We’re fast approaching the holiday season. This is important for one key reason- fundraising auctions primarily tap into discretionary spending budgets vs. charitable giving. Three ways to take advantatge of this timing;

1. Position your auction as a holiday auction. Plant the seed that this is a chance to get some great gift items (note: our research is strongly suggesting that gift giving is a primary moivator for bidding by the 137,000 members of the biddingforgood.com bidder community

2. Merchandise accordingly. Get your auction committeee focused on getting gift cards from merchants.

3. Be sure to close your auction at least 10 days before the 25th to leave time for fulfillment. Note: we are putting in some gift email capability soon that may be helpful here.

The old saying is fish where the fish are- holiday season is when the fish are biting- plan accordingly.

tx for listening,

jc

Always good to call out successful usage of our platform. Brimmer and May is a private school in the Boston area that just closed out their online auction at $55,462.

They had 326 items which means the average item sold for $170. This was clearly a strong catalogue. They were featured on biddingforgood so I was able to bid on a few myself and glad to report our household is ahead 3 bottles of J Lohr “cuvee series” premium red wine as a result (important for the ceo to do market research).

The top 10 items were;
1.Celtics Courtside!- The Bucks
2.Red Sox Tkts – Behind Visitors’ Dugout w/ Clubhouse
3.Captured! Your Child at Brimmer & May
4.Dario Preger Photography Photo Session
5.Horseback Riding Lessons!
6.Pearls! Classic and Elegant
7.Red Sox tickets-Partners Club
8.Red Sox Tickets: Behind 3rd Base!
9.Bruins Tickets-December 5th
10.Roche Bros. Gift Basket

Notice certain items suggest male appeal, while others have female appeal. Its important to think about your catalogue this way as the genders do buy (bid) differently. Other key stats;

• 76% of items had bids. Total bids were 1,854.
• Approx 30% of total revenue was raised in the last 48 hours.

All to say, there is no magic here- its just a math problem. These folks clearly worked hard to get a rock solid catalogue and then promoted it heavily.

Tx for listening,

jc

Later on today I’m speaking at the annual Massachusetts Association for Fundraising Professionals (AFP) conference in downtown Boston. What I’m going to speak on is the death of the silent auction.

The silent auction makes no sense if you are trying to raise money. To put it context- if Sotheby’s was trying to aauction off a piece of impressionist art to get the highest price do you honestly think they would even remotely consider doing it in the middle of a party? No, they would not.

But that’s what a silent a8uction is. Its an auction in the middle of a party. Why is that bad? Let me count the ways;

• It violates the core principle of competitive arousal that is the key driver of strong auction outcomes
• It distracts bidders (unlike the live auction which literally stops the party to create focus)
• It makes folks fight the crowd (in focus groups women (66% of bidders) esp. signal they don’t like)
• Its awkward at the end- do i really want to grab the pencil out of my neighbors hand?
• Clipboards don’t exactly follow you around the room when you have been outbid
• Its a ton of work lugging 200 items into a room for set-up
• 200 winning bidders can mean long lines at check out
• Limited bidding because 20-50% of the potential bidders/constituency do not attend the physical event

For all this and more I predict that silent auctions are going to go the way of the doe-doe bird. They will be replaced by online auctions which address all of these points. Whether its biddingforgood or someone else the future of silent auctions is online.

tx for listening,

jc

Want to drive more donations this holiday season? Hold an online auction! A new survey by The Conference Board and the research firm TNS shows that planned online holiday spending will be up 9 percent from last year, to $42.5 billion. According to that survey, 36 percent of people polled said they planned to spend $100 to $499 online this holiday season.

Using Auctionpay Online Auctions, you can include your auction in the Bidding For Good network. You’ll get access to a network of 100,000+ bidders that visit the Bidding For Good site regularly because they want to support good causes along with finding unique gifts and bargains.

To get started, listen to our recent webinar Best Practice for Online Auctions, where we talk with online auction expert Jon Carson, CEO, cMarket/BiddingForGood. You’ll learn who shops at online auctions and why, what they spend, and how to run your own online auction.

You can access the webinar here.

