fundraising auction event Archives - Fundraising Auctioneers and Consultants

Every nonprofit and school want to have hundreds of people attend their fundraiser, but is this really the measure of a successful event?

The question should be: “How many people will give and at what levels will they give?”

Just because an event has 800 people in attendance does not necessarily mean that the event is a success on the revenue side of things. This is where mining your database of past attendees comes in extremely handy and really is an absolute must before you send out your invitations. Look at past event records and see who is giving and who is not; it should become very apparent who you want to fill your seats with for your next charity auction gala. I would rather have 100 people with the means to support your cause in the seats then 500 people who are there to simply party. Not only will it cost the nonprofit a lot more to provide a venue large enough to house 500 people but it will cost immensely more to feed 500 people versus 100.

As an example: A room full of 100 power bidders may generate an average of $1,000 per person of revenue which equates to a gross of $100,000 versus a room of 500 people who generally came to party which may equate to an average of $100 per person or $50,000 gross with a much higher expense to house and feed them.

Your homework should be done several months in advance using data from the past 3 years of events to determine who should receive invitations. I’m not saying that all events should have lighter attendance because if you happen to have 500 loyal supporters that plan on giving then invite all of them.

Don’t forget to hire an experienced, professional fundraising auctioneer and consultant like Elite Auctions and Fundraising Services to help insure your event’s success. The results far outweigh the investment!

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

First off, if you are having a fundraising auction event you should definitely retain a professional benefit auctioneer that is a member of the National Auctioneers Association, their state auction association (California’s is the Western States Auction Association), and better yet has the Benefit Auctioneer Specialist (BAS) designation as well. With that out of the way lets discuss why you should be hiring a California based charity auctioneer for your California based fundraising event.

As we all know California has several areas that are unique to that region. Quite frankly the Bay Area (San Francisco, Oakland, etc.) is a lot different from Central California (Bakersfield and Fresno, etc.). Of course, Southern California has many different pockets as well, such as Los Angeles, the Inland Empire, Orange County, and San Diego to name a few.

This means many things, but here are just some of them:

1. Different regions of California have unique general occupations that drive the economy in those areas.
2. Different regions have contrasting income levels and age groups.
3. Different regions have particular auction items that will do well just in those zones.
4. Different regions have unique venues to utilize for your fundraising auction event.

Overall, California is DIFFERENT as you travel north to south and east to west.

Don’t you want a benefit auctioneer that has knowledge of these differences and familiarity through experience of what works and what doesn’t work in these specific regions? Most of the time in order to have this knowledge you need an auctioneer that is local to the state and understands these differences so he or she can fully maximize the degree of services that they provide to your nonprofit or school. You want a professional fundraising auctioneer that understands the people in the audience and what they want. Not to mention, a professional auctioneer that is well read and understands the laws of California when it comes to charitable fundraising.

Here at Elite Auctions and Fundraising Services we understand California and have been in the auction business since 2002. Our Chief Auctioneer, Mike Grigg is a California native and has been a professional auctioneer for almost a decade and a half. We have raised literally Millions of dollars for nonprofits and schools in all different areas of California. We are here in California to serve California nonprofits and schools!

Next time you retain a professional fundraising auctioneer and consultant for your California charity event… Go local, go with a California Auctioneer.

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