The cost of holding an auction fundraising event can vary greatly by location, but there are some useful decision-making strategies that will help. As with most things, planning and preparations are key to ensuring you get the most from your budget. This may be starting to sound intimidating, but you can make sure your overhead is covered by selling admission tickets to your event at the right price.
To calculate a minimum ticket price, divide your total estimated overhead costs by the number of people you think you can reasonably expect to attend. Some events break up coverage of their venue and meal overhead by selling separate admission tickets and meal tickets. You might go for an exclusive feel with an extravagant venue and admission tickets that cost several times the per-person overhead. Raising ticket prices turns your tickets into a profit center for the event, and — if your attendance estimates are accurate — guarantees you make two or more times your event costs.
Whatever your ticket strategy, you can make it work better for you by either lowering ticket costs or raising ticket profits with the money-saving tip in the next section. However, a shrewd fundraiser may be able to get a high-end venue and services at a steep discount. Does an ardent supporter of your cause own or manage a local hotel?
She might be able to secure use of the ballroom for little or no money. Is there an alumnus of your school or parent of a student that runs a catering company?
He may be willing to donate food preparation and waitstaff for your event. You can even sweeten the deal by offering to prominently recognize these in-kind donors as sponsors of your event. The more event-night accommodations you acquire from such sponsors the lower your ticket price can be, making the event more accessible to your supporters.
We covered some of the ways auction management software can be useful above, in our description of different bidding styles. But the fact is, you might not need auction software at all. If your event is small, with only a handful of attendees and auction items, software to manage it may be an unnecessary expense.
Some fundraiser events focus on cash donations or high ticket prices for an exclusive or stylish event, with a small number of silent auction items as little more than a sideshow.
Other events may feature a couple dozen silent auction items and a handful of live auction items, with no connection between the silent and live bidding and no pre-event online bidding at all. Events where the auction is simple and small can safely get by with some good volunteers, a few spreadsheets, and a good organizer running the show. In fact, this is often a good place for organizations to dip their toe into the auction waters and see how it suits them.
The larger and more complex an event becomes, the more helpful software can be. Once you have several dozen donors and guests to keep track of, to say nothing of a hundred or more auction items, tracking things on spreadsheets starts to break down. Auction setup in BidPal. These platforms offer a central hub to track item and registrant data and facilitate collaboration between members in your organization. They help make auction events run more smoothly, and improve the effectiveness of your fundraising initiatives.
The various features found in auction software are designed to help users manage the entire auction cycle, from pre-event planning to post-event analysis. Here is a list of some common functions to look for in auction software systems:. Auction software integrates with other systems within your organization, whether it be fundraising software to see how much an auction contributed towards your goals or accounting software to easily capture event expenses in your general ledger.
If you never do auction fundraisers or don't rely on them for significant funding, dedicated auction software can seem unnecessary. On the other hand, if big ticket auction events make or break your organization every year, dedicated auction software becomes a vital investment. It would be great if every auction software vendor got together and agreed to price their software using the same method, but unfortunately that's not the case.
Some common pricing methods you can run into with auction software include:. There are other factors besides the software license cost to consider as well. Others can charge extra for things like customer support or training. When researching options, pay special attention to how and when you'll be charged for the software to budget accordingly. Nonprofit organizations charities, foundations, schools are the primary purchasers of auction software, but they're not the only ones.
Here are some other types of auction software buyers from commercial businesses, along with examples of products that cater to each audience:. Get Advice. Other Software. OneCause OneCause offers fundraising software for nonprofits of any size.
Visit Website Learn More. GiveSmart GiveSmart is a cloud-based auctioning and event application that is specifically designed for charities. Greater Giving Greater Giving is a complete suite of nonprofit event auction products and services. BidJs BidJs is an online bidding software that allows online webcast auctions, asset sales, auctions and timed bidding on a website. CausePilot CausePilot is an auction and fundraising solution that helps organizations collect donations, organize fundraising events and manage online campaigns.
Auction Easy. Team Procure Team Procure is a procurement and auction solution, which enables businesses to manage orders, electronic auctions, bids, and more. ProcurePort ProcurePort is a unique, customizable eProcurement and eSourcing solution that allows users to view and manage the entire procurement process in one interface. AuctionMethod AuctionMethod is a cloud-based auction management solution with features such as user-configurable auction websites, consignment management, invoice generation and payment processing.
Promena e-Sourcing Promena e-Sourcing is a cloud-based auction management, sourcing and procurement platform. Silent Auction Pro Silent Auction Pro is a cloud-based event management solution designed for charitable institutes, clubs and other nonprofit organizations.
Network for Good Network for Good offers donor management software integrated with fundraising pages and personal coaching for growing nonprofits. Learn More. Auctria Auctria is a cloud-based fundraising management solution designed for small and midsize nonprofits. Auction Software Auction Software is designed to help businesses of all sizes manage reverse, forward, penny and silent auctions via a unified portal. Sumac Sumac is powerful, customizable software designed specifically for nonprofits.
View all products. Popular Comparisons. Buyers guide. The bad news is they're a ton of work. It's enough to make a short-staffed organization avoid auctions altogether. Click a link below to jump to that section: What Is Auction Software? Auction setup in BidPal These platforms offer a central hub to track item and registrant data and facilitate collaboration between members in your organization.
Common Auction Software Functionality The various features found in auction software are designed to help users manage the entire auction cycle, from pre-event planning to post-event analysis. Procure, tag and list items for auction. Auction type customization Online or offline?
Live, silent, reverse or sealed bid? This software helps you manage a number of types of auctions. Automatic bid capture Capture and update bids on auction items in real time. Automated outbid notifications encourage participation. For Vendors Write a Review. Auctria Auctria is a Canadian-based software provider geared towards fundraiser auctions. General Features Available with every plan : Bidding automation Printed materials bid sheets, display pages, gift certificates, etc.
Bidding for Good Bidding for Good is an event management and auction software melded into one, focusing specifically on the features needed to organize nonprofit auction events. Auction Manager Basic Free Auction Manager Basic is a free auction software option made for auction event organizing, promotion, and materials creation. Give Smart Give Smart is yet another event management tool and auction software geared specifically towards nonprofits. Looking for Auction software? Check out Capterra's list of the best Auction software solutions.
About the Author. Nick Morpus Nick Morpus is a former Capterra analyst. Comments No comments yet. Be the first! Comment Guidelines: All comments are moderated before publication and must meet our guidelines.
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