Anyone know have any good ideas for silent auction donations for a fundraising event?
I am a volunteer for Habitat for Humanity and we are having a silent auction and live auction to raise money to start our next house. We are getting the usual donations – gift certificates for restaurants, hair styling salons, etc., but would really like to have something different and exciting. Any ideas?
Another note – our guidelines say that we have to stay within our county when soliciting donations so as not to encroach on other affiliates. Some of your ideas were really good, but they involve contacting groups outside of our area.
Hey there!
I’ve been heavily involved with nonprofit fund raising for years….so here are some ideas I have that could be relatively low in cost for your cause…
1) As far as items go in your area, here are my thoughts:
-try to think of items that your attendants will already WANT before they set foot in your event, instead of items that they could talk themselves into once they get there…bids will definitely be higher for these items
-anything that your group can make is always unique…think pottery, quilts, pillows, painting a martini set, etc…
-head to local businesses that are NOT chains…they’ll be easier to negotiate with and will have less red tape to get through…plus they’ll want the free advertising for being a donor in your auction
-see if a local liquor store will donate a "Beer a Month", grocery stores can donate "3 Months of Groceries", gas stations can give a certain amt of gas, coffee shops can donate coffee items and cups of coffee, local florists can do "Flower of the Month", etc….
-literally comb through your phone book and think of packages that they can give and then propose that, rather than just saying "Could you donate something?" If they can’t donate your proposed package, they’ll suggest a gift certificate.
2) In addition to your silent/live auction, consider running an online auction – this is an AWESOME way to get to the people whose mailing addresses you don’t have (ie you’ve got their EMAILS)…your email base can feel like they’re using their expendable income on great stuff AND its going to their community at the same time!
I’ve included a link of one of the online auction companies that I’ve worked with…cMarket. They also have another website, BiddingforGood.com, that opens your auction up to all their members so that people who you don’t even know can donate to your cause and bid on your items!
5) One last tid bit – consider selling sponsorships for your event…this can help off set some of your cost INCREDIBLY. You’d be surprised how many local businesses want to be a part of your cause-minded event! You can ask for anywhere around $500 per sponsor, and if you put your auction online, you can ask for even more than that because they’ll be getting just that much more exposure through your website and event emails!
Best of luck with all of this! 🙂
We do a silent auction to help raise funds for our private Christian school. Our biggest seller has been a quilt. We print out a small color picture of each student onto white cloth and then quilt each piece onto the quilt. We also have the school year embroidered on to the quilt. It is time consuming but it is a real treasure.
Maybe you could modify this idea to make the quilt personal for the group you are working with. The quilt takes around 6 months to make if you use volunteers.
Just a thought.
References :
You could try getting autographs from celebrities. We used this a couple of years ago, need around a 6 to 8 month lead time
Write to them via addresses in :
http://www.contactanycelebrity.com/
Good Luck!
References :
Have you considered contacting the community relations or social responsibility departments of different organizations in which you could partner with? Perhaps an autographed basketball or baseball? Free 1yr subscription to a magazine? Signed copies of a novel from a well know author? Free tickets to an upcoming concert? There are a lot of possibilities….different companies you can reach out to to receive these items for free.
~Sistahs’ Pursuit of Happiness
http://www.sistahspursuit.com
References :
let the highest bidder name the house or a room in it.(set guidelines of course)
References :
Hey there!
I’ve been heavily involved with nonprofit fund raising for years….so here are some ideas I have that could be relatively low in cost for your cause…
1) As far as items go in your area, here are my thoughts:
-try to think of items that your attendants will already WANT before they set foot in your event, instead of items that they could talk themselves into once they get there…bids will definitely be higher for these items
-anything that your group can make is always unique…think pottery, quilts, pillows, painting a martini set, etc…
-head to local businesses that are NOT chains…they’ll be easier to negotiate with and will have less red tape to get through…plus they’ll want the free advertising for being a donor in your auction
-see if a local liquor store will donate a "Beer a Month", grocery stores can donate "3 Months of Groceries", gas stations can give a certain amt of gas, coffee shops can donate coffee items and cups of coffee, local florists can do "Flower of the Month", etc….
-literally comb through your phone book and think of packages that they can give and then propose that, rather than just saying "Could you donate something?" If they can’t donate your proposed package, they’ll suggest a gift certificate.
2) In addition to your silent/live auction, consider running an online auction – this is an AWESOME way to get to the people whose mailing addresses you don’t have (ie you’ve got their EMAILS)…your email base can feel like they’re using their expendable income on great stuff AND its going to their community at the same time!
I’ve included a link of one of the online auction companies that I’ve worked with…cMarket. They also have another website, BiddingforGood.com, that opens your auction up to all their members so that people who you don’t even know can donate to your cause and bid on your items!
5) One last tid bit – consider selling sponsorships for your event…this can help off set some of your cost INCREDIBLY. You’d be surprised how many local businesses want to be a part of your cause-minded event! You can ask for anywhere around $500 per sponsor, and if you put your auction online, you can ask for even more than that because they’ll be getting just that much more exposure through your website and event emails!
Best of luck with all of this! 🙂
References :
http://www.cmarket.com
http://www.biddingforgood.com