Step Up Your Item Procurement with Quality Items
Recently, here at the Greater Giving blog, we received a question from a reader.
“Hi! We’re clients of Greater Giving and were just reading your article about ‘Best Practices for Mobile Bidding,’ and we wanted to know more about these ‘quality items that guests will be willing to bid on, and bid high.’
We’ve bundled items successfully for a couple years, but I believe we need to tweak even more to get to the kind of quality items you mention here. Can you help?”
In Part 1, we brainstormed low-cost ideas for auction items that require a little creativity. Now we’ll talk about the other side of the coin: big-ticket items that are great additions to any live auction, and will really boost the “classy” factor of your auction!
Unique and exciting experiences: Offer tickets or entry into an exclusive place, like a high-end restaurant, club, or a local attraction that sells out quickly or would otherwise be difficult to acquire. Here are some ideas:
- A single (important) game in a season pass ticket
- A meal or item made by a famous chef just for the purchaser
- Tickets to a sold-out concert or reunion show
Think local. Could you obtain special access to a local resource? In the country, you could offer a guided horseback ride through a beautiful locale that’s hard to reach on foot. Is your organization near an airfield? You could offer flying lessons. Are you in wine country? Perhaps a winery that doesn’t normally offer tours or tastings could open up for a special winner.
Once-in-a-lifetime opportunities: Beyond items that simply cannot be attained with money, once-in-a-lifetime items are the kind that never come around again, and that seize-it-or-leave-it element (if played up by your auctioneer!) can drive bids through the roof. Here are some ideas:
- A guest performance in a theater production, TV show, or radio station
- A backstage pass to an event, concert, or celebrity meet-and-greet
- A close-up experience with a new baby animal at your local zoo
These kinds of opportunities are great because often, with the right connections, we can get them donated by a local theater house, writer, artist, or organization—so they function as big and exciting, as well as low-cost!
Vacations and Getaways: When you’re soliciting for unique experiences, think about your audience’s specific, niche desires. Are you an environmental or wildlife organization? Create a local wilderness retreat or mountain getaway package. Think about your crowd’s ideal vacation and design around it. Feel free to get funny, and try to find places and experiences that are unique. Ask locals!
Sometimes it can be difficult to solicit all the items you’ll need to make the perfect getaway or vacation package complete; even worse, scheduling can be a hassle. So why do it all yourself, when you don’t have to?
With our Auction Booster program, you can find a whole set of pre-made packages that will suit any cause, and require no soliciting! And Auction Boosters come with full-color photos and marketing materials made up and ready for you to use.
For example: Are you a school? The Kennedy Space Center Astronaut Adventure is fantastic for kids with their eyes on space. A variety of Disneyworld adventures are perfect for family events. For the adventurous, offer a full-featured trip to explore Macchu Picchu!
Good luck with your procurement, dear reader, and we hope you get those quality items you’re looking for.
