Out on a Limb

One of the challenges of fundraising is knowing when to take a risk and when to play it safe. In the fund-a-need, for example, the longstanding wisdom was to start at the highest level where you have a known donor waiting to give.

 Over time, however, that thinking has changed. Now it is common practice to acknowledge the first donor, and to fish for contributions at higher levels. If you choose to go out on a limb and see if anyone wants to donate a higher amount, follow these guidelines.

 Never go out on a limb higher than one level above your known first donation. It is OK to go out on a limb and get no donations at one level, as long as we can immediately drop to a level where there are known donors. As soon as you have two or three levels of crickets, your fund-a-need is doomed. What we are doing onstage is emotion management, and if the crowd starts to feel like this is a failure, it ripples.

Always check with your pre-committed donor to make sure they are on board with the plan. Most donors will be supportive of the idea of trying to find someone to give more. Occasionally, however, a lead donor really wants to be the lead donor and will be offended if you try to go over their head.

Be sure you can justify the ask. If you have a lead donor at $10,000 and want to go out on a limb at $25,000 you better need the extra money, and be able to explain to the crowd in real-time why.

Just because someone has wealth does not mean they are committed to giving it to you, even if they are attending your event. Cultivate donors, engage them in conversations, and empower them to support your cause. Whatever you do, don’t make gambling part of your donor development strategy, and never confuse capacity with commitment. And if you choose to go out on a limb, remember that It’s a valid strategy, as long as you know you won’t fall too far if it breaks.

Dancing in the Dark

We are always trying to strike a fine balance between “super fun party” and “successful fundraiser.” It is important that attendees to your fundraising auction have a good time and want to come back, but it’s also important that we raise enough money. No single element of an event symbolizes this struggle better than the dance floor.

The dance floor represents the good time to be had once the auction is over. The dance floor promises lively entertainment. The dance floor also takes up all of the most valuable real estate in a fundraising auction, pushing bidders further away from the stage. Furthermore, we often see a lot of energy and budget put into the dance floor and DJ/band, only to for the dance floor to be empty.

Putting a riser on the dance floor brings your auctioneer that much closer to your crowd, making it easier to see bids and engage bidders.

If you are considering hiring a DJ or a band and building a dance floor into your floor plan, there are some simple steps you can take to make sure it is helping (and not hindering) your cause. The most important thing is to know the culture of your event and lean into that. If you have a wild and partying group of school parents on a Saturday night, odds are they will appreciate the opportunity to dance and party after the auction. But if your event is on a weeknight, features a long program, or your crowd is on the mellower side, you might be wasting time, money, and potential.

Once you have made the decision to have a dance floor at your event, be sure to evaluate the space in advance from the auctioneer’s perspective. During the planning phase, go to your venue, stand on the stage, and have someone hold a paddle up in the very back of the room. If you are having a hard time seeing them, so will your auctioneer.

One solution is to bring the auctioneer closer to your crowd. You can do this by adding a runway to your stage, which provides your band with a fun performance space as well. Or you can have a riser (4’x8’ or larger) set in the middle of your dance floor for your auctioneer. The riser can be removed as soon as the auction is over, freeing up the dance floor for the party to come. Be sure to let your AV team know if you are planning to set a riser on the dance floor, so they can adjust sound and lighting if necessary.

Whatever you choose to do, always be collecting data. If a bunch of attendees complain about no music/dancing after the auction one year, add it next time. If you hire music, build a dance floor and only 11 people are dancing – maybe your party isn’t a dance party. Remember what works, and learn from what doesn’t.

Location, Location, Location

Blog: Location, Location, Location

Where you hold your fundraising auction is a foundational aspect of your event. Everything from the look and feel of the space, to the catering options and the amenities available help set the tone and expectation for your event.

When an organization announces their event will be held in the ballroom of the Ritz Carlton or the Four Seasons, for example, it immediately communicates a level of expectation. In the San Francisco Bay Area, most events used to be held in hotel ballrooms. But as more and more event spaces outside of hotels have opened, many fundraising auctions have made the leap to a new location.

If you are thinking about moving your event to a new location, do so with intention. Don’t move for the sake of doing something different – even if change is the culture of your event. Event crowds can only handle three major changes in a single event, and changing location is a MAJOR change.

Weigh the costs and benefits of moving carefully. Tour the potential new space, talk to other organizations that have done an event there. Does the space offer all of the same facilities as your previous location? What are the catering options: do you have to use their preferred caterer, or can you bring in your own?

Some event spaces don’t have a built-in kitchen, or permanent bathrooms. Is your caterer equipped to create their own onsite kitchen? Will your crowd mind using portable restrooms? How will the facilities, or lack thereof, impact the timing of your evening?

