Episode #293
Would you like to get rid of your auction?
Is your board or Executive Director insisting that you do an auction at your event?
This week’s video is different from other Movie Monday episodes. It’s actually a video clip pulled from the set of videos made at the Nonprofit Storytelling Conference. Here’s why I’m featuring this clip.
A woman who came to the conference asked if I could provide her with this clip. She wanted to show the video to her board so they would see why their auction was hurting their fundraising.
Then, I was giving a storytelling workshop for the United Way and this same subject came up. I told folks what you are about to hear in the video, and everyone seemed so relieved. There was a collective sigh in the room.
Auctions are a lot of work.
So, if you’d like to make them more donor focused, or get rid of your auction all together, then watch Shanon Doolittle in this week’s video. Your whole perspective on auctions will shift in the two and a half minutes it takes for you to watch the video. Feel free to pass this on to board members or anyone else.
If you’d like to meet Shanon, and asks her questions in person, come to the Nonprofit Storytelling Conference. Click to learn more.
If you have a story or any advice to share around putting on auctions (or not putting on auctions), please share it in a comment box below the video. Thanks.
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If you have a story or any advice to share around putting on auctions (or not putting on auctions), please share it in a comment box. Thanks. 🙂
This is an interesting concept. I am going to put it to the test at our upcoming Golf Classic fundraiser in August. I will let you know how it works out.
Yay, Shanon! Thank you for giving fundraisers solid intel to answer graciously and empirically the question: “Hey, how about an auction?”
Thanks so much for your great videos- I can’t seem to find the “play” button for this weeks showing?
Unsubstantiated advice! This presenter is shooting from the hip and probably doesn’t know how to engineer a great auction.
I agree with Ron, fundraising advice from a party planner, my car is broken I will ask a lawyer how to fix it.
Tired of the same people giving the same advice, many other great actual fundraisers around to give awesome tips.
I’ve been tracking our live and silent auction results. Like the video clip, I’ve seen poor participation and “garage sale” prices. It has started me thinking of another way and will definitely consider what the video clip said.
I was at this conference and singing Hallelujah in the audience when she said that. For the doubters, here are some real numbers to back up what she is saying. Four years ago we ditched our silent auction, which raised maybe $3k (small town that is silent auctioned to death). Instead we started a Giving Board that had items our programs really needed (we hang tags with items listed on them). First year: $4k; 2nd $6.5k, 3rd $8.5k, and this year – $13.5k (!). On top of the sales: it takes just 3-4 hours to pull off vs. all the hustling of a silent auction, makes people feel very warm and fuzzy about their giving, and paints a very real and tangible picture of what we do.
There’s a lot of research about how you don’t want people in a transactional, rational mindset (vs emotional) when soliciting donations and I’ve always wondered if the silent auction format encourages the transactional (am I getting a deal) vs. the emotional….
Anyway, sing it Shanon! We will never look back!