Your Auction Data Is a Goldmine

For many, the idea of working with databases is daunting. However, mining your auction data is a lot easier than it looks. Once you adjust your mind-set to think strategically about leveraging your information, working with databases can actually be fun and inspiring. What it all comes down to is you'll learn much more about your supporters, how they participate, and what they love about your cause. And in the new Philanthropy Model, that connection is the core purpose of your auction.

Know Thy Audience

Use your auction event data to examine both the demographics and psychographics of your past audiences. Demographics include data such as gender, age, where people live, their professions, and their income levels. Psychographics are data that tell you about who a person is—his or her likes, interests, and leisure pursuits. When you look at your data, you'll likely see patterns you've never noticed before. Analyze those patterns, and you'll begin to understand how to invite your guests, what they care about, and why they fund your cause.

Make it easy. When you invest in benefit auction software that easily imports and exports data with your existing donor management systems, you can help your auction team and development staffers think more strategically. There are several outstanding benefit auction software packages that produce over 100 kinds of reports, putting all that excellent, readily usable data at your fingertips.

Performance Snapshot

“Uh, okay, I think we raised…”

How much money did you really raise? It never fails to surprise me how many auction organizers don't know. It is vital to understand your real event net profit and the origin of each revenue source. You can compare these results from year to year, getting a big picture you've never been able to see before, and observing trends that help you plan for success.

Create a simple fundraising event performance snapshot.

Here are some easy measures that every event planner, board development chair, and auction committee chair must understand to maximize revenue and increase donor engagement.

Funds Raised

• Overall event revenue
• Overall event expenses
• Net event profit, (expenses minus revenue—aka, a dose of reality)
• Profit from each individual revenue stream
  • Before: reservations, sponsorships, donations, program ads
  • During: live auction, silent auction, fund-a-need, revenue games

Guests

• Number of guests who attended
• Number of guests who gave
• Percentage of guests who gave
• Percentage of guests who gave to fund-a-need
• Top 20 silent auction bidders
• Top 20 live auction bidders
• Top 20 overall donors

Auction Item Performance ROI

• Silent auction return on item value, ($ value of silent item high bid)
• Live auction return on item value ($ value of live item high bid)
• Top 10 performing silent auction items, based on ROI
• Top 10 performing live auction items, based on ROI

Fund a Need Performance

• List of each giving level with number of donors per level
• Lead gift, matching gifts, incentive match gifts
• Fund-a-need giving level with highest participation

(Note: If you already use fundraising auction software, make sure you're benefiting from the dozens of valuable reports it can generate. Learn more about specialized benefit auction software and technology in Chapter 10.)

Here are some suggestions for data collection that will put specific results and donor information at your fingertips. Start by going back three to five years and reviewing your benefit auction data. Who came to your auctions each year, and who were the top 20 bidders? Make a list of what they purchased, their levels of giving in the fund-a-need, the number of years they attended, and their donation records over the years. Determine who's missing from your benefit auction guest lists. Is there a top bidder who fell out of the loop and has not been invited back? Identify those guests, because they can create incredible bidding intensity. What percentage of board members attend your events? What percentage of staff members? What percentage of your volunteers contributed?

Beyond the Numbers

Even after all the donations are collected, the bidding is tallied, and the statistics have been analyzed, how can you tell if your event was a success? The information we've been discussing is quantitative—statistics, financial results, and numbers. There is another way to measure impact at your benefit auction: a qualitative method that measures behavior and the reasons for that behavior.

I use qualitative methods all the time as a professional fundraising auctioneer; I'm analyzing audience behaviors as I go, reading the body language of guests and the energy level of the event from start to finish.

• Are the guests smiling? Are they nodding their heads yes?
• Are their eyes bright with energy?
• Are they talking to other guests, and if so, what are they talking about?
• Are they walking around, bending over to bid at the silent auction?
• Are they writing bids furiously on silent auction bid sheets?
• At last call, is the response furious mobile bidding on smart phones?
• How fast are they raising their bid cards during the live auction?
• Is there laughter?
• Are guests seated, attentive, and energized, or walking out the door?
• Do guests wipe away a tear of emotion during a well-told fund-a-need story?

