Quite often the Development Director and Event committee gets so wrapped up in the details of seating  guests, finding the best auction items and promoting the event that they forget to focus on branding. Branding is the second most important element of any Charity Auction | Benefit Auction | Fundraising Event, after raising money of course.

Sharing your brand and the message of your organization is beyond important. Many of your most dedicated donors who have been to your event for years after year will often invite new people without telling them what the event is about and what your organization is and does. You'd be surprised how many people leave an event and have no idea why they were asked for money and event worse, what cause they were supporting.

I always advise my Charity Auction clients to put their brand everywhere and think of fun new places to place their logo. We've all seen posters and napkins hundreds of times, but how about providing your servers with organization branded t-shirts? 

Imagine a room full of tables and guests seated around each table. And there, walking between tables, while serving drinks, refilling water, clearing plates are 20-30 people with your brand on them. They will be hard to miss and easy to notice. 

Check out the photos below from a recent event that I did with United Way. Try it at your next Fundraising Event or Charity Auction.

I had a luncheon | lunch  charity event on Wednesday. The organization was a Botanical Gardens and they wanted a mid-day event in the garden. The setting was spectacular! A beautiful tent was set amount the trees, flowers and a plethora of birds.

Since lunch-time events usually attract a mixed crowd of retired donors, moms and business professionals, the most important thing is that the event starts on-time and end on-time for your guests to get back to work. Thus, this client, like many other clients who have lunch events did not have a Live Auction, but rather a large Silent Auction and a Fund-A-Need | Paddle Raise at the end of the event.

Their silent auction was filled with rare, exotic and beautiful plants. The crowd went crazy with the bidding and there were tons of items that were snapped up with the 'Win-It Now" price. Having the right silent auction items that match your organization and your crowd are the best silent auction. Why? Because your guests are already interested if not engaged with the work that you do, why not give them something the bid on that matches their interests. 

In this case the plants were the perfect choice. They had a smattering of other typical items as well but the plants were the stars of the show. Take a look below at some of the stunning botanicals that they had in their Silent Auction.

This past Auction Season I have put together some full, un-edited videos of me in action for potential clients. I typically upload them to YouTube and let them be available to the public. However lately I have heard of more and more Auctioneers stealing my ideas and taking credit for them as their own. They say that imitation is the most serious form of flattery, I think it's lame.

Most of my clients hire me as their Charity Auctioneer | Benefit Auctioneer and return to me year after year because of my unique, creative and fresh ideas. I spend tons of time thinking about this industry and come up with new things all the time. It's frustrating when my stuff gets used and butchered. For not every Charity Auctioneer has a background in development and philanthropy and can understand how to use these ideas to the best advantage of the client.

In my videos I don't think it is fair to the client to see just one 3 minute clip of me selling the best item of the night. I want them to see it all....the great and the not so great. Any Charity Auctioneer | Benefit Auctioneer | Fundraising Auctioneer can make a sizzle reel of them selling the best items for big bucks. But, what you really want to see as an organization looking for a Fundraising Auctioneer - is the auctioneer selling multiple items in a row and their general method of bringing bids to their maximum potential. You want to see a video that would be exactly what you would have seen had you been there in person.

So my solution? I'm keeping my Vlog and a few basic videos online open to the public. Other than that, my new event videos and full unedited videos  are going to be for potential clients only. 

If you are a potential client and you are looking to see some of these unlisted videos - please email me through the contact tab above and I will happily share them with you.

It is surprising how many Non-Profit Organizations hire a Benefit Auctioneer | Charity Auctioneer without taking into consideration if that person is the right fit for them and for their donors. Your Benefit Auctioneer | Charity Auctioneer should be able to connect with your audience and understand the donors they are in front of on the night of the event. 

I am surprised by how many organizations work with auctioneers who don't understand the audience. With Google and YouTube any Charity Auctioneer should be able to learn the basics of your group. As one of the top Charity Auctioneers in the country, who also happens to be Jewish, I  work with many Jewish organizations as well as Catholic | Christian Organizations. I make sure that they know that I went to Christian School (Minnehaha Academy) and understand the type of donors they will have at their event.

The same goes for Jewish organizations. I find it difficult to understand why any NonProfit would bring in someone who cannot pronounce some of the words in the program and auction catalogue. Additionally I have had many Jewish organizations approach me because I understand and respect their unique  Jewish community as well as the traditions. This means dressing appropriately for the event, understanding the dietary laws and how to interact with guests.

Make sure that when you are looking to hire a Charity Auctioneer for you NonProfit Charity Auction that you find someone that is the right fit for your audience |donors. Only through "Knowing Your Audience" will you fit the best Charity Auctioneer fit for your Charity Auction. 

Have you considered adding a Wine Pull also called Wall of Wine at your Charity Fundraising Event? You should, it is a fun, interactive way to raise money during cocktail hour.

For those of you that have never heard of a Wine Pull or Wall of Wine, here are the basics.

Step 1: Get as much wine donated as possible. Ask your board, your PTO|PTA, parents or local wineries or wine shop to donate. There should be a range of varieties and value of wine.

