good charity auction, regardless of the day or time of year.But that said, I do see some distinct advantages to holding an autumn charity auction date.Listen to this podcast to hear the four reasons I believe fall dates are better.Click below to listen to the podcast. ... Read On >
Schedule the benefit auction BEFORE the headline entertainment
Are you planning on holding an auction fundraiser with headline entertainment? If so, pay heed to your scheduling. The order of events dramatically affects how much you raise in your benefit auction. Here's an example. For the past two days, I've been representing the National Auctioneers Association (NAA) at ASAE's Springtime Expo in Washington, D.C. (ASAE is the membership association for association staff members. NAA is a member of ASAE.) ASAE has decided to incorporate a benefit ... Read On >
What’s the best day to hold an auction fundraiser?
Most charity auctions are held on Friday and Saturday nights.But is a Saturday night really the best day to hold an auction? Are fundraisers better on weekends? What's the matter with the rest of the week?Nothing.That said, sometimes you can tell what type of an auction the organization is hosting simply by looking at the day of the week they've chosen.Here's my not-entirely-accurate (but pretty close) look at what types of charity auctions fall on any given day of the ... Read On >