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The Ultimate Fundraising Auctioneer

Check out this new “movie trailer” video showcasing Elite Auctions and Fundraising Services.  We are so proud to be in this exciting business and LOVE our nonprofits and schools for the good they bring into each community we serve.  If you need a professional benefit auctioneer and consultant we would be honored if you considered us!

 
Written by Mike Grigg, AARE, BAS of Elite Auctions and Fundraising Services
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Are You Looking for a “Magic Pill” to bring in MORE MONEY at Your Fundraising Auction?

Magic pill with money inside

We all know that a “Magic Pill” doesn’t exist in the physical sense, but what if I tell you that doing one simple thing could double or triple your fundraising auction revenue; would you believe in a “magic pill” then? 

There are so many facets that make up a successful fundraising event: great venue, good food, dedicated board, etc.  I can speak for us at Elite Auctions and Fundraising Services when I tell you that our team of dedicated fundraising professionals will take your revenue to the next level and you will think that you just took a magic pill.  We have time and time again proven that we can consistently increase revenue to double or triple what the previous volunteer auctioneer was able to attain.  We do this with pre-event consulting.  We don’t just show up the day of the event and you hand us a list of auction items and off we go… this is how you guarantee poor results!  We work with your committees and board up to a year in advance and guide you through every up and down of the fundraising event roller coaster with simple, yet effective techniques that guarantee to show you spectacular results.  Click Here to find out what consulting will give your organization. 

The greatest thing about our “Magic Pill” approach is that we have a super secret way that we actually pay you to hire us… Visit our website to find out how to get one of these “Magic Pills” for your next fundraising auction event!!  EliteFundraisingAuctions.com

Written by Mike Grigg, AARE, BAS of Elite Auctions and Fundraising Services

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What is the most important ingredient to a successful fundraising event?

Bidder Paddle


Is the most important ingredient the type of live auction items or what kind of food you serve or how many silent auction items you have, etc.?  While all these are important, the answer is NO!  The single most important ingredient for a successful fundraising event is having the right people in the room. 

So you may ask “Who are the right people?”  These are simply the people that believe in your cause and have the means and desire to support your cause through monetary giving (Whether that be in a silent auction, live auction, fund a need, or any other type of revenue enhancer.  

A FUNDRAISING AUCTION EVENT SHOULD FOCUS ON FUNDRAISING!  

This sounds so simple yet many organizations get away from this and focus on the party.  Your event should be seen as an opportunity to raise as much money as possible and spread your Nonprofit’s message.  If your guests are coming just to have dinner and not support your cause monetarily then you are missing your opportunity to have a super successful charitable event.

Quite simply, you are looking for QUALITY NOT QUANTITY.  

You would rather have 150 guests with the means to support your cause than 500 guests who are there for the party or there because the boss gave them tickets.  For example, if you take those 150 attendees that have the means to support your cause and they give an average of $500 per person then your organization would raise $75,000; not to mention the fact that you will pay less for your venue, less for your food and less for your beverages, ultimately raising your net.  If you take the 500 guests that were mostly given tickets (i.e. from bosses, friends, etc.) and most of them don’t have the means to support your cause, you may be lucky to have them give an average of $100 per person.  This equates to $50,000, which is 50% less than the example above.  Your net figure is also going to be much lower because you will need a larger venue, more food and more beverages.

When your committee sits down for its first meeting, the primary objective should be putting people with the means and desire to support your cause in the seats!

Written by Mike Grigg, AARE, BAS of Elite Auctions and Fundraising Services

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13 Tips for Your Live Auction Fundraiser

1.  Always have your professional auctioneer help you with putting the live auction items in the best order.

2.  Live auction should be no longer than 45 minutes, but preferably 30 minutes.  It takes approximately 2-3 minutes to sell each item.

3.  It is very important to schedule the live auction early in your program. You want the bidders awake and energetic

4.  We recommend having the live auction during dinner.

5.  At events where there is little to no seating for the bidders it is very difficult to get the best results from your live auction.
 
6.  Make sure you have recorders in place to write down the winning bidder numbers and amounts (We recommend having 3 recorders, pre-designing the recorder sheets, and allowing us to meet with the recorders prior to the beginning of the event).


 7.  Find out if any of the items can be sold twice and let us know.
 
8.  Inform us if any of the items have reserve/consignment amounts.
 
9.  We recommend utilizing professional bid spotters (ringmen) during your live auction (1 ringman per 100-150 guests is optimal).

10.  Allow your professional auctioneer to set starting bids and control the increments of the auction.

11.  Make sure that the house lights are brought up and spot lights down so that your auctioneer can see the bidders.

12.  Be careful with consignment items in your live auction.   

13.  Consult with us before choosing consignment items as they can many times take a lot of revenue out of your auction.  We can recommend good consignment companies that we trust.

