The More You Know, The More You Raise.
How Informed Item Selection Maximizes Fundraising.
Written by S. Ian Martin, Junior Data Scientist
Live auctions can account for as much as 70% of an organization’s annual revenue. As we approach giving season, you’re likely already planning out this year’s marquee event. Balancing the creation of memorable experiences for your attendees with growing net donation revenue. There are many moving parts involved in pulling off a successful live auction. Today I want to focus on one of the most crucial — item selection.
Item selection comes in two flavors: informed and uninformed.
Uninformed item selection happens when donor input is not part of the auction item selection process. If this has been your go-to method, chances are you are leaving money on the table. Why? While donors will bid to support a cause they believe in, they will bid even more when the item on the auction block is something they genuinely want.
This is where informed item selection comes into play. Informed item selection is about proactively asking your top donors what types of items they are excited to bid on before you begin acquiring auction items. You can collect this information through an email, a survey, or even an informal conversation. Once you’ve gathered this data, you and your team can start identifying patterns in your donors’ preferences.
This focused approach to item acquisition has two big benefits:
Proactive Tuning: Your ability to tailor your auction offerings to align with your donor’s uncovered interests. Ensuring your items are relevant and appealing.
Surprise & Engagement: By selecting items that exceed expectations and create competition among top donors, you build excitement and increase bidding activity — both essential to a profitable live auction.
In short, if you want to maximize your auction revenue, understanding the types of signature items that your top attendees are excited about can pay big dividends on auction night.
At GiveGrove, we know live auctions have many moving parts. That’s why we’re committed to taking the friction out of your auction experience so you can focus on what truly matters — creating engaging and profitable events for your organization. Curious about how to build a memorable live auction experience? Reach out, and let us show you how GiveGrove can help you build a memorable live auction experience to maximize your organization’s fundraising.
GiveGrove makes events and auctions for fundraising easy. Check us out at GiveGrove.com or email info@givegrove.com for more info. Click here to sign up for our mailing list.
