We talk often enough about the lessons we have learned as we continue to fundraise over the years. Sometimes the lesson of what NOT to do is more important than the HOW TOs. This is just one of those instances.

A local elementary school created a Jog-A-Thon to raise funds. To enhance the event the coordinators had t-shirts printed with a phony 800 phone number that spelled out a fun slogan.  Great idea -except that they did not realize that the phone number was an adult chat line.

NO ONE CHECKED THE PHONE NUMBER BEFORE THEY PRINTED THE SHIRTS AND DISTRIBUTED THEM TO THE CHILDREN!

Details! Details! Details! It is all in the details!!

Incredulously, this same phony number has been accidently used by other schools in their fundraising campaigns. Please take heed – learn from others’ mistakes.

Do you have a great “Lessons Learned” fundraising story to share? Please share it with us – we will listen and learn!

1. Two-part printed bid sheets. Have your bid sheets printed on NCR (carbonless copy) paper at your local printer. Ask your printer to adhere or gum the top of your 2-part bid sheets together to create a 2-part form.  Be sure to have extra blank bid sheets printed for last minute additions or changes. When bidders write their bids on the sheet it will create a copy on the 2^nd sheet. Choose another color for the second sheet – we use yellow, some use pink!
2. Highlight then circle with a ballpoint pen on the 2-part bid sheet – winning bidder number, name and any additional information – at the close of your silent auction. Highlight directly across the winning bidder information then circle with a ballpoint pen so it will document the winning bidder info onto the second sheet. Pull the top bid sheets and deliver these to your finance/checkout room volunteers. Double-check that all the information needed transferred correctly to the 2^nd bid sheet.
3. Leave the 2^nd part of the bid sheet on the table directly in front of the auction item.
4. Label it! Write a large brightly colored label for each item and stick it to the front. Refer to the 2^nd part bid sheet on the table for winning bidder number, name and any additional information. Place a label on each auction item so it is easily viewed by your guests and volunteers. Additional tip? Write the winning bidder number and name at the top of the second bid sheet with a black marker pen and tape the second bid sheet to the front of the auction item.

 We promise –  we’ve lived it, we’ve learned it!

Completing these four steps will contribute to a smooth check-out and efficient item pick-up!

Are you ready to jump in and volunteer to work on a fundraising project at your child’s school, sports club, or another organization? Want to know how to make a great impression and really help your cause?

Let Your Skills Shine! Volunteer to do what you know you do well, always volunteer to do a task that you can rock!

• Are you an artist? Jump in there and make those posters have more pop and read-ability than the likes have been seen before!
• Are you a tech geek? Dazzle everyone with your knowledge and ability to streamline fundraising projects through technology or make your organization’s web presence stronger.
• Are you a financial whiz? Volunteer to crunch those numbers and be the first to know the financial success of your fundraiser!
• Are you a persistent & friendly person? Get in there and use whatever system works for you to make those follow up phone calls, emails or visits to donors and sponsors!

Partner UP! Get a friend to share the job with you. You may discover this is a great way to get a lot done. You can tag team when each gets overloaded with life. Even if you need help with a simple task which is a part of the larger project, ask a buddy volunteer to help with emailing, making flyers, décor – whatever! Always include – have fun! You might become known as “Team Sally and Jane” – you can count on them to get the job done!!

Get the Scoop – know what you are getting into!! Before accepting a fundraising task you must take the time to ask these questions:

• What is my time commitment and deadline? Will I need help?
• Is there a budget for my task?
• When will I receive the materials or information I need to begin my task?
• Do I need any training? Who did this in the past?
• Who do I contact for information and questions?

Meet Deadlines – Or Else!! If you are going to volunteer to do a job – take it seriously. Pretend you are being paid the big bucks to glue those sea shells to 100 picture frames! Make a plan and schedule it into your calendar.

• If life intercedes and you simply cannot complete the task problem solve before it is too late. Get someone to help you – or take over the job for you – or ask for more time.
• If you must give it back to the coordinator, do not wait until the night before it is due. Take action early and let the project coordinator know as soon as possible.

Under Promise and Over Deliver. Life can be so unpredictable – work, kids, activities, appointments – it never stops! Give yourself more time than you think you need to complete your task. If you can finish early – do it! You will love knowing you did a job well and before a deadline. Your fundraising peers will be impressed! It is a win-win!

