I'm coordinating the items for a dinner and silent auction for the humane society. Have you seen anything different, or really great, that you don't usually see at a silent auction?
Post by meredithblake on Sept 17, 2015 7:34:28 GMT -5
I just hosted a fundraiser last Saturday with Silent Auction and Raffle. Our best silent auction items were things you can't go out and buy yourself. For instance, a dinner for 4 hosted by a local famous chef went for $400. A country club golf outing for 4 (normally have to be a member to golf there) went for 700. We got a hotel to donate a night and a restaurant to donate $50 dollar giftcards and combined those as a "Night Out" which went for $285. The best things seemed to be experiences. People also liked the things my friends and I painted or made: Landscape bricks and a cornhole set for the local universities, wreaths.
Our best single item was a 50" Smart TV which we sold $5 raffles for. We bought it for $500 and came out $1,200 ahead on it. Someone also donated a GoPro which brought in about $700 in $5 raffles.
Staycation type stuff (night at a hotel with dinner, tickets to an event). Spa package Sporting even with premium seating VIP-type things (like a special parking spot at work) Housecleaning
Post by underwaterrhymes on Sept 17, 2015 7:37:09 GMT -5
A caution I make often since someone mentioned it here:
If you do a raffle, you need to make sure it's not considered gambling in your area. If it is, you might need a permit.
ETA - one way you may be able to get around it is not by selling the tickets, but by saying that they are available for a suggested donation of $x. If someone wants one for free, though, they are entitled to it. And if someone wants to give more they can.
Post by thinkofthesoldiers on Sept 17, 2015 7:43:03 GMT -5
I saw one where a few local construction companies donated the materials and labor to construct a 3 season gazebo on someone's property. The raffle for that sold crazy amounts of tickets. One company did the concrete base and a second did the building of the actual gazebo.
If you have a hometown Sears (not just an anchor store at the mall) they will sometimes donate stuff. I've seen a chest freezer with a $500 gc to a local meat market. The raffle for that was pretty good too.
Baskets...people that do that MLM thing are usually willing to donate stuff.
Services tend to go well. Cleaning. Tutoring. Auto stuff.
At DS's school fundraiser last year, a private tour (up to six kids) of the new fire station and a ride on a fire truck was VERY popular (& free for the organizers!).
Tickets to sporting events Our school does a wine wall - not exactly sure how it works (don't do wine) but there are like 100 bottles of wine and you get to pick your bottle - maybe pay one price to pick any bottle. I like the 20 large bottles of craft beer. I always bid and I always lose out.
Post by meredithblake on Sept 17, 2015 8:00:46 GMT -5
Just a note if you are going to solicit donations- locally owned restaurants are way faster about it. The nationwide restaurants would have us email/fill out something online and never get back to us. The locally owned ones would usually give something right when we walked in. Since giftcards obviously have a cap donation amount based on their value, when we decided to put them in an the auction, we tried to combine them with stuff to make them more appealing. Most of our plain gift cards went to the $1 raffle.
Salon Product Baskets (they donated generously and included cuts/colors with products)
Autumn Basket
Camp Basket (local summer camps may donate one including camp registration)
Beer glasses combined with beer
High school baskets (this depends a lot on your demographic- ours included t-shirts, camp registrations, access passes, sweatshirts, etc.)
I've seen gym memberships be popular, spa packages, jewelry, dinner for 10 at someone influential's house (mayor, city councilman, etc), vacation packages (usually someone who owns a vacation home that will give it up for a weekend), golf packages (ask your local country clubs/courses) and lessons with a golf pro, theatre and concert tickets, sporting event tickets, etc.
I've also seen people bid lots on puppies, but don't do this.
We went to our local one last night at DH's school and there was a ton of stuff. Items I bid on:
- $20 nail salon cert - "Fall basket" full of fall decor and pumpkin baking supplies, included $75 in gift cards to Amazon. - They had multiple "date night" items which were two pairs of movie tickets and $50 gift cards to local restaurants. - Discounted fees for TBall and soccer registrations -Discounted wine club membership -Dog goodie basket from local pet supply full of treats, tick and flea treatments, shampoo and dental supplies.
I've seen gym memberships be popular, spa packages, jewelry, dinner for 10 at someone influential's house (mayor, city councilman, etc), vacation packages (usually someone who owns a vacation home that will give it up for a weekend), golf packages (ask your local country clubs/courses) and lessons with a golf pro, theatre and concert tickets, sporting event tickets, etc.
