MURAD AUCTIONS: We Help You Take Your Events to the Next Level

Marketing and PR for Fundraising Events

2012-02-14T10:06:00.000-08:00

Marketing your event is a crucial part of increasing community participation and support. It is also a great way to get more patrons to your event.There are several ways that your committee members, your community, or your patrons can market your fundraiser without breaking your event budget.

For school auctions, pass out magnets for the parents to put on their cars or just for the committee members to spread the word about the event. You can also contact local TV and radio stations and magazines about your event. They will often do a plug for free.

Hats or t-shirts with the event logo for committee members to wear before the event are a great idea, and if they are cute, maybe they will help entice more people to join the committee. One school auction had all their committee members wear pink baseball caps with green flamingos and t-shirts to match on Fridays the month before the event.

You can also give out notepads and/or pens with the logo of the event to parents or committee members. This same school utilized Flamingo shaped pens and notepads with the event logo to advertise their gala.

Another idea is to set up a Facebook page and run a contest to pick the theme of the event. It creates excitement and allows you to get more followers who will get updates about the event. Give a prize to the person who comes up with the theme or just narrow it down to 2 themes and let people vote.

If you hold an online auction, allow your guests to forward the auction to their friends and give a prize to the person who refers the most people. One auction software allows you to do this easily. For more information on this software, contact claire@muradauctions.com.

Create A Mission Video for Your Nonprofit

2011-10-17T17:21:00.000-07:00

A mission video can tell your nonprofit’s story and help pull at the heart strings of your guests before the live auction begins. This motivates them to open their wallets and give to your cause. Mission videos can also be displayed on the website of your nonprofit as a PR video. Ronnie Meystedt, of Moving Memories Video & Photo, produced this mission video for the Dallas Hearing Foundation. You can contact Ronnie at http://www.mmvideophoto.com/.

If you do decide to show your video before the live auction, make sure it is no longer than three minutes. In order to keep the attention of your patrons during the video, edit the video down to a short version of what your nonprofit is all about. Make sure to include music and emotional moments. If your audience is tearing up before the live auction, your video has been a success!

For more information on how to create a mission video for your nonprofit, contact Claire Murad at claire@muradaucitons.com.

Share your ideas! Click here, Like us on Facebook and post on our wall to share how you made a fundraising event successful or saw a great idea at an event you recently attended! We will choose one idea a month to showcase on our Blog and if yours is chosen, we will send you a gift card as a thank you!

Increase Bidding with a Theatrical Dessert Live Auction Item

2011-10-09T11:30:00.000-07:00

We have a great idea for a delicious live auction item that will increase bidding at your next event. If you have a fabulous chef at your event, or can invite one to show off his skills, you can create a theatrical dessert live auction package. We suggest you hold the live auction during dinner and hold the dessert until the live auction is over. As the last live auction item, sell a special flaming dessert prepared table side. Some examples of flaming desserts are Bananas Foster, Baked Alaska, or Cafe Au Lait , a flaming coffee dessert prepared to a violin solo of Flight of the Bumble Bees. Flaming Beehive Enniscorthy could be another choice, which sounds quite interesting and the link to the recipe can be found below:
http://areyouhungryyet.blogspot.com/2006/06/flaming-beehive-enniscorthy.html.

Preparing Flaming Bananas Foster

Have the auctioneer sell this special dessert theatrical show to the table of the highest bidder. The dessert will be served immediately after the live auction to all the guests at the winner’s table, while the other guests are served their less flamboyant desserts! Having the chef in his chef’s jacket on stage as the dessert is sold is a great idea. If you have a very brief video or pictures of the chef preparing such a dessert, you profits will be even higher! Try it at your next auction!

Hold a Raffle with Guests' Contact Cards!

2011-09-24T21:27:00.000-07:00

Next to the dessert centerpiece are the
contact cards and pens for the guests.

At events it is sometimes very difficult to get the names, and more importantly the contact information of guests at our sponsor tables. We often collect the guests’ information at the check in desk before the auction, but this can keep the line from moving quickly at registration. Margaret Palmer from Margaret Palmer Jewelry shared a great idea about how to collect current contact information from your guests in an efficient and fun way. She suggests holding a mini raffle at the beginning of dinner with the guests' contact cards.