Location can make an event incredibly memorable, especially if it ties to the mission of your organization. For example, Save the Redwoods League held their San Francisco event in a redwood grove in Golden Gate park. The setting and ambiance resonated with the mission of the organization, reminding patrons of why they were there, every step of the way.

Whenever you decide to change location, remember it represents an opportunity and challenge at the same time. Maximize opportunity for freshness, but do not forget to address the potential challenges, such as:

 -          Is there parking?

-          Is there space for registration/check-out?

-          What happens if it rains?

-          Is it the proper size for your crowd? If the room is much larger than your crowd size, how will the room feel?

-          How will the location impact timing for my crowd?

o   If your crowd is notorious for being fashionably late, doing your event on a boat, that has a fixed itinerary, might not work.

-          Are there adequate utilities? Will you need to rent a generator for power?

-          Will your payment processing platform function with the existing internet connectivity?

-          Restrooms! Are there adequate bathrooms? If not, can you get fancy portable restrooms?

And while a location can be memorable, ultimately the location should not be the most memorable aspect of your event. We, as humans, form long-term memories when there is an emotion tied to a moment in time. When planned and implemented properly, the feeling people had when you engaged them with your mission and empowered them to make a difference in the world should be the most memorable aspect of your event.

Decor: Dream or Nightmare?

Décor is an important part of most fundraising events and has the potential to have a major impact on how much money you raise. Décor can transform a venue into a different place, transport attendees to a new world, and help tell the tale of your mission. Décor can also be a hinderance, actively work against your fundraising, and run roughshod on your budget.

We have seen some incredible décor over the years. For example, every February, the Boys and Girls Club of Sonoma Valley transforms their gymnasium into a spectacular setting for a high-end gala, utilizing a combination of drape and lighting. Looking at photos of the event, you would never guess it was in a gym. But you never have to look too far to remember where you are, and why you are there.

The Sweetheart Gala always takes place in the Boys and Girls Club’s gym, but it doesn’t feel that way.

Save the Redwoods League consistently does an amazing job of utilizing décor to communicate their mission at their galas. Whether it is in a tent on Union Square or a boxy warehouse space in the Presidio, they always manage to create a mood that feels connected to the forest, through lights, visuals, and use of live plants and trees.

Décor doesn’t have to be over-the-top to serve a valuable purpose. We’ve seen many events utilize retractable banner stands to communicate their mission and message and empower attendees to get in the frame of mind of supporting the cause.

The one place we’ve seen décor go most awry is at the tables, specifically, in the center of them. Centerpieces have the potential to become a massive hindrance for us as auctioneers. Tall centerpieces can make it hard to see bidders, and actively hinder our ability to do our jobs. It can not be overstated: Tall centerpieces make it harder for us to see the crowd and for the crowd to see us onstage. It creates a sense of separation in the room – in a bad way.

These centerpieces were so tall, Greg opted to do the auction from the floor instead of the stage.

We won’t play at being arbiters of taste, but we will say that when planning your décor, do it with intention. If the goal is to create an atmosphere of giving, how can the décor help serve that purpose? If the theme is important to your crowd, how can you meet their expectations while staying true to the fundraising?

Lighting is a cost-effective method of transforming a space, and lighting can also be used to change mood during an event. Remote-controlled, battery-powered LED lights can change color with the click of a button and be synchronized to do so throughout the room at the same time. Changing the color of the lights washing the stage between speakers can make for dramatic entrances and exits, and help to focus the crowd’s attention.

Be creative. Utilize modern technology. Make your event memorable and profitable. The one thing you should not do is create centerpieces that block sightlines. Seriously.

Red Alert! What to do in an Event Emergency

When something goes wrong at your fundraising event (and something always goes wrong) it is best to have a plan in place and be prepared to respond decisively. Most mishaps at galas are minor, and require a small response. But if a true emergency does occur, it is best to be prepared. In a life-or-death situation, every second counts.

Designate a Single Point Person

Make sure one person on your event team is the go-to person in the event of an emergency. Tell volunteers and other staff to let this person know if there is an emergency. Have this person in a visible, accessible place throughout the event so they can be found if need be.

Have a Plan in Place

Equip your Emergency Response Person with a plan, and make sure they have the tools to carry it out. Make sure they have the direct line for local emergency response professionals readily at hand, and that they have adequate cell phone coverage to make the call. It doesn’t have to be a complicated plan, and can be as simple as: “If someone is choking on their food, call 911 immediately.”