The point is very simple. Are your guests happy at your event? Here are other questions you can ask to determine if you are creating impact at your fundraising auction. Do your supporters feel connected to your cause? Are guests excited to bid over value in the live auction? Do they entice all the friends at their table to support you during your fund-a-need special appeal? Do they smile? When do they smile? Are they walking around during your live auction and not paying attention? Do they quiet down when you share an inspiring success story? Do bid cards fly up fast? Do guests get emotional or even shed a tear during your inspiring mission moment testimonial story? Do they happily bring their friends the following year? Do they encourage others at your event to contribute more funds? Do they get involved in other ways, such as joining the board and volunteering for other programs? This list of questions is a small sampling of what I'm qualitatively measuring on a moment-by-moment basis.

As a consultant and fundraising auctioneer, I intentionally walk through the entire venue before, during, and after the event, listening to what's being said and studying the behavior of guests. From the jittery hour before people arrive until the weary cashier heads home, I'm listening and talking with guests about the impact of their contributions and how it makes a difference to the cause. This is a special sixth sense that I've developed as a professional fundraising auctioneer. I provide an extra set of expert eyes and ears to help clients identify and correct any problems in the moment, and to more deeply engage guests in active bidding and in conversations about your mission. I continually gauge the audience and immediately adjust techniques to generate momentum and bidding excitement, and to communicate the impact of the donors' bidding and giving at the fund-a-need through mission moments and adding fun. All of this happens in nanoseconds.

I have to admit that I love to hear what guests are saying. Most of the time, event guests are not engaged in talking about your mission or why they care about your cause. They're chatting about whatever is on their mind—vacations, sports, new shoes. Wouldn't you rather hear them talking about how they've been moved by your organization's work and how impressed they are with what's been done with last year's donations? You can.

In this chapter, I'm introducing two of my simple qualitative methods that you can use to better understand your donors' behavior and the underlying causes that shape it. With this kind of information, it's possible to strategically plan to more meaningfully and personally engage your supporters.

Kathy's PILI Method: Purposeful Informal Listening In

I've developed an easy assessment and feedback strategy I call Purposeful Informal Listening In, or PILI, that you can use at your auctions and fundraising events. While walking around, I'll often hear something that may indicate a problem is ready to develop. I tell the auction chair, and the situation is resolved immediately. I enjoy talking with guests, volunteers, and sponsors about their interests in the cause and hearing their stories about why they care. You can adopt this same strategy to generate meaningful connections with your guests during all phases of your fundraising event.

Here's a very simple yet powerful example of the benefits of leveraging my PILI method. During the silent auction at a recent gala fundraiser for a humane society, I heard two couples wondering aloud about the Tuscany live auction package. “Should we bid on this? Did the package include airfare? How close is Rome? Was there a special Tuscan dinner and wine included? How many does it include? What do we do with this bid card? How will we know if we are the winners? How do we pay? When is the expiration date?” And many more questions. As their auctioneer, I smiled and introduced myself, then personally escorted them to the live auction display. I showed them the beautiful color display with photos and a detailed trip information sheet as well as the item description in their auction catalog. As first-time guests at this auction, I explained all the details of this enticing vacation as well as how their generous bidding would help animals through the emergency pet medical fund. Further, I shared best ways to bid at a live auction and assured them that I would attentively watch for their bidding. All four were so excited that they were the high bidders. Bellissimo!

Here's a perfect example of how Joe Viesta⁴, a dedicated board member at STAR, Inc., embraces the PILI method. At each STAR gala auction, he intentionally walks around the cocktail and silent auction area with two goals in mind. First, he wants to engage guests and strategically direct their conversations about STAR. He intentionally and informally listens to what guests are talking about, then joins the group, introduces himself, and talks about STAR's impact. Sometimes Joe will share a brief impact story about a particular program or result; at other times he asks about their children, many of whom are clients at STAR.

The second important action Viesta takes is to make sure guests are focused on fundraising and actively bidding on the silent auction items. If he sees a gathering of people talking, he goes up to them, introduces himself, asks about the items they've been bidding on, and points out some great silent auction items. Viesta says this usually spurs his guests to bid more on the silent items. During the live auction, Joe drives fundraising energy with his own generous bidding and gifts at fund-a-need, but also with good-natured competition and encouragement with his friends and colleagues throughout the evening. “When it all comes down to it,” he says, “on the Monday morning after the fundraising auction event, I need to know that we have made a difference.”