On the dinner tables each guest has a contact information card at their place or at the center of the table as shown in the picture on the right. The MC or auctioneer simply asks all the guests to fill out their cards before dinner. The volunteers collect the cards and enter them into the drawing for a prize. At one event, Margaret donated a beautiful necklace for the drawing. She got great PR for her donation, the nonprofit got updated guest information to grow their data base, check in ran swiftly, and someone in the audience won a wonderful piece of jewelry. This all happened before the live auction began, capturing the audience’s attention and excitement ran high as the live auction began!

Visit Margaret Palmer's website at http://www.margaretpalmerjewelry.com/

Utilize the Hotel Venue for Your Event

2011-09-18T13:37:00.000-07:00

At our recent seminar at the Anatole, Lynne Duncan shared more ideas about how to save money by utilizing a hotel for your venue. One idea she had was to contact other charity events that will be going on at the hotel during the week of your event. Contact the other charities and ask them if you can share centerpieces, AV, and décor, as well as the prices for these items. This can help save money for both events and save time putting up and taking down the decorations.

You can very easily change the look of room by changing the color of the lighting. PSAV Presentation Services, who were also a contributor at our seminar said, “Setting up audio and visual effects is time consuming and can be expensive. It makes sense to see if you can work with another group so this process can be done once and the cost can be shared.”

LED lighting is the best and least expensive way to transform a room with light. The Anatole demonstrated this idea by changing the color of light in pedestals used to display auction items, the check in desk, and in the backdrop. Then as the color of the light changes the whole look of the room changes as well.

You can share decorations and AV lighting with up to five events. This way you can insure that your event will still look unique while being cost-effective.

It is also important to acknowledge the hotel in the sponsorship material for helping make this process work for you.

Next blog will share ideas from Kate Fischel with Fauxcades on how to utilize room décor to incorporate your sponsorships. Check back next week to get more great ideas!

Dessert Centerpieces: Deliciously Cost-effective

2011-09-11T17:46:00.000-07:00

A dessert centerpiece is an elegant and cost-effective way to decorate event tables and cut the cost of expensive flower arrangements. In our Flip Flops and Lemon Drops Seminar, the Anatole Hotel provided a fabulous lunch and shared this idea with the over 150 attendees. They displayed chocolate shooters in the middle of our tables surrounded by lemon meringue pie spoons, and caramel bundino with salted caramel sauce on our tables.

“It is important to display individual desserts that do not have to be served hot”, explained Lynne Duncan, Director of Catering. The dessert needs to be displayed on the table throughout the event while serving their purpose as both decoration and dessert of course!

Keaton, a culinary student from Chicago, IL, keeps a culinary blog called Keaton’s Kitchen. In September 2010 she baked dessert centerpieces for a woman’s bible study. She made one centerpiece of mini chocolate cakes served in coffee cups to look like little espressos. She created another centerpiece of miniature cheesecakes and one of ‘Dutch’ cake donuts. She decorated the centerpieces with fall leaves and acorns. Keaton also made almond biscotti and miniature tarts which she displayed in leave shaped dishes.

Cupcakes and cake balls are easy to serve and to arrange as the centerpiece. They are also very easy to decorate to go along with the theme of the event. You can also put your dessert in dishes that go along with your theme, such as leaf shaped platters for a fall theme.

For more ideas for dessert centerpieces for your event visit Keaton’s blog: http://keatonthefoodie.blogspot.com/2010/09/dessert-centerpieces-for-womens-bible.html and contact Lynne Duncan at the Anatole Hotel in Dallas, TX to see the cost effective and fresh new ideas she has to make your next fundraising event fabulous. Lynne.duncan@hilton.com.

Share your ideas! Click here, Like us on Facebook and post on our wall to share how you made a fundraising event successful or saw a great idea at an event you recently attended! We will choose one idea a month to showcase on our Blog and if yours is chosen, we will send you a gift card as a thank you!

How Do You Get the Wine Donated for a Wine Pull?

