When you are throwing an annual gala fundraiser for a non-profit, it’s important that the organization’s mission stays front and center. People need to know who you are, what you do, and what part their support plays in the big picture. But you still want your event to be fun so that people remember they […]

How you start the evening will have a direct effect on the rest of the night.  Consider that your guests have just been herded into the ballroom even though they were having a great time socializing with friends in the reception/silent auction area.  They arrive at their tables and lo and behold there’s a new […]

An auction catalog is as basic to a fundraising auction as an auctioneer and bidder numbers.  Also referred to as a “program” or “booklet”, it is the printed document provided to auction attendees A real workhorse, the auction catalog serves many functions.   It helps underscore your message about why you are raising money.  It can […]

Fund-A-Need, Raise the Paddle, Cash Call, Adopt a Family are all names for the same process of simply asking the attendees for cash during a fund-raising auction. Recently one of our clients credited us here at Reynolds & Buckley with inventing this process.  I wish I could take the credit!  Rather I absconded with the […]

I want to expand on Greg’s gift bag blog and offer another perspective. One of the cornerstones of our approach to creating a successful fundraising auction is Laser Beam Your Message. If you meet or speak with any of us at R & B, you know it is the first gospel we preach. Quite simply, […]

Almost every event has a series of speakers who make their way to the podium pull out a crumpled sheet of paper and “make a speech.” Some are dynamic presenters and some…not so much. Sometimes the flow of the evening is determined by these people, instead of the other way around. And what your speakers […]

Every event I’ve done this year, except one, has started off the same way: With attendees exhibiting an almost palapable, universal apprehension during the cocktail hour. I’ve had people come up to me and ask me, point blank, “What’s going to happen during the live auction? Is anyone going to bid?” The universal unspoken question, […]

Reynolds & Buckley will be conducting a workshop entitled Fundraising Auctions in Hard Times on Tuesday, February 24th at the Volunteer Center of Sonoma County. Company founder and nationally recognized fundraising expert David Reynolds will be on hand to discuss the challenges facing anyone conducting a fundraising auction today, along with associates Greg Quiroga and […]

Attendees of your fundraising event need to know the difference their participation will help you make in people’s lives. There needs to be no question about the need, and how they can help you fulfill it; down to the level of the lowest fund a need pledge. Bidders need to know that they can help, […]

This is from today’s Wall St. Journal: “According to a new survey from American Express Publishing and the Harrison Group, nearly half of respondents with incomes of $250,000 or more agreed with the statement that “I worry that at some point I could run out of money.” That’s up from about a third in April. […]