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2017 Fundraising Event Trends - Exotic Travel

12/26/2016

The most successful charity fundraising auctions have the trendiest, most in-demand auction items. If you’re thinking of adding a vacation package to your auction suite in 2017, you’ll want to consider these top three trends

Eco-Travel

Eco travel includes responsible travel to natural areas which conserves the environment and improves the welfare of the local people. Popular auction items include trips to eco-friendly resorts, Biodynamic farm dinners, resorts with small carbon footprints that also pay special attention to organic and sustainable practices. Some of my favorite are below:

El Monte Sagrado hotel prides itself on its embrace of tradition while promoting innovation. Its industry craftsmanship and commitment to supporting a healthy, holistic environment in which the beauty of properties such as El Monte Sagrado serves as a bridge to understanding and supporting a rich heritage, benefits all involved.
http://www.elmontesagrado.com/

Canopy Family shares the nature, history and culture of the Republic of Panamá with passion and enthusiasm, focused on customer satisfaction and guided by the principles of conservation and social responsibility. http://www.canopytower.com/

Whether taking a yoga class in the Yoga Pavilion, dining at the Cafe, or lounging by Concordia Eco-Resort's freshwater pool, Concordia provides tranquility and an "un-plugged" getaway for individuals, couples and families. http://www.concordiaeco-resort.com/

Private Island

Believe it or not, there are options for private island vacations that accommodate a variety of pocketbooks and interests. Wow your guests with these getaways!

Cooper Island Beach Club is a beautiful, relaxed, eco beach resort and restaurant located on a tiny island in the British Virgin Islands. http://cooperislandbeachclub.com/

Owned and operated by Belizeans for over four decades, Pelican Beach Resorts has been active in cultural, community and conservation issues in Dangriga and throughout Belize. http://www.pelicanbeachbelize.com/general/pelican-beach-south-water-caye-2.html

European Castles

A vacation at a castle is a unique, off the beaten track experience for the whole family. Castle vacations are more popular now because of the ease of AirBnB. Click below for twenty AirBnB castles in France! French Castles

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.

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Get the Maximum Impact from Your ‘Ask Speaker’ at your Fundraiser Part II

12/19/2016

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The speakers at your fundraising auction or event are the ones who promote and speak on behalf of the mission of your organization. With such an important task, your ‘Ask Speaker’, the person making the case for giving, should be well rehearsed and prepared. Here are some tips to get the most impact from your speakers.

Give Parameters
Typically, organizations simply as their ‘Ask Speaker’ to write a speech. The ‘Ask Speaker’ then goes homes, spends a few hours creating a speech. When the show it to you, it may need lots of revisions, edits or an entirely new speech created. This can create an uncomfortable situation because you know the speech needs edits in order to create impact with the audience, but you don’t want to hurt the feelings of your speaker and have them spend more time rewriting a new speech. The solution for this sticky situation is providing them parameters. Prior to asking you speaker to write a speech, work the you communications and development department to create five to seven questions for your speaker. In this way, you speaker will cover the topics that you want, and will ensure that your speaker stays on message. Additionally you will skip any awkward moments editing the script and your speaker will be so pleased when you praise their words.

Practice, Practice, Practice
After asking your speaker to write their speech, many people from the organization should edit the speech for flow and clarity. Your speaker should practice their speech several times before the event. On the day of the event, build 30-40 minutes into your setup timeline to rehearse the speech with your speaker at the podium. You want to make sure your speaker not only writes well, but is also an effective orator. They should practice where to pause, breathe, look at the audience, and get on and off the stage. And, don’t allow your speaker to memorize their speech. There may be some last minute edits and your speaker should be flexible in adjusting to those edits. It’s harder to be open to changes in the speech if it is already committed to memory. Because you’re asking people to give their money to your organization, you want to make sure you have a flawless delivery.

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.

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Get the Maximum Impact from Your ‘Ask Speaker’ at your Fundraiser

12/12/2016

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The speakers at your fundraising auction or event are the ones who promote and speak on behalf of the mission of your organization. With such an important task, your ‘Ask Speaker’, the person making the case for giving, should be well rehearsed and prepared. Here are some tips to get the most impact from your speakers.

Do Your Research Early
You’d be surprised how many organizations don’t look for a fund-a-need speaker until the last minute. Instead, they focus their time and energy on the venue, auction items, and decor and save the most important task for last. Securing your fund-a-need speaker should be one of your first tasks. Start looking for your ‘Ask Speaker’ 3-4 months before the event. Remember, finding a speaker is not always an easy task. Focus on finding the right person to represent your organization. I suggest holding an essay contest. Buy a highly coveted a prize such as an iPad, Kindle or VR goggles. Promote the contest and encourage your clients to participate. This way you will get an influx of entries and you can pick the best essay to adapt into a speech for the event. Additionally clients that you may not be familiar with may have a moving story and this allows for a wider pool of speaker selection.

