Charity Auctions for Novices: 7 Key Issues to Know

As a nonprofit skilled, you’ve most likely heard that charity auctions are time-consuming. On high of the venue particulars, ticketing, and advertising and marketing you’re used to dealing with for common fundraising occasions, there’s merchandise procurement and bid monitoring to think about. The introduction of digital and hybrid choices has additional sophisticated issues, too.

Nevertheless, with a robust fundraising plan, you possibly can maintain a extremely profitable charity public sale that may not solely increase income however deepen engagement. Charity auctions are an effective way to create a sense of neighborhood—both in-person or on-line—and interact donors with pleasant competitors. 

Right here’s all the things it’s essential know to host your first profitable charity public sale:

1. What’s a charity public sale and what does it seem like?
2. Which sort of public sale do you have to host?
3. How can charity public sale software program assist?
4. Which crew members do it’s essential recruit?
5. Which gadgets do you have to procure, and the way?
6. How do you promote an public sale occasion?
7. How will you maximize incoming public sale income?

A charity public sale could also be extra intricate to plan than your different fundraising occasions, however the payoff in fundraising income and donor engagement might be well worth the effort. Use this information for all the things it’s essential get began. 

1. What’s a charity public sale and what does it seem like?

A charity public sale is a fundraising occasion through which supporters bid on donated gadgets and packages. Your nonprofit is chargeable for procuring gadgets or reserving packages (resembling trip stays or consignment journey) that may get supporters excited to bid. This stuff might be procured as in-kind donations from sponsors, bought outright by your nonprofit, or by way of public sale merchandise consignment companions.

Through the occasion, your supporters compete to position the best bid on public sale gadgets. The individual with the best bid wins, and your group earns the proceeds. Basically, all charity auctions observe an analogous four-step course of. Use the next timeline as a tenet:

1. Open the bidding. When you’re utilizing cellular bidding software program, no matter whether or not it’s a dwell, silent, or on-line public sale, bidding opens robotically at your preset time. When you’re internet hosting a standard paper-based silent public sale or a dwell public sale, announce the opening of bidding to the visitors.
2. Start with a beginning bid. Every merchandise is assigned a beginning bid quantity previous to the occasion, often at 35-50% of the market worth. That is the minimal quantity that the primary bidder can bid.
3. Bid increments. Individuals will compete to position the best bid. Every consecutive bid on an merchandise should sometimes be 10-15% higher than the earlier bid worth. Take into account including Purchase Now choices at 150%-200% of the merchandise’s worth to assist drive bidding and make it straightforward for supporters who wish to pay high greenback.
4. Shut bidding. Whoever positioned the ultimate, highest bid is the winner of that merchandise. The winner pays the agreed funds on to your nonprofit. 

Bid increment directions needs to be given to members forward of time or configured into your cellular bidding software program so the public sale can run easily. For extra info on the essential outlines of a charity public sale, try this OneCause information to planning a charity public sale. 

2. Which sort of public sale do you have to host? 

Relying in your nonprofit’s finances and measurement, some public sale sorts could also be extra favorable than others. There are 4 various kinds of charity auctions that your group can host:

• Reside public sale. A dwell public sale is the basic in-person occasion led by an auctioneer. Company announce their bids by elevating a bidding paddle, calling out quantities, or getting the auctioneer’s consideration in one other method. For a dwell public sale, you will want to hire a venue, rent an auctioneer, and sure provide catering to your visitors as a part of a broader night of leisure. 
• Silent public sale. In contrast to a dwell public sale, the bidding at a silent public sale is extra discrete and fewer public. Individuals write in bids on sheets of paper and might test again to see in the event that they’ve been outbid, then write in a better bid quantity. A silent public sale can even happen with cellular software program. Due to its flexibility, you possibly can host an in-person, digital, or hybrid silent public sale. 
• Digital public sale. A digital public sale incorporates conventional silent public sale components however takes your complete course of on-line. Your nonprofit can attain individuals from throughout. These occasions might be extremely cost-effective whereas nonetheless producing spectacular ultimate income numbers. A digital public sale may also be longer in length than an in-person occasion. To make your on-line public sale extra participating, you need to use a live-streaming platform to indicate off the gadgets and generate bids in actual time. 
• Hybrid public sale. A hybrid public sale combines in-person and digital components for a memorable event. Usually, a hybrid public sale will contain a digital public sale with in-person dwell or silent bidding for a smaller viewers. For instance, with a hybrid silent public sale, you can invite a restricted in-person visitor record to a venue and enable a digital viewers to have interaction in real-time bidding. 

The pliability of codecs permits organizations of any measurement to host an public sale. Take any one among these public sale sorts and scale them to your viewers measurement. An internet public sale might be an particularly useful gizmo for smaller nonprofits to develop their attain. 