Stay in Contact. Let your committee chairperson know what you are up to and how your job is progressing. This can be accomplished easily through email and texting the chairperson. Fellow rockstars want to know what is happening – even if you are running into issues. Let them know you have your job “dialed in” or ask them for help! Either way you will feel better about what you are accomplishing and your fellow rockstar will be in the know.

Rock Volunteering!

Embrace Fundraising!

It is good for your organization,

it’s good for your kids and your community to see,

and it makes you feel good, too.

Consider harnessing the power of the greatest social networking site ever created. The key to the power is posting your story/mission to your Facebook page consistently: upcoming committee meetings, general non-profit information, clever pictures and images about events at your school or non-profit, and most importantly, asking your volunteer leadership to LIKE your Facebook page ASAP!

And as it says on the Facebook sign up page:  ”It’s free and always will be.”

Plus+ the customer service is 2nd to Nordstrom.

I wish the rest of our volunteer duties could be this hassle FREE!!

“It’s about donors…”  

FutureFundraisingNow delivers 3 blog posts to your email inbox every week and every single one is worth reading. Trust us, you won’t be disappointed.

You agree to take on the “ABC Fundraising Project” for your organization (good for you!) Now you need a couple of volunteers to help you- but no one is coming forward.

• Ever stand up at the PTA meeting to ask for help and get nothing?
• Have you put a charming notice in the newsletter asking for help and no one responds?
• Ever put out a sign-up sheet at an event and get na-da?

This has happened to us over and over and over again. We managed many fundraising projects at our daughters’ school and often wondered why we were so lonely, exhausted and desperate for other volunteer pals to hang with us! We became extremely creative at wooing volunteers into our lifestyle.

It is time for the Secret Super Special Insider Tip of the Century!

Ask Face to face. Eyeball to eyeball.

Yes, it is that simple – yet powerful.

It comes down to this: people are people. All the methods listed above are fine, but easy to avoid. Your potential volunteers are trying to avoid another responsibility (or simply want to stay anonymous on the fringes of your group) and you are trying to avoid asking for help face to face. They work perfectly together!

Face to face doesn’t have to be scary!

You can do this - we promise you.

You will (most likely) get the help you need AND the people you recruit will probably be flattered - yes - flattered.

• Sometimes people don’t volunteer because they haven’t worked that fundraiser before and may be shy about coming forward.
• Being asked directly to participate in a project says that you think that volunteer is important and has valuable skills.

Invite new “wanna be” volunteers to join the crazies of volunteering at a fun get together with snacks, beverages and treats (never underestimate the power of food!) Ask your seasoned volunteers to bring a pal with them.

Personal emails, notes or phone calls from you work fabulously, too!

Finally, if you get a “no” with this face to face secret do not be disheartened and don’t take it personally! Ask that person if they have anyone they can recommend to you and thank them!

And then move on to the next friendly face..keep on asking!

Organic and Revolutionary!

This school participates in a program with a local organic farm. Tanaka Farms of Irvine, California has created a fundraising program that is truly GREEN! All members of the school community have the opportunity to buy a box of fresh organic produce each week.  The cost for a box of locally grown, “just picked” produce is only $25. The school or organization earns $5 on every box!

Here’s the best part - Tanaka Farms delivers the produce boxes to the school site! No volunteers are needed to transport anything! All they do is organize the ordering, payments and parent pick up.

This is an organic and healthy fundraiser that your school can run year after year without complaints from the parent community! (Can you even imagine??) Think of the benefits:

• The Obvious: The community gets healthy and delicious food for growing families.
• Convenience: Parents can pick up their produce box right from their child’s school and eliminate another stop in an already busy schedule – it’s a no-brainer!
• No selling! Parents can participate without selling anything to family and friends.
• The more the merrier: community members can purchase produce for their friends, neighbors and family.

The bigger picture: This is green and revolutionary on so many levels!

• Locally grown produce is fresher – it has not spent time being shipped from halfway across the world! Fresher produce means better nutrition for your family!
• We love fundraisers that support a local family business and the immediate community.
• No selling of junk that will just load up our land fills!

The only downside is this – the program only runs during the school year and our friend and the other parents really miss the freshness and quality of the produce during the summer.

Check out the program at Tanaka Farms.

By the way, Tanaka Farms also has a great field trip program for schools & organizations.

Do you have a similar program available in your area? Can you partner with a local grower and create one? Does your school have a unique fundraising program with a local company?