Written by Mike Grigg, AARE, BAS of Elite Auctions & Fundraising Services

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How to Raise More Money from Your Donation Web Pages

When it comes to raising money from your donation pages I think every bit of advice can help.  Here are some suggestions from the blog of John Haydon’s: “19 Ways to Raise More Money From Your Donation Pages.”

This should get your donation page on track:

  1. Ditch the vintage PayPal button
  2. Write a powerful headline
  3. Use fewer words – Only focus on your story and your call-to-action
  4. Limit paragraphs to 2-3 sentences
  5. Use pictures
  6. Use white space to direct the eye
  7. Remove the sidebars and navigation menue
  8. Reduce steps to donate
  9. Only ask for what’s required
  10. Write copy in second person narrative – The word “you”
  11. Pick on call to action
  12. Repeat the CTA three times
  13. Use bullet points and numbered items
  14. Use big fonts
  15. Use big buttons
  16. Keep it above the fold
  17. Make it mobile
  18. Optimize your donation pages for search engines
  19. Create a seamless donor experience across all marketing channels

Written by Tracy Karbus of Elite Auctions & Fundraising Services with information from John Haydon.

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What’s in it for them… and you?

When it comes to creating outreach materials it is so easy to become overwhelmed by the pressure of meeting and exceeding goals that one can forget about the receiver of the solicitation.  Here are a few donor focused tips to ponder as you take a swim in the ocean this summer:

1.  Ask yourself, if this was sent to me how would I respond?

2.  Get into their heads, their hearts, and what makes their world spin (Yes, you have to do homework on this one).

3.  Make sure you’re offering a solution to the problem as the donor understands it, not as you do.

4.  Make sure this applies to all of your outreach, not just the written word.

5.  Now, go for a swim, climb a mountain, read a good book, or just unplug at least once this summer.  You need to re-energize your batteries too.

Written by Tracy Karbus Fundraising Consultant with Elite Auctions & Fundraising Services

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Motivational Speakers at Your Fundraising Auction Event


Condoleezza Rice speaks at the Solutions for Change Auction
There are two very important segments of the event that a good motivational speaker is needed… before the live auction and before the fund-a-need.  The speaker prior to the start of the live auction should be someone that can somewhat educate the crowd about the cause and share a personal experience to get the crowd emotional.  Getting members of the crowd to “tear up” is always a good thing.  This speech should not exceed 2-3 minutes and the live auction should begin promptly following.  Videos are okay to utilize for this but they have to be great not good.  

The second speaker should come on following the live auction just prior to the fund-a-need.  This speaker needs to be extremely passionate, as the crowd is many times drained from the live auction that just took place.  The speaker must re-energize the crowd and talk about what specifically the fund-a-need dollars will represent (i.e. building a new structure for the organization to help kids, funding a specific cause, etc.).  I have found that younger teenagers or children that are good in front of people and have a personal impact experience to share are excellent for this speech.  Once again, a video can be used here but it must be great not good.  If you used a video for the first slot then try to have a live speaker for the second and vice versa. 

Motivational speakers are imperative to the success of your live auction and fund-a-need.  You can do without them but don’t expect incredible results.  As you can see so far, there are a lot of small elements that all add up to a big result.
Written by Mike Grigg, AARE, BAS
EliteFundraisingAuctions.com
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How many items should we have in our live fundraising auction?


How many live auction items should we have?  This is one of the most popular questions asked when planning a fundraising auction event.

In a standard “Gala style” event with silent auction, welcome speech, live auction and fund a need there is what’s called a “Golden Hour”.  I would suggest that an hour for a live auction at a fundraiser is a bit too much, but it is a good rule of thumb to keep your live auction no more than one hour long.  I really like to be more in the range of 30-45 minutes if possible.  

Now, that brings up the question: “How many items does that mean we can sell?”  A good professional fundraising auctioneer will take around 3 minutes per item (including the item description).  If you do the math that means that 15 items are the most you should be selling, but ideally you want to stay between 8-10.  Be careful of filling the auction with lower quality items just to say you have ten items!  I would rather have quality, not quantity in the live auction; even if that means having an auction with 4-5 items.  You only have a short attention span with your guests, so make it count!
Written by Mike Grigg, AARE, BAS
EliteFundraisingAuctions.com
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How Important is Audio/Visual at a Fundraising Auction Event?


Having great, not good, not okay, but great sound is imperative to your fundraising auction event’s success.  Here are some tips regarding audio/visual at your fundraising event:
  • Never use the in-ceiling house system.
  • Always surround the room with speakers (Don’t leave out the attendees in the back). 
  • Always have screens with auction items displayed during live auction. 
  • Don’t forget to have high quality sound in your silent auction area as well (If located in a different area). 
  • Don’t have too much treble or too much bass. 
  • Have a professional A/V company handle it!

