Attention cMarket online auctions: Take advantage of the Straight Bid feature! Fundraising consultant, Alex Durant, is currently running an auction for the Food Network New York City Wine and Food Festival.

Alex had this to say:

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Do you know Michael Jordan? Or Warren Buffet? Do you regularly get donations of celebrity clothing, cars, Elton John’s piano?

Neither do I.

There’s a good story in Business Week today about online auctions raising big bucks, and they cite twenty items that sold for over $100,000, two of them over $2Million!

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We asked experienced auction consultant, Alex Durant, of Durant Consulting to give us her words of wisdom about fundraising auctions.

Alex has worked with clients such as The Food Network South Beach Food & Wine Festival, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Miami and the Make-a-Wish Foundation of Southern Florida – so her helpful auction tips are certainly tried and true.

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When it comes to everyday best practices, cMarket’s Auction Experts have heard every question under the sun when it comes to planning, running, and assessing the performance of an online auction powered by cMarket.

Speaking to clients from every non-profit organization great and small has given them a unique glimpse into the communities, catalogs, and – most importantly – management techniques used by auction teams that have proven to be successful time and time again.

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If you’re surfing the web for interesting and helpful articles on nonprofit fundraising, look no further. We have pulled together some of the most recent blog postings from the fundraising community that are pertinent to all nonprofits looking to get ahead this year.

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Here’s how I’d outline “How cMarket Works in Six Easy Stages” to a new client:

1. Have a goal, and evangelize it!

Start at the end. Where will – or who will – benefit from monies raised? Calculate funds needed to meet the goal (a new playground, tuition assistance, financing an animal shelter, rebuilding a synagogue, etc.), and craft a compelling mission statement that will become the battle cry of volunteers and communications alike. This will become the main messaging of online auction homepages and emails.

2. Get the right items.

A catalog of auction items won’t be lucrative unless you get the items your community wants and needs. Study your community and proactively solicit items. Develop “wish lists” which include not only repeat gifts, but which request donations of time, service or expertise from your supporters. Spend the time gathering the imagery and writing the detailed descriptions that will best market your items. Your catalog of items is the backbone of your online auction…

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cMarket recently released the results of an economic impact survey completed in May 2008 by 255 nonprofit auction managers. As part of that survey we asked them what they will do differently for their next fundraiser.
Given the number of requests for the list from other fundraising professionals, I thought I’d post it here [...]

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Nonprofits have a lot to learn and even more to gain from utilizing social networking sites to promote their cause and connect potential contributors. Sites such as Facebook, Myspace, Digg, etc align nonprofits to a younger, more tech-savy demographic. Houston Chronicle writer, Shannon Buggs, says this is exactly why all nonprofits should be regularly interacting with their audiences in this way.

“This is the time for nonprofits to get into social media while there is not a lot of traffic there,” said Monica Danna, a Houston-based blogger and marketing professional. “Early adopters get the most benefit.”

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I recently went to the other side of the table and joined the auction committee for my son’s school auction. It was incredibly helpful to see up close what folks have to go thru, what works, and what doesn’t.

Here are the six big lessons I learned…

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