Step 2: Set your price point for each bottle. I suggest $20-$30. Then calculate your earned revenue if you sell 50%, 75% and 100% of the wine.

Step 3: Choose if you want to do have an Open Wine Pull or Closed Wine Pull.  Open means you can view all the wine available. Closed means that you wrap the bottles and the types available is a secret.

Step 4) Display your wine in an appealing, eye-catching way.

Step 5) Earn extra money | revenue at your Charity Auction or Charity Fundraising Event.

Take a look at the photos below from some of my past Charity Auctions for ideas!

I had the opportunity to attend a fundraising event as a guest last night. It was such a pleasure to sit back, relax, eat a lovely dinner and listen to the program. It reminded me of what I love about Charity Event industry. Of course as a Charity Auctioneer I look at everything with a critical eye, but everything had been thought of down to last detail. This organization took the opportunity of have new potential donors in the room (including me) and capitalized on it. 

They did two simple things that I thought were fabulous and now I will be recommending to my Charity Auction clients. 

#1) After the welcome and introductions, during the portion of the evening where guest were finishing eating  their salads and entres were being dropped a woman approached our table. She shook hands with everyone at the table and introduced herself. When she had personally met everyone at the table she spoke to the table as a group and said "I am a Board Member of the organization I wanted to personally thank you for being here tonight." I was stunned in the best possible way and I as she walked to another table to introduce herself to everyone seated at that table, I look around the room and noticed many other ladies doing the same thing. What a simple, easy and free way to make people feel appreciated, included and welcomed to your event and into your circle of donors.

#2) When I sat down to at the table, my seat had a handwritten note on it. My friend Kate was the table captain | table host and had invited me to join her at the event. She is a class act and by taking 20-30 minutes to write notes to each and everyone one of us at the table she ensured that the majority of us made a donation when asked.

Did you know that your Charity Auctioneer |Benefit Auctioneer is a wealth of knowledge about event decor? Because I attend up to 4 galas per week (during busy season) I have seen some fabulous decorations!

​Decorating for your Charity Auction | Gala | Benefit Auction doesn't have to be expensive or look cheap. This past weekend I worked a STUNNING event that was decorated all my volunteers with a limited budget.

The event was raising money for Breast Cancer prevention through a 3D Mamography machine. The event committee picked a color palate of Black & White. Just by using cloths, paper lanterns, balloons and uplights - they created this beautiful charity event decor.

These eye-catching black ropes are made complete out of paper lanterns strung together and hung from the ceiling.

Before becoming a full time Charity Auctioneer I worked in the Entertainment world for 15+ years. I put myself through college as an interactive entertainer for a mobile DJ in Chicago, worked on Cruise Ships, hosted Karaoke and Bingo. I event placed 3rd in the National DJ of the Year competition in 2013. Having thousands and thousands of hours onstage, perfecting my interaction with guests of all ages lead me to the place that I am today.
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An interactive fundraisers, what I like to call myself instead of Charity Auctioneer or Benefit Auctioneer. When you are an interactive fundraiser, there are no rules, no parameters to what you do and cannot do.

This is the reason that people hire me. I'm new, exciting and will to give the guests an interactive and entertaining fundraising experience. For when guests are having fun, they want to donate more to have more fun

There are two sides to every story. Consignment items can be great additions to your live auctions, see video below. But there is also another side to the consignment auction items and they are not always the best ways to get great auction packages. Watch this video to see 5 reasons why you should NOT have an consignment item 

Last night I had the extreme honor of working with Al Madrigal from The Daily Show. He was our fabulous and funny Emcee and I the Auctioneer.  I'm going to admit that I do not watch The Daily Show so I had no idea who he was or what an honor it was to work with him. I figured it out halfway through the Charity Auction. Al and I shared the stage during the Live Auction and I love when that happens. His banter with me and the audience, his funny quips really turned the auction into a "show". We had a natural connection which the audience connected with and enjoyed watching.

The Live Auction was slated to have only 2 auction items, however 2 other auctions items were spontaneously donated on the spot during the live auction. We ended with 4 fabulous items which was a surprise for me and the client as well.

As a Charity Auctioneer, I'm always ready to improvise, think on my feet and go where the night takes me. And last night Al & I brought the client to a new level in their fundraising dollars and participation from the guests.

This past Saturday night, I had the honor of being the Charity Auctioneer at the annual American India Foundation San Francisco Gala. The event was held at the Hilton SF where over 650 guests gathered together for fun and fundraising.

The highlight of the evening wasn't selling 4 auction items for $95,000 but hearing from Sophia, an amazing woman who flew all the way from India to share her story with us, 

I just finished shooting and editing a 2 part vlog (video-blog) about Consignment Items. Consignment Items are auction packages or raffle prizes that you purchase for a outside vendor.

"Should I use a consignment item in my auction?" is one of the most common questions that I get as a Charity Auctioneer. The answer can be a bit confusing as there are some reasons why you should and reasons why you shouldn't

I'm always honest and want to share all the information I have gathered through years of experience conducing Fundraising Auctions. Thus the idea for this video series was born. Stay tuned for Par 2- Cons of Consignment Items which will hopefully be coming out Wednesday.