I am no expert in designing or setting up the A/V equipment and I’m assuming you are not either, so have a professional do this step… it can make thousands of dollars difference in your bottom line!  Just picture yourself at a fundraising auction sitting at one of the tables in the back of the room when there are only two speakers in the front and people around you are chatting with each other.  All you can hear is a rumbling sound but you can’t quite make out what the auctioneer is saying… you can’t bid if you can’t hear so the result to the non-profit or school is less money.

Not only is it important to have enough speakers but it is equally important to have enough amperage to power the speakers.  You want rich, deep sound when the auctioneer is chanting or your emcee is speaking.  I leave you with one final thought: “Is it worth paying a fee to an A/V company if you can make significantly more at your event?”

Mike Grigg, AARE, BAS
Chief Auctioneer/Consultant
Elite Auctions & Fundraising Services
http://www.EliteFundraisingAuctions.com
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How to hire a professional fundraising auctioneer… What should I ask when determining which auctioneer to hire?


DON’T FORGET TO TAKE YOUR AUCTIONEER’S ADVICE WHEN IT COMES TO MAKING MONEY AT YOUR EVENT!
Hiring a professional auctioneer for your charity, benefit or fundraising event is an essential element to maximizing your organization’s profit.
www.elitefundraisingauctions.com
Here are some questions that can be asked to determine whether or not the auctioneer is reputable…
1.  Do you specialize in charity auctions?
Auctioneers that specialize in charity, benefit and fundraising auctions are going to be best equipped to handle all aspects of your event from the silent auction, live auction and the fund-a-need or appeal.  There are many proven “tricks of the trade” that a professional charity auctioneer will know vs. a volunteer or non-charity auctioneer.
2.  Are you bonded as an auctioneer in the State of California?
Auctioneers that conduct business in the State of California are required by law to be bonded by the state.  If the company you are interviewing is not bonded by the State of California be very cautious to proceed with them.  Check your state laws regarding auctioneers if you are not conducting your auction in California.
3.  Are you a member of the National Auctioneers Association (NAA) and your State Auctioneers Association?
It is not manditory that auctioneers be members of the NAA or their state associations, but all auctioneers that are members of both associations are required to follow a code of ethics while practicing as a legitimate auction company.  Do not do business with auctioneers that aren’t members of both associations because they may not be looking out for your best interests.
4.  How many successful auctions have you completed and how many years have you been in the business?
Choosing an auctioneer that has not conducted more than 50 successful auctions and been in the auction business for at least 5 years may not be in your best interests.  In order for auctions to have a positive outcome they must be handled by an auctioneer that has the
proper knowledge and experience, which can only be gained by conducting a multitude of successful auctions over a legitimate time period.  (Pictured right: Mike Grigg, AARE, BAS of Elite Auctions and Fundraising Services on stage taken by Henry A. Barrios The Californian)
5.  Do you have any auction videos that I can view?
An auctioneer should be able to show you videos of him/her in action.  If he/she does not have videos, request to attend one of his/her upcoming auctions so that you can see how he/she works with the crowd to entertain, raise money and how his/her overall personality will mesh with your organization.
6.  What type of training have you had regarding benefit auctions?
There are several different training courses and designations that an auction can complete.  The National Auctioneers Association has the Benefit Auctioneer Specialist (BAS) designation that less than 1% of fundraising auctioneers hold.  It would be a huge bonus if your auctioneer had this designation.  Ask them if they attended auction school to learn his or her chant as well.  An auctioneer that is new to benefit auctions or doesn’t have any training might not be the best choice for your event.
7.  Do you charge for your services?
Auctioneers that don’t charge for their services are not going to take your event seriously.  Many times they are not charging because they don’t value their ability to maximize your profit.  Ask the auctioneer what their fees are and use your judgment in determining if their cost is fair.  Remember, good charity auctioneers are the line item in the budget that make you money… It does not cost, it pays to have a professional benefit auctioneer.  They will pay for themselves with the extra revenue they will achieve vs. a volunteer.  Volunteers, weathermen, comedians, etc. are not trained as auctioneers and will lose thousands of dollars for your cause… they will cost you far more than hiring a professional with their lack of experience and consulting knowledge.  “Having a volunteer or unqualified auctioneer handle your event is like having your accountant work on your car.”

*Remember, a good charity auctioneer has a lot of tips that can maximize your event’s profits using a multitude of different techniques.  Auctioneers that have conducted a lot of auctions have seen many different money-making ideas and know what works and what doesn’t work (i.e. timeline, types of auctions, what order to put your items in, fund-a-need, etc.)