To support two school auction clients whose galas were cancelled due to COVID-19, I shot videos that they could use as teasers for specific items being sold in an online auction. The goal was to get participants interested in bidding on these items. How did my school auction clients use these videos? They sent the video link in an email blast to their community. They posted and shared the video on Facebook. They added the video to the item description in the software online. It ... Read On >
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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 >
Who else loves getting jam-packed gift bags? (This French school’s gift bag was oh-la-la.)
Today I'm sharing a video. You'll get to see the contents of a gift bag from one of my school auctions. But first, let me provide some background on this event. Fundraising auctions -- or at least the kind I blog about on this site -- are a fairly "American" thing -- or so I've been told by those who have attended galas in Europe. One woman who noticed these differences worked for a mobile bidding vendor. She told me that eventually she wanted to return home to London and become a ... Read On >
A unique auction venue sets the stage for Olympic-sized entertainment
One of my clients in the Adirondacks booked a new venue at the base of the Lake Placid Olympic Ski Jumping Complex. The complex was built for the 1980 Olympic Games and now serves as a training complex for Nordic ski and freestyle aerial jumping. It wasn't enough to have this impressive facility serve as a backdrop. The Executive Director of the foundation took the extra step of having Olympic-hopefuls demonstrate their talent for the benefit of the gala attendees. During the silent ... Read On >
Using “Alice in Wonderland” for a school auction theme
It's not uncommon for school auction themes to be inspired by children's books. Here's one example. This Wonderland auction was inspired by the book Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. I worked this event earlier in the year. The committee put a lot of care into creating this experience. Everywhere I turned I saw clever details that supported the theme. View the video to see how this auction committee re-imagined Wonderland for their own school fundraiser. Quick overview ... Read On >