Clever idea. BiddingForGood, which holds auctions for non-profits, is hosting one for Grateful Nation, the online volunteer site associated with Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. BIDMC CEO Paul Levy kicked the auction off yesterday on his blog. Purpose of this auction is to raise funds to buy an ultrasound machine for Bowdoin Street Health Center in Boston’s Dorchester neighborhood. Placing an ultrasound machine in the health center will allow pregnant women to have their sonograms near where they live, rather than having to travel, often by public transportation, to the hospital itself, which can be a time-consuming journey.

The auction runs for a week and includes about three dozen items ranging from a baseball signed by Luis Tiant (its value is marked “priceless”) to a $100 gift card to Mantra Restaurant to an “Inspiring Speech for Your Organization by Monique Doyle Spencer.”

Bid fast! The whole thing’s over in a week but if you miss this one, plan ahead for the holidays, as there will be one the first week of each month. And naturally you too can donate an item, a service, a who-knows-what.  Full Story from:http://endlessknots.netage.com/endlessknots/2009/11/do-i-hear-50-100-500.html

BiddingForGood, the leading online auction platform connecting charity auctions, consumers, and commercial item donors, has successfully implemented their interactive Auction Item Request System (AIRS) into companies to manage item donor programs. AIRS offers benefits such as good community relations, professionalism, and even offers leads for second revenue streams to help a hotel’s bottom line. Companies like The Four Seasons, Brooks Brothers and The Liberty Hotel have jumped on board using this cutting edge technology coined as the “Open Table” for charity item requests.

Hotels, restaurants and retail stores, are often hit up for free donated items for the sake of non-profit fundraising, some receiving hundreds of requests a month for donated items. With the AIRS system, hotels and brands handling these types of requests are able to track how much exposure they receive in return for a donation while significantly reducing the time spent handling requests.

Early reports show that hotels using AIRS have been impressed and surprised that the system has been generating leads for banquet and food/beverage sales. This allows hotels to leverage second revenue streams that are vital in today’s economy. In fact, The Liberty Hotel, a nationally recognized hotel located in Boston, MA, is reporting that 73% of requests are now asking for information on banquet facilities providing a steady flow of leads.

When an organization such as a non-profit walks into a hotel and asks for a free donated night for a charity auction, hotels can now direct them to their website to fill out an electronic online item request form. This drives organizations to the hotel’s website where they click on an item request link to easily complete their type of request. The system immediately sends the organization an email acknowledging the request and informs them of when the hotel will be back in touch. All requests that were previously handled on the phone, on paper or by mail, are now directed in one centralized electronic location. “AIRS offers the perfect solution to what has been a thorn in the side of hotel administration for decades now,” says luxury hotelier Robin Brown.

AIRS notifies participating hotels of requests as they come in and then allows them to send automated approval letter or letter of decline in a timely fashion. For those requests which are denied, not all is lost for the requesting organization as within the response letter is an offer from BiddingForGood to find donated items for them. The organization will then have an opportunity to run an online auction with BiddingForGood, using supplied donated items, including many luxury brands, in efforts to raise funds for their organization.

Forward thinking hotels have started using this latest technology offered to explore the untapped arena of charity auctions. The Liberty Hotel was one of the first to implement the system and has started to track the amount of requests they receive, the requests that have been approved or declined, what type of request, what type of organizations have requested items and what percentage of the items donated are being used for specific purposes. They have a dashboard of all their request information, including monthly tracking charts all in one place.

The program has had a welcomed reception by all those using the system as of date. The system literally takes moments to set up and offers tracking that would normally take hours to do on a weekly basis. “Charity auction requests are one of the most inefficient parts of my job. I’m glad a system has come along to make this administrative headache go away” says Sean Reardon, VP Marketing, Liberty Hotel, currently using the AIRS system.

Where can you find 2 VIP tickets to 2010 NY Fashion Week, a Paul McCartney autographed Beatles Rock band guitar, and lunch with the Mayor of Providence all while supporting a good cause?  The place is BiddingForGood, an online auction platform solely for organizations engaged in fundraising for nonprofit causes. BiddingForGood has been offering consumers unique experiences on their shopping portal for years and have raised over $70 Million doing just that.

