How to Collect Auction Items for a Fundraiser

If you're like me, you hate to ask for anything free. But you'd be surprised how many businesses are willing to donate items to help your cause. The last fundraiser that I worked on with my non-profit animal shelter raised $70,000! It would have never been that successful without a terrific group of volunteers making phone calls, sending emails and pounding the pavement for donations. We were all fried, but in the end it was all worth it for the animals.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Things You’ll Need:

• A volunteer coordinator
• Months of planning time before the event
• Devoted volunteers
• A list of businesses in the area
• Official receipts that are in duplicate
• A point person to make a spread sheet of items
• A location where all items will be stored

1. The volunteer coordinator should make a master list of businesses in your area, as well as national companies that might contribute an auction item for your event. Create a list of categories. For example, home and garden, dining out, art, jewelry and whatever groupings pertain to the items that you will collect.
2. Schedule a volunteer meeting. Ask everyone in advance to bring a list of friends or businesses they frequent that will donate an item or gift certificate for services.
3. At the meeting go over their lists, and make sure that there are no duplicates. Businesses get annoyed if 2 different people ask for auction items for the same non-profit.
4. Cross off the businesses that the volunteers will be visiting from your list. Then read off your master list and ask each volunteer to chime in if the name rings a bell or is convenient for them to get to. Write down their name next to that establishment, and make sure they commit to going there.
5. Assign a "check in" person to inventory all of the auction items on a spread sheet. Ask one volunteer to "house" all the items for organizing and basket-making later. Get one person to do extra auction item pick ups, and pick one person to get baskets, shredded color paper, bows, ribbon and shrink wrap donated.
6. Make sure everyone at the meeting leaves with a list of who's doing what, phone numbers, email, and a Deadline date that all auction items must be in. Give volunteers official receipts from your non-profit. Tell them that the receipts need to be filled out completely with name and address of the donating business, contact person, item description, which category it falls into and value of the item. Make sure that the volunteer gives the business the duplicate of the receipt for tax purposes.
7. As each auction item is collected, have that volunteer email the check in person who will number each item and add all the info to the spread sheet. Volunteers will make trips to the auction item storage location to drop off, and ask for help from the pick up person when they need to.
8. Schedule meetings during this process to check progress and assign more businesses for your volunteers to visit. As the deadline date approaches, schedule volunteers to gather at the storage place to organize the items that fall into the same categories.
9. At the storage site, assign each volunteer to a category. Group items together creatively to make nice baskets. Shrink wrap, decorate and number each basket. Each basket should have a silent bid sheet attached describing the items that are included, and a starting bid price. Make sure that these bid sheets are taped to the table in front of the basket when displayed.
10. Design an event program, with an inventory sheet of every basket number, it's contents and it's value. Make sure to put the bidding table's open and close time in there as well. Guests should receive this program as they enter the event. Good luck and raise lots of money for your cause!

Tips & Warnings

• Make sure that you have a wide range of basket values.
• Make the baskets look stunning; it's all in the presentation.
• For big value items, consider having a few live auctions.
• Be patient and kind to volunteers. Remember they are not getting paid.
• Organization and communication is key.
• Never settle. Toss all the cheap, low quality, beat up items. This will only make your organization look bad.
• Make sure that you don't have conflicting businesses' items in the same basket.