3. How can charity public sale software program assist?

Planning and internet hosting a charity public sale is time, useful resource, and manpower-intensive. There are a ton of shifting components and managing all of them can simply get overwhelming. Nevertheless, working with charity public sale software program from the beginning of your planning course of drastically eases the trouble. This software program will help you:

• Increase extra money. This software program takes the bidding course of on-line, so these bodily in attendance and people who aren’t can each take part. Additional, you’re capable of present visitors with further channels to donate exterior of shopping for auctioned gadgets. For instance, you possibly can add a “Donate” button to your public sale webpage so supporters can merely donate any quantity to your trigger.
• Simplify the planning course of. All logistics are automated and run by way of the identical platform, eradicating a lot of the stress of coordination. Plus, as soon as your public sale is up and operating, your supporters gained’t have to fret about navigating to a number of completely different websites to take part, which helps to maintain them engaged. 
• Add comfort for members. Donors can buy tickets, place and observe bids, and checkout on-line. This simplifies the donor expertise and eliminates the trouble of ready in lengthy traces to take a look at after the very fact.
• Entry helpful metrics. Software program brings your whole planning into one platform, so you possibly can simply entry a whole view of your occasion’s success and evaluate alternatives for enchancment. 

Internet hosting a charity public sale is an effective way to spice up income and engagement, however you additionally must make the planning straightforward in your workers. That is the place public sale software program can turn out to be useful, particularly to streamline the behind-the-scenes group and execution. Plus, if you happen to select the correct software program it may be tailored for every type of public sale occasions you host sooner or later.

4. Which crew members do it’s essential recruit?

Simply as with all different fundraising occasion, charity auctions require a devoted crew of staffers and volunteers to run easily. You’ll want helpers earlier than, throughout, and after the occasion to verify it goes off and not using a hitch. Delegate duties throughout your crew, making certain you will have people or teams to deal with the next components of your public sale:

• Occasion planning. This crew plans the occasion, together with selecting the date, reserving the venue, recruiting volunteers, and even spreading the phrase. Your crew will want a robust nonprofit advertising and marketing plan to draw as many individuals as attainable to your public sale (thereby growing the quantity of income it should generate!). When you’re internet hosting a digital or hybrid public sale, you’ll profit from having a devoted sub-team or committee for dealing with know-how, as nicely.
• Merchandise procurement. This crew solicits public sale gadgets for the occasion. Every member must be comfy soliciting donations and acquainted with which kinds of items would do nicely amongst your nonprofit’s viewers. 
• Occasion volunteers. Volunteers are important to pulling off any in-person public sale occasions, whether or not they’re serving to with arrange or tear down, aiding as public sale spotters/displays, or operating registration and checkout.
• Emcee or auctioneer. You’ll must recruit an emcee or an auctioneer, relying on which sort of occasion you’re internet hosting. An emcee retains an in-person or digital silent public sale on observe whereas an auctioneer is the ringleader of a dwell public sale.

To make your public sale as profitable as attainable, be sure you plan early. Selecting and establishing the correct software program and procuring gadgets is usually a very prolonged course of. The easiest way to keep away from overwhelming your crew is by making ready as quickly as attainable. 

5. Which gadgets do you have to procure, and the way?

The charity public sale gadgets you procure will rely largely on what your donors are prepared to pay and the place their pursuits could lie. Brainstorm which gadgets may attraction most to your particular donors utilizing the next suggestions: 

• When you’ve held an public sale prior to now, replicate on its success. Evaluation which gadgets have been common sellers and contemplate bringing them again or comparable gadgets that might equally appeal to curiosity. 
• Take into account your visitors’ worth vary. Don’t procure costly spa weekends in case your donors could be extra more likely to bid on reasonably priced restaurant reward playing cards and even nonprofit merchandise like t-shirts.
• Perceive your visitors’ pursuits. Take into account what’s common in your neighborhood and what would genuinely be desired. For instance, if you happen to’re an animal rescue nonprofit, your supporters would most likely get pleasure from a day hanging with puppies or kittens! 
• Bear in mind provide and demand. Public sale gadgets which are uncommon or distinctive are more likely to be of curiosity to most audiences.
• Differ your gadgets. Keep away from procuring gadgets that every one fall in a single class, resembling solely expertise packages or solely merchandise. 

Begin with asking coworkers, pals, members of the family, and another private {and professional} connections to donate gadgets. Flip to native companies and retailers to see in the event that they’ll donate services or products as in-kind items. When looking for company items, you’ll must do your analysis on potential company companions and choose a enterprise with comparable values. 