If you are doing your event in a hotel ballroom or professional event space, find out who their emergency response team is and how to reach them. For example, the Palace Hotel in downtown San Francisco has a medical response team on duty 24/7, and respond immediately to emergencies in their ballroom – but only if someone lets them know.

Do Not Panic

Stay calm, keep your crowd calm, freaking out will only make the situation worse.

Act Quickly

Do not hope the situation will resolve itself and do not worry about the optics of what this will look like for your event or organization. If it is a life-or-death situation, every second counts. It is better to over-respond decisively than to fatally under-respond.

Give People Suffering an Emergency Some Space

If someone is experiencing an emergency at your event, do your best to give them space and privacy. Call as little attention as necessary to the emergency. Direct the audience’s attention elsewhere, and encourage the crowd to focus away from the emergency.

Be Prepared to Adapt

Depending on the severity of the emergency, you may have to radically change the course of your event. Engage your crowd honestly, and with respect, and they will help you achieve the most positive outcome possible.  

Making a Quantum Leap

One of the greatest joys in our world is seeing a fundraising auction make the leap to a new level of success. As charity auctioneers and fundraising event consultants, we have been part of many success stories, seeing auctions double or even triple their revenue in a single year.

How do these auctions achieve such success?

Have a vision for where you want to take your crowd

They start with a vision of where they want to take their event. From there, they develop very specific goals and formulate strategies for achieving them.

“Raise more money in the fund-a-need” is a goal that most events would love to achieve, but alone it lacks direction. Starting with a vision of “engage our crowd on a deeper emotional level so they feel more connected to our mission” leads towards the goal of raising more in the fund-a-need.

Be willing to take risks. We’re not advocating risk for the sake of risk, but you are never going to make a quantum leap by embracing the status quo. It can be a large risk, like changing venues, or a smaller risk, like changing the flow of your program or embracing a new theme for your event. Any risk you take should be in service Identify a way to achieve your goal.

Embrace change and get your audience to buy-in to it by communicating with your crowd in advance to manage their expectations. Engage directly with key supporters to get them to commit to your vision, then reach out to your larger audience with their support. Fundraising is a conversation that takes place year-round, and your closest supporters should always feel like they have a stake in your event.

Train the crowd to embrace this new status quo and establish The Way for subsequent events. Momentum in a fundraising auction is a fascinating thing, and crowds have a way of remembering how an event was the year before. Highlight your successes in post-event communication, and carry that momentum forward to next year.

Finally, believe that you can grow. Your faith and optimism will inspire your committee, your board and ultimately your crowd to help you make your own quantum leap.

How to Deal with Competing Events

Planning and implementing a successful fundraising auction is challenging enough on its own terms, let alone when your event has to compete with other events for your audience’s attention. A sporting event that was announced long after you set your date, or another charity’s longstanding event can both have radically different impacts on your event.  

Here are some tips for avoiding unnecessary competition and dealing with unplanned competition:

Check the Social Calendar
If your event is moving to a new date, it is always wise to check the social calendar before you settle on a new date. Every city has a list of non-profit events (here in San Francisco the Nob Hill Gazette is a great resource). And if nine- to twelve-months in advance is too far out for a full listing of events, you can always look at the previous year’s calendar for your date to see what events exist around then.

Network with Similar Charities in Your Region
Establish relationships with the organizations who are in your same space, or who have crossover in your donor base. There are many great resources networking with other charitable organizations – Facebook groups, email lists, etc. Find out where your regional charitable peers participate and join them. We work with many organizations that actively seek to coordinate their events so as not to compete with each other.

Gala or Warriors watch party? How about both…

Message and Engage Your Donors
If you do find your event is in direct competition with another fundraiser that will impact your donor base, be proactive. Reach out to your big donors directly, encourage them to come to your event. If they are not coming, see if you can secure a donation from them to be used at your gala in their absence. We love proxy bids on auction items and gifts of all shapes and sizes for the fund-a-need.

Keep an Eye on the Sports Calendar
If you have any rabid sports fans in your donor base, you need to keep an eye on the relevant sports calendars. Here in the Bay Area we have been lucky enough to often have one or more professional sports teams in the hunt for a championship going back at least 20 years.

Playoff schedules get announced a few weeks before the games, so sometimes it is impossible to avoid competing with a major sporting event. When that happens, make a plan that works for you and the culture of your event. We can’t always recommend setting up screens and watching a playoff game as part of your gala, but we’ve done it.

Reach out directly to your donors who are sports fans and find out if sports are going to impact their participation in your extremely important fundraising. Offer them solutions such as, “we won’t announce any scores during the event so you can DVR it.” Always, always, always offer the opportunity to make donations or bids in absentia.