How to Have a Successful Chinese Auction Fundraiser
A successful Chinese auction has at its foundation a good cause the community will rally around, a variety of worthwhile and desirable prizes, an aggressive marketing program and a firm administrative control over the event. A basic Chinese auction has the patrons bidding on each item by placing prepurchased tickets with their names on the tickets into a container by the item. The winner of the item is either the person who put the most amount of tickets into the container --- which means the high bid --- or whose name is drawn at random. The more tickets a patron puts in the container, the greater the odds his name will be drawn.
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Instructions
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Decide the rules to your particular auction. For example, you can sell stacks of 25, 50 or 100 tickets for $25, $50 or $100 dollars --- each ticket being worth $1. You can elect to return the tickets on a particular item to the unsuccessful bidders, so that they can reuse them on another item, or you may choose to consider those tickets as being used and no longer available.
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Promote the auction through the widest available media in your area. Use news releases to the newspaper and other media to notify the community that you will be soliciting items to auction, and then several weeks before the auction, you will give the information about the event. Arrange interviews with local media, such as the radio station.
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Solicit auctionable items from the community businesses. Have a mix of values but keep the high-end items at a level that is reasonable for your community to support.
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Send out notifications to all your supporters and those who previously supported you.
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Create a website that shows the items available for auction and their respective values. Include all the details of the auction and build a sense of excitement over the event. Send Twitter and Facebook notices when new, donated items come in for the auction.
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Decorate the area of the auction with a festive decor at the time of the auction. Have a focal point where the patrons purchase the tickets and receive detailed written instructions about how the auction works, along with a complete list of available items.
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Have volunteers on hand to answer questions and provide information. Smaller auction items, such as jewelry and other valuable items, should have a volunteer watching them at all times unless they are locked behind a counter.
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Spread out the items over a wide area to provide room for each item to stand on its own merit and to allow people sufficient room to see the items.
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Provide a booth where bidders can reclaim their unsuccessful bidding tickets.
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Draw the first winners about 30 minutes after the auction doors open. Start with the less expensive items and gradually work your way up to the most expensive. If you have a grand prize, it should be the last to be auctioned.
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Tips & Warnings
The business that donates an auction item may be able to write off the gift on its taxes. The patron who bids and wins an item generally cannot use that expense as a tax deduction, except for the portion of the item that is more expensive than the bid. Consult a knowledgeable tax attorney for expert advice.
References
Resources
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