Two Hidden Bonuses

Benefit auction technology can boost your fundraising efforts and make them far easier to manage. There are many advantages to leveraging benefit auction technology. Here are two key examples where charity auction software can help you take your event to the next level: donor management and auction item procurement.

As you move beyond the single-event mentality and look at your constituents over the long-term, donor cultivation and long-term relationships with your auction guests, donors, and sponsors become paramount. Benefit auction software will give you the ability to analyze your guest's contributions event over event. The bonus, when you're an auction organizer, is that you will have complete information on what each donor has given or won in each revenue stream, year after year. (Note: most auction software will allow organizations to import and export auction event data into their donor management software.) Save time, stress, and burnout with the ability to see at a glance what a donor has given and what that contribution delivers to the bottom line of the auction event.

The use of benefit auction software to manage auction item procurement is immensely important. To truly understand what auction items sell best, organizations must look hard at the numbers and leverage the return on investment (ROI) of each auction item, using a category analysis. Software shows you what items sell well, what items don't sell well, what is actually being bought, and for how much. Knowing the actual metrics behind each gift is invaluable when you're trying to raise more revenue every year.

How New Technology Can Support Donor Development

Leveraging event and fundraising auction technology helps you develop and retain your audience. If guests need to wait in a long line to check out, they'll leave with a negative feeling about your benefit auction event. That lowers the chance that they'll return next year or invite new donors. Technology makes the registration and checkout processes efficient and effective.

With the advancements in technology, there's no reason to have any check-in or checkout wait lines at a fundraising event. People go to benefit auction events to have fun, be engaged, and contribute. The last thing they want is to have to stand in a big, long line to support you. Make it easy. Accept credit cards securely at fundraising events. Avoid the old-fashioned paper forms (known as “knuckle buster” machines) that have a high potential for security breaches. Networked credit card swipe machines are far more secure, and they can be used in a stand-alone environment.

The other alternative is a USB credit card reader that securely plugs into a computer at your check-in or checkout. Many companies offer credit card swipe terminals and smart tablets with mobile card readers.

Debby Roth-Bush, relationship manager at Greater Giving, told me that about half of their clients run events using mobile smart tablets with cloud-based software. Tablets allow credit card payment at the door, log raffle sales, a wall of wine, party board sales, payment at the bar, and priced items such as event T-shirts, headbands, and water bottles. Instead of using cumbersome paper forms, volunteers and staff can roam the event with tablet in hand, helping guests buy and contribute. There are no more stacks of paper or crowded tables—everything is captured directly by the benefit event software, reducing the line at checkout and at item pickup. What's most important is that this software also allows you to import and export donor data easily into your existing donor fundraising management software. And that's an essential strategy to track and cultivate donors.

Caveat emptor: Not all mobile card readers are the same. Be sure to select a mobile card reader with a high level of safety and security when capturing credit card payments.

The reach and impact of benefit auction technology companies is immense. According to Debby, “Since 2002, Greater Giving has helped nonprofits raise over 3.5 billion dollars and supported 40,000 fundraising events for 10,000 nonprofits nationwide.”

Technology Supports Key Marketing Efforts

Benefit auction software helps you manage your event much more effectively. You can track who attends, what they buy, and how much they spend. You can generate reports and create databases for sponsors and volunteers. You can even integrate all of your correspondence into the software. Auction software can provide you with the ability to build databases over time, which will make it very easy to create a benefit auction marketing plan specific to your organization and audience. Additionally, with a stronger web presence and online auction and mobile bidding, you can give greater recognition to your donors by featuring them in your promotions and providing links to their websites.

Perry Allison, vice president of sales and marketing at BiddingForGood, makes an important recommendation: “If your goal is fundraising, then make sure you organize your event so that your guests don't have to do too many things at once, such as hosting a big party that competes with a fundraising auction or having a casino during the same time as closing your auction. It's great having impact and helping great organizations raise money. Help your guests show that they care, driven by their passion for your organization and great cause.”¹

Online Auctions Offer New Possibilities

The right software also allows you to offer online auctions, which can build awareness of your mission, heighten interest in your cause, and leverage additional fundraising opportunities for your organization. Online fundraising offers customizability, affordability, and incredible security. Many people consider putting some of their auction items online. Then they invite all of their constituents—supporters, members, alumni, or whomever—to visit a webpage that lists all the auction items for sale.

Online auctions are increasingly popular because they expand your organization's reach. By offering an online auction, you open up your event so that you can invite people who love you but aren't able to attend the live event. You can invite the whole world to participate if you choose! It's an extraordinary asset. Online auctions promote fundraising events and auction awareness, stimulate competitive bidding, and bring in supplemental revenue. If your nonprofit is national in scope—an educational institution, for example—far-flung alumni will be able to support you without flying in for your event. An online auction offers them an opportunity to participate and feel connected, as well as providing a new revenue source.

Who Are Those Online Bidders?

BiddingForGood has developed a demographic profile of those who bid in online auctions. Twenty-seven percent of Americans participate in online auctions; of these, 71 percent are women. Why? Typically, many women don't like the pressure of live auctions, but are more willing to bid online. Online auctions also attract an increasing number of younger adults.

Get a demonstration of online auction capabilities by conducting a Google search for “charity online auctions.” BiddingForGood is the best online auction site I'm aware of (biddingforgood.com).

The Cost of Online Auctions

Pricing for online auctions is based on the level and type of service purchased. Factor in the cost of features such as credit card processing, as well as fees that are applied on top of the online auction service. It's great to have this in one software package so that when the online auction is over, it's neatly tied up and you receive your funds. Request a customized quote in writing. Do your research. There are some online auction costs that you need to consider carefully, including annual licensing fees, long-term contracts, cancellation fees, updates, technical support, and customer support.