2011-06-10T15:34:00.000-07:00

Holding a Wine Pull is a great additional revenue stream for your fundraising event. (See our previous blog for the details of how to hold a successful wine pull)

Use your imagination to help create fun ways to collect the wine for your wine pull! The sky’s the limit!

Wine Collecting Happy Hour: Ask a board member or auction committee member to host a Happy Hour at their home. Each guest is asked to bring a bottle of wine to share and a bottle to donate to the auction. The invitation should specify that you want each bottle to be valued at least $20 or $25, (whichever is the amount you will sell the wine pulls for at the event). Your supporters will have a great time socializing and your wine pull will be stocked in no time!

Wine Tasting and Judging Party: Ask each guest to bring a bottle of wine to share and a bottle to donate to the wine pull. This time, the bottles that are to be shared are separated into Whites/Reds/Champagnes or Sparkling wines and put into simple brown paper bottle bags to conceal the labels. The guests are allowed to taste the various wines and vote on the best ones in the various categories. A prize is given the guests who brought the winning bottles of wine. You can ask a local wine store or restaurant to bring in their wine expert to give lessons on wine judging. They might even conduct this tasting in their store or restaurant!

Wine Store Wine Tasting Party: Ask a local wine store to host a wine tasting party and invite guests to buy wine that night to be donated to the wine pull. Many store owners will give a discount for each bottle purchased that night, to give your donors incentive to buy and donate to your wine pull. Some owners may also donate a wine tasting party to your silent auction. In addition, they may give you a percentage of the wine sales the night of the tasting. These are three great ways to make money from this event!

Wine Registry: Go to a local store which sells wine. (This can be a small local wine store or a large chain, such as Whole Foods or Central Market.) Ask them to set up a wine registry for your event. The wine manager will go through their wine and select bottles that your donors can buy on behalf of your organization. Some stores will actually keep the purchased bottles in the store so you can pick them up on a regular basis. This makes it convenient for your donors, since they don’t have to come by your office to drop off the wine. Ask them to help you give an incentive to your donors so they will come to the store to purchase the wine. One store gave us 10% discount coupons to email out to our donors. These could be used for any bottles purchased for the wine pull and bottles they purchased for themselves on the same day.

Host a School Art Show: A local school in Dallas hosts an art show displaying the artwork created by their children in art class. This is an evening event, and is a great time for parents to mingle and get to know each other. The parents’ entrance fee is a bottle of wine and they can only purchase the art work if they attend the event. They could bring a bottle to share if alcohol is not provided by the school. The art department benefits by selling the artwork and the auction committee walks away with lots of wine!

Wine Sponsor: Approach a local wine seller, distributor or store and ask them to be the Wine Pull Sponsor. This is great exposure for them. Your display can showcase their business name and they can create a wonderful display of their own. They can donate the majority of the wine and pass out business cards or coupons to their store the night of your event. Include their logo on your event website, in the projection slide show, and on the wine pull display.

Share your ideas! Click here, Like us on Facebook and post on our wall to share how you made a fundraising event successful or saw a great idea at an event you recently attended! We will choose one idea a month to showcase on our Blog and if yours is chosen, we will send you a gift card as a thank you!

How to Set Your Event Apart and Hold a Successful Wine Pull

2011-06-10T15:20:00.000-07:00

A Wine Pull can add a fun element to your event and bring in extra money for your organization.

Many of you may have organized a wine pull for your event, or have participated by buying a chance to win a valuable bottle of wine at a charity fundraiser. How can you organize this part of the event to bring in the most money?

A wine pull is a “drawing” for wine at a fundraising event. For a 300-500 person event, you can offer up to 150 bottles of wine.

Each bottle should be wrapped or placed in a sealed wine bag, so the label cannot be seen. You can “dress” the bottles to go with the theme of the event. This can be as easy as using tissue paper in the colors of the event to wrap the bottles with a pretty ribbon.

One event we attended wrapped the bottles in black and white tissue to resemble tuxedos complete with a bowtie at the neck! The link below shows how to create this look with felt too. http://www.bhg.com/halloween/parties/bottle-tuxedo/.

A religious event showcased their bottles in priest robes made of inexpensive fabric, complete with white collars!

