Charity Auctions for Newcomers: 7 Key Issues to Know

As a nonprofit skilled, you’ve most likely heard that charity auctions are time-consuming. On prime 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 difficult issues, too.

Nevertheless, with a sturdy fundraising plan, you’ll be able to maintain a extremely profitable charity public sale that may not solely enhance income however deepen engagement. Charity auctions are a good way to create a sense of neighborhood—both in-person or on-line—and interact donors with pleasant competitors.

Right here’s every part you’ll want to know to host your first profitable charity public sale:

What’s a charity public sale and what does it seem like?
Which sort of public sale do you have to host?
How can charity public sale software program assist?
Which workforce members do you’ll want to recruit?
Which gadgets do you have to procure, and the way?
How do you promote an public sale occasion?
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 may be definitely worth the effort. Use this information for every part you’ll want to get began.

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

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

Throughout the occasion, your supporters compete to put the very best bid on public sale gadgets. The individual with the very best bid wins, and your group earns the proceeds. Normally, all charity auctions comply with the same four-step course of. Use the next timeline as a suggestion:

Open the bidding. Should you’re utilizing cell bidding software program, no matter whether or not it’s a stay, silent, or on-line public sale, bidding opens mechanically at your preset time. Should you’re internet hosting a conventional paper-based silent public sale or a stay public sale, announce the opening of bidding to the company.
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.
Bid increments. Contributors will compete to put the very best bid. Every consecutive bid on an merchandise should usually be 10-15% better than the earlier bid worth. Contemplate including Purchase Now choices at 150%-200% of the merchandise’s worth to assist drive bidding and make it straightforward for supporters who need to pay prime greenback.
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 ought to be given to members forward of time or configured into your cell 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 price range 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:

Stay public sale. A stay public sale is the basic in-person occasion led by an auctioneer. Visitors announce their bids by elevating a bidding paddle, calling out quantities, or getting the auctioneer’s consideration in one other method. For a stay public sale, you will want to hire a venue, rent an auctioneer, and sure provide catering to your company as a part of a broader night of leisure.
Silent public sale. In contrast to a stay public sale, the bidding at a silent public sale is extra discrete and fewer public. Contributors 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 may happen with cell software program. Due to its flexibility, you’ll be able to 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 may be extremely cost-effective whereas nonetheless producing spectacular remaining income numbers. A digital public sale will also be longer in period than an in-person occasion. To make your on-line public sale extra participating, you need to use a live-streaming platform to point out 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 stay or silent bidding for a smaller viewers. For instance, with a hybrid silent public sale, you possibly can invite a restricted in-person visitor checklist to a venue and enable a digital viewers to have interaction in real-time bidding.

The flexibleness of codecs permits organizations of any measurement to host an public sale. Take any considered one of these public sale sorts and scale them to your viewers measurement. A web-based public sale may be an particularly great tool for smaller nonprofits to increase 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 may help you:

Elevate more cash. 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 company with extra channels to donate outdoors of shopping for auctioned gadgets. For instance, you’ll be able to 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 working, your supporters received’t have to fret about navigating to a number of totally different websites to take part, which helps to maintain them engaged.
Add comfort for members. Donors should buy tickets, place and monitor 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 actual fact.
Entry worthwhile metrics. Software program brings your whole planning into one platform, so you’ll be able to simply entry an entire view of your occasion’s success and overview alternatives for enchancment.

Internet hosting a charity public sale is a good way to spice up income and engagement, however you additionally have to 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, in the event you select the suitable software program it may be tailored for every type of public sale occasions you host sooner or later.

4. Which workforce members do you’ll want to recruit?

Simply as with all different fundraising occasion, charity auctions require a devoted workforce of staffers and volunteers to run easily. You’ll want helpers earlier than, throughout, and after the occasion to ensure it goes off with out a hitch. Delegate duties throughout your workforce, making certain you’ve gotten people or teams to deal with the next components of your public sale:

Occasion planning. This workforce plans the occasion, together with selecting the date, reserving the venue, recruiting volunteers, and even spreading the phrase. Your workforce will want a sturdy nonprofit advertising and marketing plan to draw as many individuals as doable to your public sale (thereby rising the quantity of income it would generate!). Should 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 properly.
Merchandise procurement. This workforce solicits public sale gadgets for the occasion. Every member must be snug soliciting donations and accustomed to which sorts of items would do properly 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, helping as public sale spotters/displays, or working registration and checkout.
Emcee or auctioneer. You’ll have to recruit an emcee or an auctioneer, relying on which kind of occasion you’re internet hosting. An emcee retains an in-person or digital silent public sale on monitor whereas an auctioneer is the ringleader of a stay public sale.

