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.”

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