School Auction Blog

Fundraising is always something big for a school, especially when clubs and societies are looking for funding. A fundraising auction is an excellent way to do just that: make money.

Now school auction projects don’t sound like big-money events, but it all depends on how it’s done. If you know what you’re doing, it sure isn’t impossible for you to rake in $10,000 to $20,000 in one fell swoop. Your child’s club will never have problems with funding as long as you know how to raise money with a school auction:

Planning: Making or Breaking the Auction

Treat a school auction like it’s a business and it’ll be like one. How you plan carefully can turn a school auction into a mere one-time yard sale or an annual money-making event of for your school.

Elements of the planning stage include mining your group for resources and items to auction off, matching items to the audience, acquiring software and hardware for the event. And you have to begin planning for all these factors nearly a year in advance for the auction: treat it like a major event, with all the courtesies and formalities that come with it and you’re going to get one.

Finding the Items to Sell

Creativity is the name of the game here. Although you’ve got the option of asking parents to donate items to set up for auction, you may want to think up alternative options that match the resources available to you.

For example: if you’ve got a parent who owns a luxury yacht, why not auction up a romantic boat ride for two? Or if you’ve got a donator who specializes in furniture making, why not have an auction for a top-notch, hand-built dresser made of fine wood?

Check the people around you, and you’ll be surprised at the options you’ll have to offer in school auction projects.

Matching Items to the Audience

It will be impossible to sell a $10,000 item in a crowd that has only a few hundred dollars in their pockets. Thus, it is essential that your school auction committee be able to assess the financial capabilities of the attending participants.

Carefully study the population of participants that will be attending the auction and divide them into categories: low, mid and high. Make sure low-spenders will be guided to the affordable section of the auctions, while those with more clink in their pockets would be guided to the higher-cost section of the auctions. Do this, and you won’t worry about having the wrong audience for the right auction.

The Art of Auctioneering

Any good auction has to have skilled auctioneers manning it. You don’t want an auctioneer who can’t speak to save his life, and you don’t want an auctioneer who doesn’t have a clue about auctions. You’ll need an auctioneer who knows how to rouse the interest of the crowd; to timely kick in humor and wit in order to keep the crowd entertained, and to inject a certain environment of desire and competitiveness within them.

Plan ahead, be creative, do the proper matching and find a good auctioneer to man the helm. Do it properly, and your fundraising auction will rake in the dollars like no tomorrow.

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Ben Lee, Education Director, Soundview School, Building the Future Dinner Auction March 7, 2009 at the Everett Comcast Events Center in Everett, Washington.

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Author: Angela Costas

Does your school hold an auction to raise funds? If not you might want to consider it. Many private schools, and even some public schools, hold dinner/auction nights to raise funds. It’s a fun way for parents to support the school, socialize and even go home with some great prizes.

Schools can have a live auction, silent auction, online auction or any combination of all of them. When there is more than one type of auction going on you are more able to reach out to everyone’s interest and price levels.

A silent auction can provide a way to offer many different auction items. The auction items can be valued anywhere from $20 to $500 or even more. With so many auction items, there can be something for everyone. From sports, to kids, gourmet foods, gift baskets, and many other interests can be included in the silent auctions.

A live auction is a great interactive event, that many attendees will enjoy. The auctioneer interacts with the crowd to make the auction fun and exciting. A professional auctioneer can often drive up the final bid price of the items higher than they would be with a volunteer auctioneer or if the items were on the silent auction table.

Internet based auctions are very popular and many parents are already buying items online on eBay. So why not have one for the school? An online auction can happen during the same dinner/auction night or a week before. You could even have the onine auction instead of an in-person event. If the online auction is stand alone they are often held over a 1-3 week period.

No matter what type of auction or combination of auctions you have, make sure you start planning well in advance. Organize into committees so volunteers can participate in a variety of ways.

Have some really high priced, premium items in the live auction. Big vacation packages, a motorcycle or gourmet dinner party are all good ideas for a live auction. Ticket packages for professional sports teams are also great auction items. Even if it’s not a super high priced item, if it will bring in lots of excitement and bids, put it in a live auction. Also have less fancy items that start at lower prices in the silent auction so everyone has an opportunity to participate.

