Kathy Klotz
For 18 years, this small nonprofit in the remote southeast corner of Minnesota raised $3k to $5k in its annual fundraising auction.
In 2011, the woman in charge of that auction — Kathy Klotz — got serious.
She realized her 90-item auction was too much work for too little reward. Her tiny nonprofit needed more funds to support student scholarships and she had zero volunteers. Kathy began educating herself on auctions and how to improve them.
Sherry Truhlar
Two years later, her auction raised $41,000.
She went from a historical $4000 to over $40,000 in two years.
Let that sink in.
For the first time, her nonprofit closed the year with a SURPLUS in their scholarship funds account, thanks to the auction. And guests — for the first time — told her they couldn’t WAIT to come the next year. “It was so fun!” they said.
In the 15 minute audio clip below, fundraising auctioneer Sherry Truhlar interviews Kathy about how she pulled this off. Kathy gives tips about …
- Changing from 90 silent auction items to a fraction of that
- Tweaking her mission call
- Developing her marketing
- Adding smaller giving activities
- A barely-noticeable change in a ticket price
- Other nonprofit auction tips …
If the above controls don’t work on your machine, use the audio player below.
Or click the button below and see if it works instead.
Kathy created her success by investing in several Red Apple Auctions’ products.
She purchased:
- The Profitable Auction Blueprint™ 8-week course
- Fabulous Fund a Needs
- Rockin’ Raffles
- Catalog Carnival
Products come and go, but you can check the store to see what speaks to your current needs.
And to be alerted to specials, new products, free trainings and more, subscribe to Benefit Auction Ideas.
It’s not “hard” to run an auction, but there are many moving components. These products and others begin the self-education process for you and your committee, enabling you to leapfrog to your next level of fundraising.