With local companies, usually 1 or 2 months' notice is sufficient. However, with national companies, individual people, or chains, you may need up to 5 or 6 months. Follow up is VERY important. Just because someone does not respond does not mean they aren't interested.
There has been a large amount of discussion on this topic in the forum. I'd suggest you do some browsing (mostly in this special PTO events topic). Be sure to set the toggle to "show all topics" because lots of the postings may be older. Personally, I've had more success just browsing through all the old topics rather than doing a search.
Also, make sure you have LOTS of help. Auctions are really neat but very time consuming.
<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>I was wondering how far in advance do you begin planning for an auction? <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
We do a raffle, but much of the advice is the same. It is hard to start too far in advance, though for some merchants it is a possibility. Huh?
For starters, sending out initial requests can be done several months in advance. We are starting to make requests for the first of May. The problem is that some merchants will not pay attention to the dates, and you'll get things like free passes that expire before the auction happens.
You'll also find that some merchants allocate so much per month for donations. When the allocation is used up, any remaining requests that month get "so sorry" letters. If you get that far enough in advance, you'll have time to try again. This is also a reason to send out your requests so they are received in the first couple days of the month.
The important thing is to keep good notes. You'll learn that there are places that will send a donation if they recieve a request. There are also places that will not respond without a phone call. By keeping track, you'll learn who is an easy mark, and who needs some work.
Alas, there are also those who won't give, even if it might be in their best interest. A sandwich shop gives us several coupons for a free sandwich, but we have to pick up the donation. When I pick it up, I do it on my lunch hour [ka-ching]. Each coupon is for one sandwich, but if you have lunch with somebody they will need to buy one also [ka-ching]. They make several sales off of the donation, and generating good will, doing well by doing good.
The ice cream shop down the street quit making donations. They are out of business now. This is just one example of ways they tried to give customers reasons not to shop there.
Our PTO starts planning it on are 1st meeting in august so that we can have all the items back in time for are halloween carnival that the schoolitself puts on. Each individual class gets items for the baskets and the PTo gets baskets either donated or we purchase baskets at a discount from hobbylobby or walmart. We do a silent auction with these baskets and raised about 600.00. It takes a good month to see that this is done right.
This will be the first auction for our school. I was wondering how far in advance do you begin planning for an auction? Does anyone have a timeline they are willing to share with me?
