Fundraising gala auctioneer Sherry Truhlar

trends

Fundraising auction trend: Food trucks

Over the last two weeks, you might have seen some of the publicity surrounding the predictions made in the 1985 movie, Back to the Future.  In the movie, the lead character Marty McFly travels to the future date of October 21, 2015.  I've read articles and seen video clips of late-night television show skits about the predictions made in that movie.  Thirty years later, some prophesies came true (or nearly so); others were off the mark. Today's blog post follows this theme.  ========== In ... Read On >

Charity Auction Trends 2013: gift bags, technology, and trucks

Heads up! I published this article weeks ago in my e-newsletter. Only today am I re-posting it here, on my blog.  But not every article from there makes it over here. So, subscribe to Benefit Auction Ideas (it's free) to get great content delivered to your in-box. +++++ Trends in the benefit auction world don't change as often as fashion, so upfront I'll admit that the three I identified in 2012 still hold.  (Read Charity Auction Trends 2012 here.)  But after working with over 100 onsite and ... Read On >

The 10 most read benefit auction ideas of 2012

If you're just getting started in this wonderful world of nonprofit auctions, consider this blog post a study guide of what you should read *right now* to get up-to-speed. This is my "Best Of" issue.  The best of my 2012 blog posts.  It's what other auction planners found to be most intriguing on my site, last year. How do I know these posts were the most popular? They had the highest hit rates.  (Thanks to Website analytical programs, it's easy for me to track these things.) As a prolific ... Read On >

Charity Auction Trends 2012: We’re still talking technology and always talking food

I’m predicting three trends for 2012 charity auctions. Two of them involve execution. No, nothing that harsh. I’m talking about the other kind of execution, when we're getting stuff done. We’ve heard a lot in the past couple years about trends in technology, but I think 2012 is the first time we are going to see some of these ideas in action. First – for better or worse - mobile bidding will become more widely adopted in the silent auction.   Vendors have been touting electronic bidding ... Read On >