6. How do you promote an public sale occasion?

Start with compiling a visitor record, holding the scale of your venue in thoughts. Ship out invitations and, if you happen to’re utilizing public sale software program, deliver the ticketing course of on-line for comfort. It may be useful to faucet into a number of advertising and marketing channels to deliver consideration to your occasion, resembling:

• Social Media. Social media is a strong instrument to develop your nonprofit’s attain and get tons of (and even 1000’s) of individuals to find out about your occasion. Determine on which platform could also be best to unfold the phrase about your occasion. This will likely be based mostly in your supposed viewers’s demographic and which platform they’d be more than likely to make use of. Then, create participating graphics or video content material creating pleasure round your public sale with directions on how to enroll. 
• Electronic mail. Ship out an e-mail to your supporters highlighting your occasion with a hyperlink on to your registration web page. Your e-mail ought to emphasize a very powerful info and embrace a number of visuals to interrupt up lengthy paragraphs. 
• Textual content. When you have your supporters’ telephone numbers and a text-to-give platform arrange, texting is an effective way to succeed in out to supporters and ensure they see the message. In line with 360MatchPro’s fundraising statistics, textual content message audiences grew by 26% final yr, which implies that texting is a good alternative to market your public sale. You may even embrace an choice in your message to donate earlier than the occasion. 

By giving visitors a style of what your public sale will maintain upfront, you’ll have the ability to successfully drum up pleasure. You can even arrange a web based public sale web site by way of your public sale software program to function a catalog for the occasion, supplying you with one other helpful advertising and marketing asset.

Embrace all important details about the occasion itself on the web site. This features a brief introduction to your group, the occasion title or theme, the schedule, what the proceeds will profit, the foundations for bidding, and directions for utilizing your cellular bidding platform if relevant.

7. How will you maximize incoming public sale income? 

Public sale occasions are likely to get donors within the temper to present, so put together to take advantage of this momentum whereas it exists!

Take into account the next methods to maximise income at your subsequent charity public sale: 

• Make a dwell attraction. Your emcee or auctioneer asks visitors for donations, reminding them of a fundraising aim your group hopes to succeed in by the top of the evening. Show a fundraising thermometer all through the occasion so visitors can observe how shut you’re attending to the aim.
• Promote fastened priced gadgets. These are gadgets which are offered, not auctioned, for a set worth. This consists of further occasion actions (resembling reward playing cards or a thriller field drawing) and even occasion merchandise and equipment.
• Create social gathering sign-ups. Plan a enjoyable occasion and promote visitor spots on the occasion. Examples of this is able to be a film evening, a gaggle cooking class, or perhaps a themed social gathering. These work nicely for digital or hybrid occasions and might be led by volunteer ambassadors.
• Use a donation sales space. This can be a great way to offer a giving alternative to those that don’t find yourself leaving with an merchandise. As a substitute of ready in an extended checkout line, visitors can provide shortly and simply. When you’re utilizing cellular bidding software program, there’s no want for a bodily sales space as donors can provide by way of their telephones.
• Goal your audiences. When you’re internet hosting a hybrid public sale, you’ll must develop methods that may have interaction each in-person and distant attendees. For instance, invite a smaller group of main donors to the in-person occasion and everybody to the digital occasion. Then, goal your completely different gadgets to every viewers as wanted—dwell bidding for luxurious trip packages, hybrid bidding for the fuller vary of things in your catalog, and many others. This helps you fundraise extra effectively and get monetary savings on the in-person logistics.
• Promote adverts in your catalog. Each attendee will browse your public sale catalog whether or not it’s a printed model or on-line, and that’s an enormous promoting level! Present merchandise donors and native companies with the choice to purchase an advert in your catalog (digital or paper) and have their brand featured someplace inside.

These are just a few methods you possibly can maximize income at your subsequent public sale. You already know your viewers greatest, so tailor your fundraising methods to your supporters to extend your occasion’s success. 

Wrapping Up

Auctions is usually a lot to plan, however the fundraising potential of those occasions is excessive. Whether or not you propose to host your public sale in-person or nearly, you possibly can successfully have interaction your viewers with pleasant competitors, enjoyable gadgets, and alternatives to present again to your nonprofit. With the assistance of charity public sale software program, the planning course of will likely be a lot smoother to your crew. 

In regards to the Writer

Kelly Velasquez-Hague

Kelly Velasquez-Hague brings over 20 years of fundraising, nonprofit administration, and gross sales/advertising and marketing expertise to her function because the Director of Content material Advertising and marketing for OneCause. As a member of the OneCause gross sales and advertising and marketing crew, Kelly manages all the firm’s content material technique and execution. She is keen about empowering nice missions and loves that her present function permits her to proceed to assist nonprofits attain new donors and lift extra funds for his or her trigger.