Write it Down
Your fund-a-need speaker should remind your audience of two things: 1) the mission of the organization and 2) how the organization has impacted their life. Your speaker may be a client, a volunteer, a student or any person who has been personally affected by your organization. In order to extract the best story, with the most impact on your donors your ‘Ask Speaker’ should have their speech written down. Word for word, including pauses for laughter or for impact.

Stick to the Script
Because many organizations provide life-altering experiences for volunteers and clients, it is important that this testimony be scripted in order to receive maximum impact from your donors. The goal is to tell a story that highlights the mission, the impact on an individual’s life, and how the donations from the event will be used to continue to change lives. When your speaker has a written speech that addresses these particular points, you create an emotional connecting with your donors, which turns into more money raised.

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.

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Get the Money Early

12/5/2016

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When I consult with organizations that are going to use me as their Fundraising Auctioneer, I talk to them about how their fundraising events were held in the past. More often than not, an organization’s gala sequence of events or show-flow begins with messages from the Board of Directors or CEO followed by a break for dinner before it is time for the Live Auction and/or Fundraising portion of the event.

For 90% of fundraising event is is important to get to direct ask or fund-a-need prior 9:00 p.m.. If you start later than 9pm, you run the risk losing donor participation and, in turn, valuable dollars. Organizations are always looking to get new, younger donors in the door, and many young professionals have families. If you leave the fundraising for late in the evening, there is a very high chance that these younger potential donors will leave due to living some distance away and to get home to let the babysitter or nanny off for the night. The last thing you want to do with young donors if have them annoyed coming home after donating to a big expense in childcare because your event went late.

Consider moving the fundraising portion of your event to earlier in the night. By moving the fundraising to earlier in the night, you are able to accommodate the schedules of those who have babysitters to relieve, have an early commute to work and who live more than 30 minutes from your venue. If your event begins at 6:00 p.m., consider starting the fundraising portion of the program at 8:00 pm., with all bidding and donations to end at 9:00 p.m. In order to accomplish this new sequence, consider the following:

If your live auction has more than eight items, present four or 5 live auction items, then do a direct appeal | fund-a-need, and last, auction the last four live auction items;
Do your fund-a-need as early as you can in your program;
Start your event with the fund-a-need (this isn’t my preferred method, but it can be done successfully in certain situations).

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Givergy - "The New Kid On The Block"

12/1/2016

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This past year I’ve had the opportunity to be introduced to the Givergy “New Kid On The Block” in the fundraising event technology space. Givergy was founded in England in 2009 and they quickly dominated the fundraising/gala space in the UK due to their award winning interface and fab customer service.
Givergy recently expanded to the United States and is quickly gaining popularity. It’s easy to see why organizations and donors alike love using their system. Its brilliant for Auctioneers as well. Below are my top reasons why I think Givergy is great for giving.

1) Easy Interface: I’ve worked with tons of mobile giving / giving technology companies over the years. I think I’ve worked with almost all of them. Givergy has a beautifully designed interface. It not only looks beautiful and hip and modern and sleek, but it is easy to navigate for donors of any age. Don’t discount design - it is the reason Apple products are so successful. They are beautiful to look at, intuitive to the user and are easy to use. Givergy is the same.
2) Live Auction use: Most giving technology companies haven’t figured out yet how to work technology into the Live Auction (there’s some job security for me). However, Givergy has. Givergy has sleek, black tablets that can be placed on every table at your event that showcase your live auction items. Let your donors peruse your Live auction items by scrolling through bright, full color, high-res photos and detailed descriptions tablet style.
3) Fund-A-Need Dream: 90% of the clients that I’ve worked with that have used Givergy choose to use it for their Fund-A-Need. It is soooo easy to use for donors. And on my end - it is beyond easy to explain from the stage. Explain from the stage can make or break an event. It can kill the momentum if your charity fundraising auctioneer has to take lots of time explaining how to use giving technology. But with Givergy, the instructions are simple. Pick up the tablet, find your name, choose your donation amount and confirm.

If you are considering using technology at your next fundraising event, be sure to check out Givergy. And don’t choose a technology partner based upon price. Encourage your board to try out each one, all companies will create a dummy site for you and you can see what it is like from your guest/donor perspective. My guess is, after doing your research and trying out a few technologies, you will choose Givergy.

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2017 Fundraising Event Trends - Exotic Travel

Eco-Travel

Private Island

European Castles

Get the Maximum Impact from Your ‘Ask Speaker’ at your Fundraiser Part II

﻿Get the Maximum Impact from Your ‘Ask Speaker’ at your Fundraiser

Get the Money Early

Givergy - "The New Kid On The Block"

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Get the Maximum Impact from Your ‘Ask Speaker’ at your Fundraiser