I've also seen people bid lots on puppies, but don't do this.
OMG, you've seen people raffle off puppies? That's terrible for so many reasons.
I've seen gym memberships be popular, spa packages, jewelry, dinner for 10 at someone influential's house (mayor, city councilman, etc), vacation packages (usually someone who owns a vacation home that will give it up for a weekend), golf packages (ask your local country clubs/courses) and lessons with a golf pro, theatre and concert tickets, sporting event tickets, etc.
I've also seen people bid lots on puppies, but don't do this.
OMG, you've seen people raffle off puppies? That's terrible for so many reasons.
Yup. It was terrible. "Purebred" mixes (like maltese/poodle, etc). We didn't go to that event anymore after that.
Sadly, I've seen puppies at several auctions. AND? After the first one goes, they 'SURPRISE' have a second one that then goes to the second highest bidder unless someone wants to bid them up again. It's disgusting.
Items we've bid on: rare wines, jewelry, restaurant GC's, ball game tickets, painting class that serves wine, toys for for my nieces/nephews, trips, spa packages to well known places, hotel packages, wine tastings.
Post by SpartanGirl on Sept 17, 2015 8:29:12 GMT -5
We run a silent auction every year for our preschool. Some of the most popular items are:
A wine tasting party for 12 hosted by a local liquor store. Weekend stays at hotels, especially when paired with tickets to a show or a restaurant gift card. Professional sports team tickets (we have season ticket holders who will donate their tickets for a game) A membership to the pricey athletic club in town Disney World tickets (Disney will send 4 tickets to qualified nonprofits at no cost)
Our silent auction never needed a permit, but our raffle does. It was a fairly easy process to get a license though. good luck!
One of the best things that my mom bought when I was a kid were a couple of "night in" baskets. I think one year was a movie theme: popcorn machine, plastic old style popcorn containers, popcorn kernels, tickets to the movie theater probably. Another year we got an ice cream basket: ice cream maker, various non-perishable ingredients to make ice cream, ice cream dishes, serving utensils, fun ice cream spoons.
Alcohol usually goes over well. X bottle of wines from a local winery; a case a beer from a local brewery.
Maybe you could do something that is like, pay the adoption fee for someone. (just trying to think of things related to the charity)
Dinner by an amazing chef in your city to be cooked at the home of the buyer for 4/6/8 people.
My husband is big on bidding on sports memorabilia, and I've also bid on tickets to events/tv show tapings. Golf foursomes at exclusive clubs are also pretty popular.
Post by DotAndBuzz on Sept 17, 2015 8:53:27 GMT -5
I'm coordinating our school's auction this year, and in looking at the biggest earners from last year, experiences that are pay to play are big money makers.
So maybe a local chef or personality hosts a dinner party for 20, that people pay $100/each, or per couple to attend. Or a private cooking lesson/meal prep session from one of those freezer meal prep places. Except you open it to 10 people to sign up, instead of giving one session to the highest bidder. Cocktail parties hosted by a local TV personality, or even business (if they have a person/celebrity who would be a draw), Other items that have done well for us in the past are family events, amusement park tickets, that type of thing. Sporting team items/tickets are also big.
Travel items can be tricky because it's tough for people to be able to commit to a particular date to travel on the spot. Goodie baskets can be good, but they don't necessarily draw in loads of money on bidding. If you can get them donated, great, but if you are spending money to put them together for bidding, it may not be worth it.
and yes, be careful with the raffle. It's not a super tricky for non profits to get a charitable gaming license in my state, but you do need one if total prizes awarded are over a certain value. There are various types, and specific wording has to be included on tickets and game publicity. It's not hard, it's just something to make sure you don't overlook if you're going in that direction. Raffles can bring in a TON of cash, for relatively little investment, so think about that too.
I went to a live auction last week and it was the same type of situation.
$100 worth of scratch off tickets, they were donated by our state lottery. A hunting package, obviously know your area for this. A set of custom etched glasses, they could chose from wine glasses, beer mugs or high balls.
Post by cabbagecabbage on Sept 17, 2015 8:57:26 GMT -5
Things you can't buy, like access to exclusive events, and experiences. In addition to what other's have said, sports memorabilia has been popular at auctions I've attended.
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