At the 2024 Claire Lillienthal School Auction, Ryder took to the stage and sold his first auction lot from beginning to end. It was “Principal for a Day” and he sold it for $4,600- TWICE! The video cuts off before he doubles is, but he raised $9,200 his first time taking the mic. We are all insanely proud.
Stellar Announces Jonathan Moscone
Stellar Fundraising Auctions is honored to announce Jonathan Moscone as the newest performer to join our fundraising auction team. Jonathan has spent the last 35 years crafting a career as a leader in the arts. We are excited to bring his experience backstage and in the boardroom to help non-profit organizations achieve their philanthropic goals.
Jonathan has planned and attended his fair share of fundraising auctions over the years. He first worked with Stellar on the client side as the artistic director for California Shakespeare Theater. It was during Cal Shakes’ annual gala that Jonathan gained an appreciation for Stellar’s pre-event consulting and onstage performances.
“I have worked with many charity auctioneers over the years,” says Jonathan, “and Stellar’s approach to helping set the stage for success is unique. I have witnessed Stellar bring wisdom and joy to every event they conduct, and I am excited to be part of their extraordinary team.”
Jonathan’s experience as the artistic director of one of the nation’s leading classical theater companies gives him powerful insight into stagecraft. “Jonathan’s instincts for what works and what doesn’t onstage have always been incredibly impressive,” says Stellar’ founder, Greg Quiroga. “His notes have always resonated, and he is going to make an incredible fundraiser.”
Jonathan’s skill, energy, and commitment – combined with his onstage experience over the years – position Jonathan uniquely in the fundraising auction world. No other fundraising auctioneer in San Francisco and the greater Bay Area has the depth of knowledge and wealth of experience that Jonathan brings.
“This is going to be really fun and meaningful,” says Jonathan. “I am looking forward to helping non-profits succeed in fulfilling their missions and increasing impact in their communities.”
Jonathan is currently available to help your non-profit organization achieve its fundraising goals. Contact Stellar Fundraising auctions: 415-682-4224, Info@stellarsf.com
Sanford Marshall Joins Forces with Stellar Fundraising Auctions
Stellar Fundraising Auctions is pleased to announce a new partnership with Sanford Marshall, fundraising auctioneer and professional emcee. Sanford is the most recent auctioneer to join forces with Stellar and, though he is new to our team, he is not new to Bay Area event planning and auctioneering.
A professional actor on both stage and screen, Sanford’s range has been displayed in commercials for John Deere to onstage productions for SF Shakespeare. “I am excited to bring my unique style of auctioneering to Stellar,” said Sanford. “But I am most excited about helping even more organizations raise the money they need to serve their communities.”
“We are thrilled to have Sanford in our constellation of auction super stars,” said Greg Quiroga, founder of Stellar Fundraising Auctions. “His wealth of experience as a performer, event planner, and consultant will enable even more Stellar clients to realize the philanthropic potential of their fundraising events.”
An accomplished event planner, Sanford’s knowledge of the planning process enhances Stellar’s existing commitment to pre-event consulting and guidance. He’s already won over a variety of non- profits, foundations, and corporate organizations in the Bay Area and beyond, including the Olympic Club Foundation, Samsung, Montessori de Terra Linda, Friends of the Alameda Animal Shelter, and Ngozi Educational and Healthcare Foundation.
Make your next event a Stellar Fundraising auction. Click here to find out if Sanford is available for your event now!
Bell a ringer for Stellar Fundraising Auctions
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: November 5, 2014
Jacquelyn Wells
Stellar Fundraising Auctions
(415) 682-4224
Jacquelyn@stellarsf.com
Bell a Ringer for Stellar Fundraising Auctions
Devon Bell Joins Roster of Stellar Auctioneers
San Francisco, CA: Today Stellar Fundraising Auctions, Inc. (http://stellarsf.com), a fundraising auction firm specializing in planning and implementing fundraising auctions, announced the addition of fundraising auctioneer Devon Bell to the Stellar roster. Mr. Bell has worked with Stellar as a spotter on a number of events over the years and now becomes the third auctioneer at the firm. His presence will help meet the rising demand for Stellar auctioneers in the Bay Area and beyond.
“We’re thrilled to have Devon on board,” said Stellar CFO and co-founder, Ed Gold. “He’s a brilliant consultant and an excellent performer, and he is wholeheartedly committed to helping make the world a better place one bid at a time. And besides,” added Gold, “we’re tired of turning work down because we’re booked.”
Devon is excited to be joining the Stellar team. “I’ve spent years working auctions with Greg and Ed and am excited to learn this craft from two experts in the field,” he said. “They are renowned for their performances onstage, but their knowledge of consulting is staggering. I’m honored to join such luminaries.”
Devon has already conducted two fundraising auctions under the Stellar banner, exceeding expectations in both cases. He already has a bevy of events booked for spring of 2015, and events looking to make the leap to hiring a fundraising auctioneer should act quickly to secure the newest Stellar auctioneer in San Francisco.
About Stellar Fundraising Auctions: Stellar Fundraising Auctions is a San Francisco-based fundraising auction firm. Stellar helps plan and implement over 100 fundraising auctions a year, raising tens of millions of dollars annually for non-profit organizations all over the United States, including schools, arts organizations, service organizations, and foundations.
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The scientific case for hiring a professional fundraising auctioneer
One of the challenges of being a fundraising auctioneer is the number of amateurs who think they could do my job – and number of seemingly otherwise intelligent event chairs willing to believe them. I don’t know what it is about being an auctioneer that makes so many people think they could simply jump onstage and do it. Maybe it’s the fact that we all learn how to say numbers in sequence in elementary school.
When the stage has been set for success, don't leave it up to an amateur to maximize the potential of your crowd.
We are professionals who have focused on fundraising auctions as a craft so that we can hone and perfect that craft. I’ve long argued that anyone can look brilliant when an auction is going swimmingly well, but it is a true professional who can handle an onstage challenge with aplomb. And now I have scientific proof to back me up.
A fundraising auction is a high-intensity affair, a continual stream of in-the-moment decisions being made that range from the mundane to the extraordinary, and sometimes extreme. Most of the obvious decisions seem easy enough to make, especially to the untrained eye. But when an extraordinary situation arises, the person onstage has microseconds to respond before the crowd starts forming an opinion – good or bad. And it is when the time pressure is greatest that the amateur is most likely to mess things up.
Law and Finance expert Frank Partnoy, in his book Wait: The Art and Science of Delay, uses chess as the example of how novices cannot cope with time-sensitive pressure. Most of us novice chess players can muddle through a game of chess well enough to present ourselves as competent. But add a timed element, such as in blitz chess where you only have 30 seconds per move, and the difference between novice and expert becomes profound.
“Expert chess players cope well with this kind of intense time pressure,” writes Partnoy. “When grand masters play blitz chess, the quality of their moves hardly deteriorates at all. They instinctively pick the best move, right away. But when novices play blitz chess, it is a disaster. Either they tap their conscious system and use up too much time thinking about the next move, or they make quick, bad moves. Either way, their systems overload and they lose.”
In the real world and on the chess board, Portnoy argues, “The message is clear: if you only have a few seconds to make a decision, you had better be an expert.”
Why then, with tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars on the line, would anyone risk giving the reigns of their auction to an amateur who is, statistically speaking, prone to messing it up when it matters most? The amount of money one “saves” in such a situation is outweighed by the performance a professional will bring to your stage.
And this isn’t just me saying this, it’s science.