 In an economic tailspin, one might be trying to find reasons to splurge this holiday season without the guilt. BiddingForGood can offer hundreds of reasons. Breast Cancer Research, the Arts and local school fundraising auctions, to name a few, are all housed under the BiddingForGood name.

 Consumers love that they can find unique travel items and gift certificates to their favorite restaurants all year long on this online auction platform.  But there is something special about finding that truly hard to find Marc Jacobs bag while shopping on this site during the holidays.  You know that feeling after sipping mom’s hot apple cider, spiked of course? Those shopping on this site may find their warm fuzzy experience and feeling quite similar.

 With the holiday season quickly sneaking upon us, BiddingForGood employees have jumped in full swing with the announcement of their own annual holiday auction.  Every year, the company chooses an organization that is near and dear to their hearts…and believe me, there are many!  But this year, the decision was a little easier to make with the recent diagnosis of Breast Cancer of one of their employees and friends.  Their auction, supporting Mass General Hospital’s ESSCO Fund for Breast Cancer Research will open in Nov and run through Dec, just in time to snag great items for the gifting season.

 However, this auction will be just one of the many holiday auctions to be opening up on the platform this season. Auctions, supporting a wide array of causes, will have more items than ever including hard to find sporting events such as Red Sox vs. Yankees tickets, entertainment tickets, exotic trips to Equador and Mexico, celebrity meet and greet packages, Spa Botox treatments and much, much, more!  Known as the “eBay for charity auctions”, BiddingForGood has become the number one portal to find luxury items while supporting a cause.

Best Events Magazine  -INSIGHTS, IDEAS AND TRENDS

Written by: Rachel Gary

Silent and live auctions have long been a go-to means of raising money at events. The formula is straightforward: the winner simultaneously gains a coveted item while donating money to support an organization. Popping up at golf tournaments, benefit luncheons and fundraising galas, auctions have become an event element attendees have come to expect and, executed properly, can result in large profits in short order as bidders fight it out over sports tickets, vacation packages and gift certificates for services. But what is it about the auction atmosphere that so often drives bids far above the actual value of the items? Deepak Malhotra, assistant professor at Harvard Business School says, simply, it is the concept of “competitive arousal.” Also known as “auction fever,” the phenomenon consists of a few basic stimuli that increase a bidder’s drive to win: rivalry, social pressures, time pressures and hype. These elements combine in a perfect ratio during a live auction; the public arena in which the competition goes down, the pressure to win in front of peers, the auctioneer egging on the fight.

The auction format also creates the feeling of commitment to an item. Says Malhorta, if the bidders “have invested a lot of time, effort or money in trying to acquire the item, they may continue to bid past their initially set limit.” With the potential addition of alcohol to the mix at, say, a gala dinner, relaxing bidders’ judgments and internal financial restrictions, the possibility for prices to skyrocket increases. All of these elements add up to big bucks for nonprofits, and a successful fundraising event. That is, when the economy isn’t in the crapper. Unfortunately, an economic recession throws a big stick in the spokes of that “auction fever” mentality planners count on. Suddenly, the pressure to be, or appear, fiscally conservative outweighs the pressure to win at any cost. Even those that can still afford to bid high of big ticket items are exercising restraint, in an effort to avoid flaunting an implied wealth during a time that so many have lost so much.

Jon Carson, CEO of cMarket/bidding for good, sees a trend in a need for bidders to maintain a low profile when bidding high on items. “Ninety percent of our bidders register names that are anonymous,” Carson says. The traditional silent auction was once thought to be a solution for the public bidding wars of the live auction that some may be to shy to engage in, but also have the potential to become less anonymous than intended. “If you’re in the heat of the race, in the final minute, in many cases you almost have to grab the pen out of someone’s hand. That’s a small percentage of the population that will be that aggressive,” says Carson.