Auctions can be a fun, great way to raise funds. Consider all of the different auction formats available and how they can fit into your school’s fundraising plans.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/k-12-education-articles/live-silent-and-online-auctions-are-great-school-fundraisers-1239153.html

About the Author:

Angela Costas writes for the Top School Fundraisers blog. The site includes free information about school auctions and other school fundraisers.

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There is nothing more frustrating than attending a silent auction fundraiser where auction items have been haphazardly displayed. Visually pleasing auction tables are a high priority! You want bidders to get excited about the
items you are displaying. Your goal is to encourage people to bid on items – not pass them by.

How you set up auction tables depends on the actual number of auction items and the amount of space you have to work with. Go out to your venue and physically pre-determine where you are going to set up silent auction tables. Do a configuration of how you want to place the tables and make sure you allow plenty of “elbow room.”

It is wise to set up “mock” tables before the day of the event to show how you want the auction items arranged. When arranging mock tables, remember to place a bid sheet beside or in front of each item. Bid sheets are printed on 8 1/2″ x 11″ paper and take up a fair chunk of space on the table.

Collect or cut out 8 1/2″ x 11″ pieces of cardboard in case you need to “mount” a bid sheet, e.g., when displaying a picture on a wall, hang the bid sheet with a cardboard backing from the picture itself. The cardboard backing gives bidders a hard surface to write on. Use ribbon, raffia, or twine to attach the bid sheet to auction items. (Use a foldback clip to attach the bid sheet to the cardboard.)

Tables are normally 6 or 8 feet long and 4 feet wide. You can use both sides of a 4-foot-wide table to display items, as long as the tables are not pushed up against a wall. Use tulle, painted cardboard scenes, fabric, stars, shapes, etc., as dividers down the center of tables, to utilize both sides of the length of the tables.

If tables are pushed up against a wall, use easels, stands, etc., behind the tables or use the wall itself to display items, e.g., pictures and sculptures.

Depending on the number of items you have collected, you can either place items sporadically or sort them into specific categories such as food/dining, jewelry, spa/health/fitness, sports, travel, children, etc.

Drape fabric over your auction tables to make them look more appealing. Fabric stores will often lend you a bolt or two of material in exchange for a mention in your evening’s program.
“Skirting” the silent auction tables is an alternative to using fabric. Hotels, restaurants, and golf clubs normally have an abundance of skirting and table linens on hand. Make sure you pre-arrange skirting and linens with the venue coordinator.

If you cannot get your hands on fabric, skirting, or table linens, use a roll of newsprint from the art room at the local school. Get students (or parent volunteers) to paint a theme on the paper and tape it around the tables. You can get creative with artwork, it all depends on your theme! (This idea is great when doing a school fundraiser. Get the kids involved!)

If using fabric or table linens, place small-to-medium sized boxes UNDER the fabric to make “display stands” for auction items. For example: a set of earrings would be more noticeable displayed higher than other items. It is also wise to keep “original” gift certificates with the event cashier(s) and display “mock” certificates in plexi-frames on the silent auction tables.

By using fabric, skirting, and/or newsprint, you not only make your tables more appealing, you create space under the tables for hiding boxes, bags, packaging, etc. (This space comes in very handy for volunteers’ purses, water bottles and shoes from sore feet!)

People like to SEE and FEEL what they are bidding on! Never display items in their original packaging, e.g., take the toaster out of the box and put a couple slices of bread in it!

Auction items don’t necessarily have to be placed on tables – utilize floor space, easels, room dividers, etc., when planning your layout. Get creative and arrange plants, furniture and other large auction items in groupings. (Make sure you have individual bid sheets attached to the items so bidders know they are part of the auction!) When displaying lamps, try to locate them near a plug – they look so much more appealing lit up.

Cello-wrapped wine, food, and spa baskets are great in auctions, although you don’t want an overabundance of them. If it is difficult to see what is inside a particular basket, list the contents so that guests know what they are bidding on.

It is also important to ensure auction items are in good shape, clean, and in proper working order, e.g., batteries in the flashlight!

As a final touch place tea lights, sparkles or colored glitter on auction tables to help create a theme or enhance the ambiance.

After ensuring the auction tables are properly set up, it is a good idea to have volunteers man the tables. They will keep an eye on the bid sheets, ensure the bid increments are being placed correctly and answer any questions the bidders may have. In essence, the volunteers become the “salespeople” of the visually pleasing auction tables you have taken so much time and effort to set up!

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Auctioneer chants the auction crowd into raising record money for school.

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