Last night I worked an event that had about 1,000 guests in attendance. It was a tasting-style event ... the kind that have 50 or 60 restaurant chefs in attendance, each handing out samples of their food and cocktails. As they always do, the nonprofit did an excellent job of recruiting, organizing, and training its volunteers. For instance: All the volunteers were taken on a tour of the hotel so they knew where to direct guests. They could point out the registration and checkout ... Read On >
Raffles
Kendra Scott: An easy jewelry donation for many nonprofits
If a Kendra Scott jewelry store is in your area, call the community / charity relations contact in your local store. For the last two years, my clients have received generous donations from the retailer via its "Kendra Gives Back" program. Frankly, I haven't seen this kind of generosity since Keurig hit the market several years ago. Do you remember that? Not so long ago, every auction I worked had at least one Keurig coffee system in its silent auction. It was often accompanied by a ... Read On >
School auction idea: Reward teachers with their own raffle
Here's a touchy subject. From a fundraising perspective, I'm not a fan of teachers attending school fundraising auctions. They often attend the event for free, which hits the catering budget. They typically don't purchase anything, as their lower salaries don't allow for it. That means there is no donation to offset the ticket revenue loss. And -- gosh, I don't know how to say this any other way -- if we have a loud group causing a distraction to bidding guests in the room, 99% of the ... Read On >
One of my benefit auction associates honored (in his own way) by this nonprofit
This is a little late in the game to publish (the signing event happened May 7, 2013), but I had to get this in print. (I was en route to California when this all went down, and simply lacked the time to acknowledge one of my talented benefit auction associates!) If you've had any of my floor crew work your gala, you know how frickin' awesome they are at selling your stuff, be that silent auction items or raffle tickets. Jerome is also talented in all-things-art. (You might want to read a ... Read On >
VIDEO: A Simple Trick to Improve Raffle Ticket Sales & the Guest Experience
In this video, learn how a very simple tool can help you dramatically improve your auction raffle sales AND keep guests happily shopping in your silent auction. Watch the video below. ================ Raffles can vastly improve their takes when you make simple changes, like the suggestion I gave in this video. And for more advanced raffle help, here's your resource. In this 90-minute training, you'll learn how and why some raffles are top-performing. You'll even get some bonuses ... like ... Read On >