Instant Live Auction Items with No Work - Female Fundraising Charity Auctioneers

Nonprofit Fundraising Event Game Lucky 7 - Silent Auction Game Idea [How to Video]

5/31/2017

Lucky 7 (Seven) is a great way to freshen up your Silent Auction and increase your revenue from Silent Auction items. This game is simple, easy and get greats results from your Silent Auction. Great for School Auctions and Nonprofit Charity auctions alike.

In this video from Generosity Auctions, Charity Auctioneer shares with you Lucky 7 a Silent Auction Revenue enhancer. In this video you will learn what Lucky 7 is, how to explain it to your fundraising Committee and then how to make Lucky 7 work for you and your Charity Silent Auction.

Top 5 Fundraising Technologies from the AFP International Fundraising Conference 2017

5/30/2017

The Association of Fundraising Professionals 54th Annual International Conference took place in San Francisco April 30 - May 2, 2017. The conference is a great way to push your professional development into high gear, hear from great speakers, and interact with new products that provide efficiency to your clients. Join me as I highlight the top five products I found at this year’s conference.

#4 - Bloomerang
Bloomerang is a new, simple donor database and fundraising software solution that helps nonprofits decrease donor attrition and increase revenue. Bloomerang creates tools and teaching principles that help passionate nonprofit organizations make smart decisions that are proven to help them reach out, grow and thrive. I happen to like Bloomerang because it’s easy to use, has great UX (user experience) and a very simple interface. Most of the customer relationship management (CRM) software for nonprofits is old and clunky. Additionally, these CRMs are hard to use and only one person in the organization really knows how to use it. Bloomerang solves these problems because it’s so easy to use, anyone in your organization can use it. This, in turn, will make your nonprofit more efficient, more functional, faster, and more streamlined. Bloomerang is software your nonprofit should check out.

For more Fundraising Charity Auction ideas and helpful tips on planning your next charity fundraiser, follow Generosity Auctions on Facebook or Instagram @GenerosityAuctions. Abra Annes is the leading Charity Auctioneer based in California. Abra is the owner and founder of Generosity Auctions, the premier choice for Non-Profit Organizations looking to maximize their event fundraising.

Top 5 Fundraising Technologies from the AFP International Fundraising Conference 2017

5/25/2017

The Association of Fundraising Professionals 54th Annual International Conference took place in San Francisco April 30 - May 2, 2017. Since I live right outside the city and had never been to the conference before I thought I would. I bought a one-day pass for the Monday of the conference. It started at 8am so I woke up at 5am to get there in time for the first session. Kelli, who is one of my favorite fundraising people, and also a dear friend came with me.

The conference sessions were not as useful or interesting as I had hoped, but for many the AFP Conference is a great way to push your professional development into high gear. I spent the majority of my day at the AFP International Conference in the Market-Place learning about and interacting with new products and technology for the Fundraising sector. There were some things that I am so excited about that I am already suggesting them to my clients. Join me as I highlight the top five products I found at this year’s AFP International Conference.

#5 - Hummingbird Digital Media

Hummingbird Digital Media allows a charitable organizations to create a branded storefront to sell e-books and audiobooks and receive a portion of the proceeds. Imagine your organization is the Sierra Club. The Sierra Club would create a branded storefront and sell its top five recommended e-books for hiking trails, birding and camping. When website visitors purchase an ebook, the Sierra Club receives 12-23% on the retail price of every book sold from its storefront. Hummingbird Digital Media can be used for all types of nonprofits. The Humane Society could cultivate a top ten list of e-books about caring about your new pet. Whatever nonprofit uses Hummingbird Digital Media, they will create interesting and engaging content, increase traffic to their website, provide useful information for your website visitors, and generate passive revenue. I imagine that Hummingbird’s platform could be used for schools, arts organizations, social services - just about everyone!

For this reason Hummingbird Digital Media is my #5 Product from the AFP Conference.

For more Fundraising Charity Auction ideas and helpful tips on planning your next nonprofit fundraising event, follow Generosity Auctions on Facebook or Instagram @GenerosityAuctions. Abra Annes is the leading Charity Auctioneer based in California. Abra is the owner and founder of Generosity Auctions, the premier choice for Non-Profit Organizations looking to maximize their event fundraising.