Alex Durant, founder of Durant Consulting and a fundraising auction specialist, used cMarket/bidding for good to auction larger, high-priced items at the recent Food Network South Beach Wine and Food Festival for exactly that reason. “Users can place absentee bids anonymously, online, from the comfort of their own homes,” says Durant. “And a lot of the time, the absentee bids end up winning.” She explains that online auctions allow those who want to support a nonprofit organization by bidding on a high-ticket item, and can afford it, to do so without fear of judgment or public scrutiny. For the festival, the high-priced items auctioned online went for higher than their estimated values, and Durant believes it resulted in a more successful fundraising effort than an in-eventsilent or live auction would have.

Clip from Best Events Magazine – Sept/Oct

Written by: Rachel Gary

Alex Durant, founder of Durant Consulting and a fundraising auction specialist, used cMarket/BiddingForGood to auction larger, high-priced items at the recent Food Network South Beach Wine and Food Festival for exactly that reason. “Users can place absentee bids anonymously, online, from the comfort of their own homes,” says Durant. “And a lot of the time, the absentee bids end up winning.” She explains that online auctions allow those who want to support a nonprofit organization by bidding on a high-ticket item, and can afford it, to do so without fear of judgment or public scrutiny. For the festival, the high-priced items auctioned online went for higher than their estimated values, and Durant believes it resulted in a more successful fundraising effort than an in-event silent or live auction would have.

cMarket/biddingforgood applies that perspective to its auctions as well. The service maintains a bidder portal of about 130,000 registered bidders who drive up to 40 percent of bidding activity. “One of the benefits of being online,” says Carson, “Is that you are open 24/7 to that group; bidders that might someday become donors.”

For Durant, providing that ease of use is a big factor in utilizing the online auction format, because it also allows event attendees to really have fun without the pressure of participating in the auction element at the same time. “Guests can relax, and completely enjoy the event,” she says. Carson agrees: “If the event is meant to build community fabric, so that donors feel a greater part of the community and they feel more connected, you want socialization; you don’t want peering over clipboards. It’s better for the organization in reaching the strategic goal.”

Durant likes the fact that bidders on cMarket’s online auction can forward item listings to friends and coworkers that might be interested in bidding, via email. Recipients can create an account in the system, and the organization has just gained another potential donor. “It gives the communication tools directly to the constituencies,” Durant says. “It really helps to spread the word about the cause, and that’s what fundraising is really all about.”

For More Tips on Best Practices for Event Planning, please visit www.besteventsmag.com.

cMarket/BiddingForGood, the leading online auction platform solely for organizations engaged in fundraising for nonprofit causes announced its online auction platform brought in $350,000 for the Muscular Dystrophy Association.  

 This was the second national auction for the Association and was responsible for a record breaking traffic spike on BiddingForGood’s website during the broadcasted Telethon. The auction performed better than last year’s online auction in all metrics.  In the same week, BiddingForGood passed a milestone of over $70 million in gross merchandise sales for nonprofit organizations across the country.

During the two week online auction, held in conjunction with the 44th annual Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon, hundreds of items in an array of categories including celebrity memorabilia, travel excursions, electronics, and gift cards were up for auction. Some celebrity items include tours and lunches with stars of “Days of Our Lives” and “General Hospital,” autographed Styx and Kenny Chesney guitars, an “Access Hollywood” backstage tour, and tickets with backstage meet and greets with stars, including Daughtry and Wynonna Judd.

 “As always, this was an exciting auction to follow.” said Jon Carson, CEO of cMarket. “In just 15 days, we saw generous donations, coordinated efforts and consumer shopping to benefit research and treatments for muscular dystrophy and related diseases.”  Despite a still downward economy, MDA engaged an additional 2,439 bidders, and sold 2,627 items for their cause. Carson adds, “We are so pleased that the MDA ran yet another successful auction and are happy to just be a part of their efforts.”

Some of the highest bidding items included a VIP package to the 2010 MDA Telethon, $10,050; a 2009 FLSTSB Softtail Cross Bones Harley-Davidson motorcycle, $15,050; a 2010 Honda Fit, $13,800; an autographed Roger Staubach and Tom Landry Dallas Cowboys photo, $3,867; tickets to see ventriloquist Terry Fator at The Mirage in Las Vegas and have a meet and greet with him, $2,949; and World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) event tickets and meet and greet with WWE Superstars and Divas, $2,525.