When planning your benefit event, remember these words: “You are not your audience.” Translation: planning things that appeal to you may not result in the biggest donations. Rather, you must understand what your most important supporters value and deliver it to them. In this post, we explore how to segment your audience and then target your actions […]
TravelPledge connects benefit auction organizers with generous providers of vacations, golf, lessons, cruises and bucket list experiences. On November 8th, 2019 the 10,000th nonprofit account was created at TravelPledge.com. “We are grateful to our generous experience providers and to our nonprofits that leverage our platform to support great causes,” said Mike Last, TravelPledge CEO and founder. TravelPledge […]
TravelPledge is excited to feature The Inn at Evergreen to our community of nonprofits! Once a Civil War Era mansion, The Inn at Evergreen is an 11-bedroom inn in Haymarket, VA. The Inn serves as the centerpiece to Evergreen Country Club. The Inn at Evergreen, as it exists today, is proudly listed on The National Register of Historic […]
As an organizer of a benefit auction, you may wonder whether you should use pre-bidding, also known as pre-selling. In this post, we cover the basics of pre-bidding and help you decide if it is right for your fundraiser. What Is Pre-bidding? Pre-bidding allows guests, or those not able to attend, to preview and bid on key […]
In another post, we discussed differences between a Steering Committee and a traditional Auction Committee. In this post, we identify the key roles and responsibilities for your Steering Committee. Of course, the same person can fill multiple roles so long as they have the bandwidth. This post is adapted from The Big Book of Benefit Auctions by […]
TravelPledge is excited to feature Enriquez Estate Wines (Forestville, CA) to our community of nonprofits! Enriquez Estate is a family owned and operated micro-winery specializing in limited production Pinot Noir, Tempranillo and Muscat wines. Located in the heart of the Russian River Valley, the magical estate vineyard started life as a dairy farm. Dedicated to preserving the […]
As a volunteer organizing an auction, you may think to yourself, “I am not going to be working on the auction next year. I only signed up for one year!” That may be true, but someone is going to be working on the auction, and one of the best gifts you can give your organization is to […]
You’ve procured some really great auction items. Great! These items will sell themselves! Think again. Presenting your auction items in the right way with the right ambiance is critical to driving up bids and satisfying guests. Pay particular attention to these four areas: 1. Sound Guests who wish to participate in your silent auction will be frustrated […]
When you focus on your guests’ enjoyment, your guests will reward you. This may be obvious, but is too often overlooked in the planning of benefit auctions. Some gala committees do a great job thinking about the party, theme, food, decorations, program, service and the event mission. Those are all important. But what will pay the biggest […]
You may already be familiar with TravelPledge’s extensive selection of vacations, cruises, lessons and golf packages. Meet our latest addition: Classic Portrait Source by Sayles. Classic Portrait Source by Sayles is a premier provider of custom oil painting portraits. They are proud to have created hundreds of fine portraits for families. TravelPledge is excited to feature this […]
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