Fun Auction Idea - Sign-Up Parties

5/22/2017

If you’re looking for a new idea for your charity fundraising gala, consider hosting a signup party. Signup parties allow guest to buy a limited spot in order to participate in an exclusive event. An example of a typical party would be a buy-in at a mother-daughter tea party at a donor’s house. During the silent auction portion of your event donors buy a spot at the tea party for a fixed price. Here’s an example of a signup party at one of my fundraising events.

Consider adding a signup party to your next charity auction or silent auction as a great way to encourage full participation at your event. With a lower price point than other silent auction items, more attendees will participate in your event and the events end up creating community among your donors. Here are some additional ideas for signup parties you can use at your next fundraiser:

Men’s poker night
100 point wine dinner
Hike with a CEO
Ladies bike ride
Adult board game night
Backyard concert and bbq

For more Fundraising Charity Auction ideas and helpful tips on planning your next charity fundraiser, follow Generosity Auctions on Facebook or Instagram @GenerosityAuctions. Abra Annes is the leading Charity Auctioneer based in California. Abra is the owner and founder of Generosity Auctions, the premier choice for Non-Profit Organizations looking to maximize their event fundraising.

Your Charity Gala Should Reflect You

5/11/2017

I recently worked with an organization that had used a volunteer auctioneer for the past few years. This organization approached me after watching me in action at another auction and seeing how much I raised for a different organization.

When working with this San Francisco dance organization, I wanted to make sure the message and mission of the group was incorporated into all aspects of the evening. There were images of dancers and the auction items focused on dance and how it achieves the mission of the organization. Some of the auction items offered included travel with the dance company and walk-on role during the Christmas Ballet. It was important to play up dance during the event as wanted the programming to feel unique to attendees. We did not want this event to feel like every other gala fundraiser in the city. We wanted to give patrons something different, special, unique and memorable. And it was.

Bidding was crazy for the mission focused/dance items sold like crazy. There was tons of bidding and the energy in the room was kinetic. I broke through the organization’s $140,000 fundraising goal and raised a total of $260,000 through both the live auction and the fund-a-need. That’s an 85% increase over what was anticipated. And, when table sales and other donations were calculated, the organization raised over a half-million dollars. Despite being in existence for over 10 years, this was the largest the organization had ever raised at their gala event!

When you host your gala charity fundraising event, make sure you infuse your organization’s unique identity into your event so that it feels unique. Your donors want to understand why they’re at your event and how their giving can better connect them to your organization.

For more Fundraising Charity Auction ideas and helpful tips on planning your next charity fundraiser, follow Generosity Auctions on Facebook or Instagram @GenerosityAuctions. Abra Annes is the leading Charity Auctioneer based in California. Abra is the owner and founder of Generosity Auctions, the premier choice for Non-Profit Organizations looking to maximize their event fundraising.

Best Nonprofit Podcast: Successful Nonprofits Podcast

5/8/2017

I really enjoy the Successful Nonprofits Podcast. The questions host Dolph Goldenburg asks are really smart. The Goldenburg Group produces the Successful Nonprofits Podcast as part of their mission to provide board development, strategic planning, and interim leadership to help nonprofits thrive in a competitive environment. With topics like Content Marketing for Nonprofits, Building a Nonprofit Social Enterprise, and Achieving Nonprofit Sustainability, the Successful Nonprofits Podcast is great for giving nonprofit leaders the tools to be exceptional.

For more Fundraising Charity Auction ideas and helpful tips on planning your next charity fundraiser, follow Generosity Auctions on Facebook or Instagram @GenerosityAuctions. Abra Annes is the leading Charity Auctioneer based in California. Abra is the owner and founder of Generosity Auctions, the premier choice for Non-Profit Organizations looking to maximize their event fundraising.

Make You Fund-A-Need Successful - Part 2

5/4/2017

As you prepare for your next charity fundraiser, you should make sure that every year you raise more money than the previous year. You want to smash through those fundraising goals, you want to get every single dollar in the room and you want to inspire people and that’s what the Fund-A-Need does. Here are tips to make your Fund-A-Need the best ever.

