More on our online auction. We’re a private preschool based in Philadelphia with 501(c)3 non-profit status. We serve ~200 kids. We’re doing an online auction that is live now and runs throughout the month of May. So far, I’m pleased with the bidding response we are getting.
Our catalog is just under $20,000 in retail value. Our goal is to raise $10,000 which will net about $8000 after fees and transaction charges. We’ve got about 140 donors from over 700 direct donation requests. We started soliciting in January and kept up through April. I did most of the requests myself, and mostly through email.
Logistics. I tracked requests, contact info, responses and deliveries through a spreadsheet and some tools associated with the online auction service we use (biddingforgood.com). I set up a separate gmail address just for the auction ([schoolname].auction). For email, this kept auction traffic out of everyone’s everyday inboxes and made a central place everyone on the committee could go to access the records. I also used the associated Google Docs/Drive services to store request letters, spreadsheets, donor images, etc. so they will be available for future auction organizers at our school.
If requests needed to be faxed or mailed I forwarded them to the school administrators and they sent them out. We always used the school’s shipping address, both because it felt more professional and because it was logistically easier for us. The administrators were very good about sending updates as donations arrived at the school. Several parents helped with making follow up calls, which were fairly productive – often we were directed to the correct contacts rather than the ones we had gleaned online.
Identifying potential donors. We received over 100 potential donor contacts through our online auction service, but frankly, most of the contact information was incorrect or inappropriate (e.g. corporate info when you needed to contact local branches). About 70 vendors were directly identified through this list (thank you!) resulting in 15 positive responses and over $1600 retail value in donations. More than 20% of the vendors were identified through Zulily, focusing especially on toys, kid’s décor, baby gear and household goods. I only approached clothes vendors if the items were pretty general appeal, like graphic tees.
I mentioned in a previous post that the free site DonationMatch.org helped us source some items as well. For local contacts, I identified potential donors through sites like GroupOn, Living Social, and our tourist sites like Visit Philly. We had great responses from local tour companies, attractions and theaters, especially. My logic with sites like Zulily, GroupOn and Living Social was that companies who use these sites either have overstock or want more exposure and were willing to discount product to get it. In either case, that made them good potential donors.
Since we had just done a fundraiser in the fall, we did not pressure our parents for donations from their business, although some did graciously submit items again for the spring.