An Introduction to our Check Out Window Series

The Checkout Window is an ongoing series of articles with an emphasis on the back-office/financial aspects of running a fundraising auction event  both pre-event and during the event. The majority of what you need to know about a finance room will translate to the other big events that you will run for your cause. We invited our friend and mentor Ed Marvin, creator of Auction Knight software and veteran of countless auctions, to craft this series of articles with us for FreshFundraising.com.

There is a limited window of time during an auction fundraiser event to do what needs to be done to capture revenue. That time frame becomes more critical as the event progresses. It’s countdown time. Do you have your people in place? Do you have the supplies you need? Have you set up your procedures and done a run-through?

Here’s what our Check Out Window Series will be covering:

Been There. Done That.

Everything discussed in this series is based on real experiences - the good and the bad. Some were funny, some painful - but they all served to teach us valuable lessons for our causes. For over 13 years I’ve been consulting, assisting, volunteering and developing Auction Knight Software system for non-profits ranging from schools to charity groups in Southern California.  Since 1997 I’ve had the privilege to assist with over 78 events that generated well over $3.9 million in revenue for their causes. The genesis of this ongoing adventure began when my wife waited two hours in line to checkout at the large annual fundraiser-dinner-dance-auction event for our children’s school.  You want your guests who attend the event to enjoy themselves and spend lot of money for your cause. When the process becomes inefficient and your guests become frustrated they are less likely to contribute to your non-profit and, more importantly, may not want to attend the following year. The key is in truly developing your volunteers, believing in the process and automating your system.

Everyone Cooking from the Same Recipe

Our family hobby is cooking. As we’ve gotten better at it we realize it’s not just what you do at the stove – its the planning and preparation – its knowing your ingredients and tools, and what they can do. A Master Chef cannot cook every dish personally and must rely on the other cooks in the kitchen to know the recipe and work together to achieve it.  It’s the same with an auction. Have a plan.  Know what needs to be done and when. Make sure all your volunteers understand their jobs and are trained.  No freelancing.  Someone may mean well, but cooking a different dish than everyone else will do more harm than good.

Different Models

In this section I’ll be talking about the different auction models – let’s see – there are blondes, brunettes, redheads - oops sorry - my mind was wandering (shame on me!)  Is your event a sit-down dinner with assigned seating? Is it a buffet with unassigned seating? Is there both a Silent and Live auction? How many attendees to your expect? How many items will you auction? The answers to these and other questions will determine how you plan the check out process.

Greetings to Goodbyes

Believing that I could computerize the auction night invoice process was a fine undertaking, but I soon learned there is a lot more to do. Creating a successful auction checkout process begins months before the event with a detailed plan, meetings and training for your staff, and lots of communication. Equally as important, the checkout process is not an isolated activity; it must be coordinated and integrated with the other components of the event.

Details, Details, Details

Being obsessive - compulsive is a good thing when it comes to running an auction! At every step attention to detail matters. We’ll talk about the nuts and bolts of the checkout process: data processing, credit card payments, staff, materials & supplies, room set up, filing systems, flow charts and more.

The Checkout Window is Closing

Picture an open window and imagine it slowly closing. The window is going to close according to your planning and timeline – and nothing can stop it or slow it down. That time frame gets more critical as the event progresses. The opportunity to seize revenue is now - there is no turning back. We’ll talk in depth about how to create the timeline for a well run Check Out Room during the event.

Lessons Learned

This is the place where we pass on our expertise and “lessons learned” to you.  Every fundraiser is an adventure filled with ups and downs - successes and mishaps. It is all valuable! We’ll also talk about how you can benefit from your own lessons learned.  We encourage you to pass your know-how on to your cause and fellow volunteers - here at FreshFundraising.com!

Well that’s some of the things we’ll be talking about. There’s sure to be more since we always seem to learn something at every auction we attend.  We hope you’ll check back here for the latest info and tips from the Checkout Window.

Ed Marvin Bio

In 1996 Ed Marvin’s wife waited two hours in line to check out at the auction held for their children’s school.  Knowing there had to be a better way to handle the auction checkout process Ed and his business partner, Mark Fling, developed Auction Knight Software.  The software eventually came to encompass not just the checkout process but all the tasks that can be computerized that need to be done in putting on a successful auction.  Ed has lost count of how many auctions he has worked on personally since the first one back in 1997.  Whatever the number – it’s a lot of experience which he wants to share with our readers.

Ed lives in Orange County California. He’s married with two adult children and a Lhasa Apso called Belle who rules the household.  Besides his auction experience Ed has been a management consultant with a background in finance, process management, and systems.