5. Have a great speaker or a wonderful video.

6. Have a great Fund-A-Need Transition
You have to have this bridge moment from your story, whether it’s inspirational, or sad, or moving, whatever it may be, to the actual getting of the money. You have to explain what a Fund-A-Need is and how it’s going to work and then you have to make it happen. That transition is so key. I can tell when I’m at charity events as a guest, whether or not the Fund-A-Need is going to be successful based on those two or three sentences. What’s the energy? What’s the vibe? What’s the person saying? What’s the auctioneer saying? Do they really understand?

7. Clear Communications with your Auctioneer
Your auctioneer really needs to know what you are all about. They really have to understand who your organization is, what you do, why you do it and why it is important for people to give. That should be your last conversation with your auctioneer before going into your event. Really working with them, drilling down, making sure they understand. Not only what you do, but why it’s important. Because if they can’t communicate that to your audience, you’re not going to raise as much money as you could.

8. Pre-secure your Leadership Gift
It would be amazing if you could have a pre-secured leadership gift secured at your highest level. Whether you're starting at $1,000, $5,000, $10,000, $50,000, $100,000, or $1,000,000 - you do need to have a leadership gift pre-secured so that a paddle goes up. And, yes, I do Fund-A-Needs that start at a million dollars. I won’t tell you my secret on how to get more paddles to go up at your top level, but you can call me and find out.

For more Fundraising Charity Auction ideas and helpful tips on planning your next charity fundraiser, follow Generosity Auctions on Facebook or Instagram @GenerosityAuctions. Abra Annes is the leading Charity Auctioneer based in California. Abra is the owner and founder of Generosity Auctions, the premier choice for Non-Profit Organizations looking to maximize their event fundraising.

Fund-A-Need Auction - 8 Tips for making Big Money $$ - Part 1

5/1/2017

Believe it or not, there is a secret recipe for success for your Fund-A-Need. The following tips will tell you how to make it fabulous, perfect, amazing, and the best it’s ever been.

#1 Pick a Compelling Need
Pick something that is compelling. It doesn’t have to be specific. It doesn’t have to be, our school needs a new playground, our school needs iPads or our school needs a driveway. It does not have to be that specific because that typically doesn’t work for large organizations that have a wide coverage or that have a wide scope of work. General funding is totally a great need for your Fund-A-Need. This is the moment which you are going to promote yourself, have people fall in love with you, this is the “really why we are here” moment. You’ve got to nail down that message very, very clearly. That’s number one, figure out what your need is, is it general or is it specific.

#2 Pick the Right Auctioneer
Find an auctioneer that specializes in Fund-A-Need and Special Appeal. It’s one thing to sell things and be fun and be a nice bid caller, it’s quite another to ask for donations. Watch some videos, ask for referrals, this is where 80% to 90% of your night’s revenue can be coming from, so make sure you hire somebody who really knows what they’re doing. I get hired by 75% of my clients for only Fund-A-Need.

#3 Quiet, Please
You need to have a great Fund-A-Need intro. The room may be a little noisy, you’ve got to get it quiet and not a little bit quiet. Pin drop, nobody talking, everybody focus. You have to get everyone quiet and everybody focused, otherwise your Fund-A-Need cannot succeed. Your Fund-A-Need cannot succeed with people talking other than the people making the pitch and the people telling the story. Other than that, it should be like a museum.

#4 No Service During the Fund-A-Need
There can’t be any service. No wine service, no clearing of plates, no dropping off of plates, no giving tea, coffee, dessert, nothing. The only people moving in the room should be your auctioneer and your storyteller or the person who is doing the pledge drive, the Paddle Raise, the Fund-A-Need for you. No service. I’m serious. It messes up the Fund-A-Need, don’t do it.

For more Fundraising Charity Auction ideas and helpful tips on planning your next charity fundraiser, follow Generosity Auctions on Facebook or Instagram @GenerosityAuctions. Abra Annes is the leading Charity Auctioneer based in California. Abra is the owner and founder of Generosity Auctions, the premier choice for Non-Profit Organizations looking to maximize their event fundraising.