Hosting a big charity auction is an exciting event! You may be ahead of the game when it comes to planning your location, the exciting theme, and various ideas for big-auction items to raise the most money possible. But how do you use those hot items to draw people to your event? The biggest secret to having a successful charity auction is to have exciting items and secure those items early for donors to think about and build anticipation for your event through marketing strategies.
What do the People Want?!
Before you start collecting your big-ticket items, you will want to contact big donors and see what packages they would be the most inclined to bid on. You could prompt them by asking what travel packages they would be interested in and what they would be willing to bid on. Another option is to send out a survey of what items they are interested in. If you are lucky, this could even give you a commitment to purchase before your event.
Make it Exciting
While people love gift baskets and collectibles, the experiences are where you will make your money. These activities are priceless and will bring a lot of attention to your charity auction. You can advertise sporting events, day trips, vacations, etc. Use flyers, social media posts, and email campaigns to show these once-in-a-lifetime opportunities. This will build momentum and draw more of a crowd to your auction.
Advertise Your Auction Items
A MUST in charity auctions is giving sneak peeks. This will help donors to start thinking ahead of time about your items and why they need to be in attendance. This will also help them to mentally prepare to bid on larger amounts. Donors are more likely to spend more money if they have had time to budget and think it over. Someone who is put on the spot the day of may feel differently about spending thousands of dollars on the big-ticket items. By sending out sneak peeks through various marketing strategies, you are sure to put a thought in the back of your donor’s mind that will build excitement up until it is auction day.
Sell an Experience
Travel packages are guaranteed to create some interest. Donors may even get competitive to win the prize for themselves or their families. Most people who fit the profile of high net-value donors have a budget specifically for leisure travel. Wealthy 50+-year-olds are going to bring the cash to purchase these types of Experiences because they have the time and money set aside to do so. Bidding on a travel experience that they were already planning to take and giving that money to a good cause is going to be a win-win for them. Another way to make a couple extra thousand for your nonprofit is to sell the experience multiple times. You can conduct normal bidding, but then sell to the top two or three bidders.