To make your public sale as profitable as doable, make sure to plan early. Selecting and organising the suitable software program and procuring gadgets is usually a very prolonged course of. One of the best ways to keep away from overwhelming your workforce is by getting ready as quickly as doable.

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 might lie. Brainstorm which gadgets would possibly enchantment most to your particular donors utilizing the next suggestions:

Should you’ve held an public sale up to now, mirror on its success. Evaluation which gadgets have been standard sellers and take into account bringing them again or related gadgets that may equally entice curiosity.
Contemplate your company’ value vary. Don’t procure costly spa weekends in case your donors can be extra prone to bid on reasonably priced restaurant present playing cards and even nonprofit merchandise like t-shirts.
Perceive your company’ pursuits. Contemplate what’s standard in your neighborhood and what would genuinely be desired. For instance, in the event you’re an animal rescue nonprofit, your supporters would most likely get pleasure from a day hanging with puppies or kittens!
Keep in mind provide and demand. Public sale gadgets which might be uncommon or distinctive are more likely to be of curiosity to most audiences.
Fluctuate your gadgets. Keep away from procuring gadgets that every one fall in a single class, comparable to solely expertise packages or solely merchandise.

Begin with asking coworkers, associates, relations, and some other 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 in search of company items, you’ll have to do your analysis on potential company companions and choose a enterprise with related values.

6. How do you promote an public sale occasion?

Start with compiling a visitor checklist, protecting the dimensions of your venue in thoughts. Ship out invitations and, in the event you’re utilizing public sale software program, convey the ticketing course of on-line for comfort. It may be useful to faucet into a number of advertising and marketing channels to convey consideration to your occasion, comparable to:

Social Media. Social media is a strong instrument to increase your nonprofit’s attain and get lots of (and even hundreds) of individuals to study your occasion. Determine on which platform could also be simplest to unfold the phrase about your occasion. This will probably be based mostly in your supposed viewers’s demographic and which platform they’d be almost certainly 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 crucial info and embody a number of visuals to interrupt up lengthy paragraphs.
Textual content. In case you have your supporters’ cellphone numbers and a text-to-give platform arrange, texting is a good way to succeed in out to supporters and ensure they see the message. In keeping with 360MatchPro’s fundraising statistics, textual content message audiences grew by 26% final 12 months, which implies that texting is a superb alternative to market your public sale. You may even embody an possibility in your message to donate earlier than the occasion.

By giving company a style of what your public sale will maintain prematurely, you’ll be capable to successfully drum up pleasure. You can too 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 worthwhile advertising and marketing asset.

Embody all important details about the occasion itself on the web site. This features a brief introduction to your group, the occasion identify or theme, the schedule, what the proceeds will profit, the principles for bidding, and directions for utilizing your cell 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 offer, so put together to profit from this momentum whereas it exists!

Contemplate the next methods to maximise income at your subsequent charity public sale:

Make a stay enchantment. Your emcee or auctioneer asks company for donations, reminding them of a fundraising purpose your group hopes to succeed in by the top of the night time. Show a fundraising thermometer all through the occasion so company can monitor how shut you’re attending to the purpose.
Promote mounted priced gadgets. These are gadgets which might be offered, not auctioned, for a set value. This contains additional occasion actions (comparable to present playing cards or a thriller field drawing) and even occasion merchandise and equipment.
Create get together sign-ups. Plan a enjoyable occasion and promote visitor spots on the occasion. Examples of this may be a film night time, a bunch cooking class, or perhaps a themed get together. These work properly for digital or hybrid occasions and may be led by volunteer ambassadors.
Use a donation sales space. It is 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 a protracted checkout line, company may give rapidly and simply. Should you’re utilizing cell bidding software program, there’s no want for a bodily sales space as donors may give by way of their telephones.
Goal your audiences. Should you’re internet hosting a hybrid public sale, you’ll have to develop methods that may interact 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 totally different gadgets to every viewers as wanted—stay bidding for luxurious trip packages, hybrid bidding for the fuller vary of things in your catalog, and so on. This helps you fundraise extra effectively and lower your expenses on the in-person logistics.
Promote advertisements 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 only some methods you’ll be able to 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’ll be able to successfully interact your viewers with pleasant competitors, enjoyable gadgets, and alternatives to offer again to your nonprofit. With the assistance of charity public sale software program, the planning course of will probably be a lot smoother in your workforce.

Concerning the Creator

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 workforce, Kelly manages all the firm’s content material technique and execution. She is captivated with 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.