Another event wrapped their bottles in newspaper, shredded the top of the paper to look festive and tied pink, red and white ribbons around the neck to indicate the color of the wine.

Each person purchases a bottle for $25.00 and then pulls off the wrapping to see what kind of bottle they won. A simpler route (but not as festive, I think) is to simply number the bottles of wine with a tag around the neck.

A person buys a numbered cork from a basket or draws a number from a bowl and wins the corresponding bottle of wine. The bottles should all be valued at least the amount of the cost of each drawing. Some of the bottles can be valued more, so they have the chance to win a $50 bottle or a $100 bottle of wine. Another great idea is to attach a coin under one or two lucky bottles of wine. If you get that bottle, you win $100 of Northpark Gold or cash.

Place the Wine Pull Table Display near check in so guests have to pass by as they enter the event. Most guests will not want to carry their bottle around, so label the bottle with their bid number or name, and offer to place their bottle at the checkout table where they can retrieve it at the end of the night. Typically the wine pull will sell out quickly.

If all of the bottles are not sold by the time the live auction begins, we like to offer the remainder of the bottles as a Live Auction package. This usually brings in as much or more than the bottles are worth, since live bidding for wine is so popular!

In our next newsletter: How Do We Get the Wine Donated for the Wine Pull?

A Birthday Party Auction Gala

2011-05-02T10:11:00.000-07:00

Alzheimer’s Association of North Central Texas held their 10^th Birthday Celebration Auction on Thursday night in Fort Worth. Their theme created the opportunity to use relatively inexpensive fun decorations to make a festive impression on guests as they arrived for the event. Birthday cake shaped piñata’s, balloon displays and brightly wrapped packages were the table centerpieces at the event. Brightly colored cloth napkins added to the table décor.

Instead of a wine pull this year, they decided to play up the birthday party theme and offer mystery boxes that looked like birthday packages for $50 each. Inside each box were gift cards valued at least $25. Some boxes had $50 in gift cards, others up to $100 to $250. Guests purchased a box and opened them to see what they won. In addition, each guest purchasing a box was entered into a drawing for an IPad. Every mystery box purchaser was a winner!

The IPad winner was announced before the live auction. What a great way to get the guests excited before our auctioneer, Louis Murad began the sale of their fabulous items, including a safari and two fabulous trips to Belize! www.muradauctions.com.

After the live auction, the band took the stage to entertain guests as they bid from our touchpad computerized screens managed by Auction & Event Solutions during the last 30 minutes of the silent auction. There was no need to miss out on the fun. Guests could bid from their tables using our wireless computers. As soon as the auction ended, the computers tabulated the winners and check out was open 3 minutes later. www.aesauctions.com.

It was a great evening! Thanks to the Alzheimer’s Association for allowing us to be a part of this event again this year!

Share your ideas! Click here, Like us on Facebook and post on our wall to share how you made a fundraising event successful or saw a great idea at an event you recently attended! We will choose one idea a month to showcase on our Blog and if yours is chosen, we will send you a gift card as a thank you!

Create Win-Win relationships with local businesses to bring in underwriting dollars for your next event.

2011-02-11T19:08:00.000-08:00

Are you able to provide your own food or wine at your venue for your fundraising event? One proactive auction chair for a small Montessori school, approached local business people to make donations to their event, but gave them a way to expose their business to the guests at their event and bring in more customers to their business.

Kathy told me that she approached business owners asking the question, “How can I help bring more customers into your business in exchange for you donating to our school gala?”

A local bakery responded by telling her that they would provide the dessert for her gala. In return, they wanted to showcase a different cake as a centerpiece on each of the 50 dinner tables at the event. This made a beautiful and very interesting display and gave the baker amazing exposure! Guests were spotted walking from table to table to view the cakes—oohing and ahhing as they passed! When dinner was over, it was time to serve up the tempting masterpieces. It was the best cake taste testing extravaganza I have ever seen! The Bakery owner was thrilled and needless to say the guests loved the tasty treats!

Share your ideas! Click here, Like us on Facebook and post on our wall to share how you made a fundraising event successful or saw a great idea at an event you recently attended! We will choose one idea a month to showcase on our Blog and if yours is chosen, we will send you a gift card as a thank you!