Marketing an Online Auction

Let's compare and contrast the cost of marketing an online auction. Say you're a collector of Hummel pieces, and you only have one Hummel left to collect to complete your collection. You find this piece on eBay and then check on the bid 24 hours a day, seven days a week, until the bidding is over, because you have to have that Hummel.

Contrast that with a wonderful nonprofit school charity auction with various interesting goods and services, but no urgent demand. The trick is to build excitement by creating an exciting marketing campaign when you launch the online auction. Sprinkle in new items regularly to keep up the momentum. Technology companies have data indicating the best time of day to start and stop online auctions, as well as what items sell best. The key is to keep people excited through your whole online campaign.

Mobile Bidding

New mobile bidding technologies work with smartphones and similar handheld devices. For silent auctions, mobile bidding moves the experience from sheets of paper on a tabletop the night of the auction into your guests' hands 24/7. No one can sit on the silent auction bid sheet; no one can cheat and add a late bid. Benefits for guests include the ability to bid from anywhere easily and securely. They can set a maximum bid at any time and have the guaranteed purchase option, paying a premium on a silent item (150 to 200 percent of value) to win the item on the spot.

These devices can help you reinvent the boring, tired, old silent auction model. Silent auctions can be crowded and poorly lit. People don't want to fight and push for items. If you have a huge audience, people may be unable to get close to the items. They don't know when they are outbid, and often there's a lackluster closing, or, worse yet, no closing at all. Mobile bidding devices can really enhance a silent auction, which is where they are most effective. They are most powerful when connected to software and payment systems integrated with your credit card processing.

With mobile electronic handheld bidding devices, anyone can bid from anywhere in the room. These devices use web-based software, similar to an app on an iPad. This frees bidders to go anywhere in the venue and maintain constant vigilance over their items without returning repeatedly to the silent auction tables. They can relax, engage with other guests, and have a good time while they're bidding.

Mobile bidding devices work for silent auctions, and they can also be used for special appeals and fund-a-needs. However, they are not effective for live auctions, because they don't create excitement and interactivity. In fact, mobile bidding significantly reduces the excitement, energy, and bidding in a live auction room. Electronic bidding won't capture the heart and passion of the bidder. Mobile bidding won't replace the energy, excitement, fun, audience engagement, and high revenue of a live auction.

With mobile bidding devices, there are no bid sheets; there's no paper at all. You can still create silent auction displays if you like, or you can omit the displays in the room because the items are already featured online. When guests register, they use their smartphone or a special mobile device that's preloaded with all silent auction items. In either case, guests will receive regular updates on the bidding for silent auction items. For example, if a guest bids on a big chocolate basket and she's outbid, her mobile bidding device will buzz with a message. She can then decide whether she'd like to place another bid. When the item closes, the device sends a confirmation message to the highest bidder.

Does It Pay to Use Mobile Bidding Devices?

Do your research. There are technology companies that have dozens of years of dedicated experience serving nonprofit and school auction communities nationwide. There are also new companies emerging in all these technology markets. Ask for data and costs. Mobile bidding technologies are not inexpensive. Read your contracts and understand what services will be provided. When comparing companies, remember that they may need to create an enhanced wireless environment in your venue.

Do a tight cost analysis. You must forecast if you will net more revenue using the mobile device. Be thorough. When analyzing your event, figure out how much more money you'll need to make to cover the costs of online bidding, and how much you expect the mobile bidding devices to enhance your fundraising. Be sure there is enough financial gain to make this technology cost-effective for your silent auction.

Mobile bidding devices can be used for fund-a-need events as well, but with several important caveats. First and foremost, include an inspiring first-person story—the mission moment testimonial that rivets and inspires generosity. Second, retain an excellent auctioneer with strong experience in benefit auctions, fundraising, and mobile bidding who can successfully focus and engage your audience throughout the entire process. Third, do your homework. Select a mobile bidding technology company that has an excellent technology and customer service track record in the nonprofit and school auction communities.

When you introduce mobile bidding technology, you're also offering your guests an opportunity to disengage from your mission and not be as fully present. It's easy for your guests to get lost in checking e-mails, Facebook, and texting when they're placing their gifts on their smartphones.

Guidance for Mobile Devices

To make sure your online effort is effective, have someone with experience in engaging and directing audiences guide the entire mobile bidding process. The best choice is your benefit auctioneer, because fundraising auctioneers know how to use their voices and they understand momentum, timing, and tone. Make sure you announce the close of your silent auction sections, calling guests' attention to your mission and engaging them, or you will have disappointing results. It's still important to have your auctioneer make the announcements, get people involved and excited, and explain how the silent auction works.

Wireless Connectivity

From a technical standpoint, mobile bidding devices require strong and consistent wireless connectivity. Be sure to confirm the wireless service before your event. Some companies will bring in a wireless infrastructure, which is very expensive, but fail-safe. If the venue does not provide wireless for you, you'll have to set up the network, devices, and cords yourself.

Mark Wehrmeister, vice president of technology and operations for Greater Giving, emailed me this comment:

Now that Internet access has become ubiquitous, the use of online technology for auctions has accelerated and will continue to grow.

This is evident in the rapid growth of Greater Giving Mobile Bidding and in the decrease of offline software at events, which must be installed, upgraded, and synchronized. The Internet has also introduced user experience (UX) design principles that make auction tools vastly easier to learn and use when embraced. We've utilized UX design in our online event interface, Greater Giving Go Time, and our users have been delighted with the ease-of-use.