In a recent post I talked about the Good, the Bad, the Ugly and the Easy of silent auctions.
Today I want to talk about the big kahuna: The Items
If you’ve got the right items, the auction is a winner for all concerned: the bidders, the donors, the item solicitors and your organization. If you’ve got the wrong items, not so much.
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In Part 1 of this two-part article I described the importance of:
Part 1 also included links to a lot of articles I’ve written previously about mastering online social fundraising. Some of them are on Clairification. Others are guest posts I’ve done for other blogs.
I truly, passionately, want you to master the integration of a robust online communications and fundraising strategy with an equally robust offline strategy. In our digitally revolutionized world, they are two halves of a whole.
You need to rock them both.
Today we’re going to layer on with some other important essentials if you want to succeed with your online fundraising.
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I’ve written a lot over the past several years about why mastering online social fundraising is critical to nonprofit success (e.g., here and here, just as starters).
A bit later in this article I’ll give you a link to a mini-guide for nonprofit online social fundraising. It really boils down to taking charge of the “customer experience” — which is a huge meme du jour in the for-profit world today.
If you need to persuade someone about why this is important, you can read up about how the digital revolution has changed the way people are influenced to give in Penelope Burk’s Cygnus Research studies from the past several years. Here are some of the indisputable truths:
I could go on and on about the why, but I’m going to assume if you’re reading this article you’re already sold. You know you need to do this better than you’re doing it now. You’re just not sure how.
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Got a silent auction coming up?
After our recent article (Charity Auctions: Providing a Better Donor Experience), I got a number of questions from folks who’d had negative experiences.
These weren’t just poor donor experiences. They were also real drags on staff.
And I feel your pain.
Sadly, I’ve been there.
I’ve worked these painful events. And I’ve been a bidder at them.
Silent auctions are a bit like the story of the little girl with the curl in the middle of her forehead:
When they are good they are very, very good; when they are bad they are horrid.
Silent auctions can be a great way to both increase event revenue and entertain your guests.
Don’t rule out the importance of the latter.
The very best events I’ve witnessed are those where
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Charity auctions are an oft-held fundraising event, but even the most seasoned nonprofits often don’t host them well.
Since auctions are multifaceted events that are relatively complicated to organize, many organizations focus too much on getting the logistics in order and not enough on how they can provide an amazing experience for their donors.
Instead of considering how they can leverage their auction to build deeper supporter relationships, they bolt straight to the fundraising finish line: increasing event proceeds. It’s no wonder that event retention is so low!
In this article you’ll receive great advice from Adam Weinger, President of Double the Donation, as to how you can make your auction a more positive experience for your donors, focusing specifically on how auction software can help.
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