Here's another example of the power of the PILI method. When I was consulting at a very large gala auction and I was walking around the audience during the live auction, actively practicing my “PILI” method of listening in and wandering throughout the audience, a spotter stopped me and said that bidder #427 was very upset. Bidder #427 thought he was the final bidder for the item that just sold—the gourmet dinner and wine experience. Immediately, I told the executive director. She was very happy to know of this potential crisis in donor relations. She explained that her board had been cultivating this influential business leader for two years, and this was the first time he had shown interest in their cause. I suggested immediate action: Create an exact duplicate of that live auction item and immediately go over to him to let him know that we were able to double it on the spot. (This final high bid fetched over three times the value, so financially, it was very easy to instantly double that gourmet dinner/wine experience.) The bidder was thrilled and received a personal and immediate solution to what could have been an irreparable donor disaster. That's the power of PILI.

Here are some tips for you to incorporate purposeful intentional listening in as you do your strategic planning. Hand-select several key leaders that you trust to walk throughout all aspects of your fundraising event from start to finish. Ask them to listen to what guests are talking about, graciously engage them, solve any problems immediately, and smile and thank them for their support. They should never carry a clipboard, so that their hands are free to shake hands, and always a smile, showing gratitude. After the event, they should have a deep debrief on what they heard and saw.

Kathy Kingston Fundraising Auction Impact Scale

How can you get a quantitative reading on such seemingly intangible impacts as guest enjoyment and such challenging issues as checkout lines, guest engagement in various parts of the event, and even the level of fun? Strategically, I'm suggesting that you use my simple measurement instrument to focus on more qualitative aspects, such as the quality of your guests' experience, the level of involvement for your board and key volunteers, guests' engagement in bidding in the silent and live auctions, and the giving during fund-a-need.

Select areas on which your organization specifically wishes to focus. It could be an area where you have experienced challenges and wish to understand more or you could focus on new areas for fundraising. Simply, this is a Likert scale from 0 to 5, with 0 being lowest and 5 highest. You can measure different aspects of your auction and event and take immediate action if necessary, then review your results at your post-auction evaluation meeting. To utilize this simple Fundraising Auction Impact Scale, you'll need to create a team of top volunteers who will each measure a specific aspect of your event, as directed by you. Be sure to create training and support for your volunteers and to have a post-event debrief meeting.

You Get What You Measure

Be very strategic and select exactly what aspects of your event you wish to measure and understand in more depth. Each year you may choose to measure different aspects, depending on your goals. To get you started, here are four of my favorite impact areas. For full reading of impact, select predetermined time intervals. You will find that there's great value in measuring each live auction item and each fund-a-need giving level.

1. Standing in Lines Impact (wasting your guests' valuable time in lines such as registration, coat check, bar, food station, checkout). Scale: 0 = lots of guests stuck in a line, 3 = a few people in line, 5 = no waiting.
2. Silent Auction Fundraising Impact. Scale: 0 = no bidding, drinking and talking, facing away from items, 3 = half of crowd moving through the silent auction space and actively writing bids, 5 = most of crowd furiously bidding, stealing pens, standing guard over items, or bidding on their mobile devices.
3. Live Auction Fundraising Impact. Scale: 0 = guests out of room or driving home, 3 = a few brave souls raising bid cards, 5 = wild bidding, cheering, clapping, final bids exceeding value.
4. Fund-a-Need Impact. Scale: 0 = out of room, talking, yawning, 3 = listening, minority of guests giving at some level, 5 = applause, tears, bid cards in air, majority of guests giving at some level.

   These are just a few examples of ways to implement my Fundraising Auction Impact Scale. You can easily adapt this method to measure your impact at your own event.

Conclusion

Use the Philanthropy Model approach to measure the impact of your fundraising auction and events. Keep your core purpose of fundraising and donor engagement at the forefront of all your strategic planning, so you can measure your impact in meaningful ways. Remember, you get what you measure. Create your own Performance Snapshot for simple statistical analysis of your financial performance. Utilize Kathy's PILI method to measure event impact factors but also as an on-the-spot donor communications opportunity. The Fundraising Auction Impact Scale gives you a fresh approach to understanding and measuring key sectors of your auction and event to provide a new level of strategic insight. Organizations can leverage both quantitative and qualitative information to take their fundraising and donor development to the next level.