Who has come for four years, but doesn’t make a gift? It’s really nice that they support us, but they are actually one of the wrong people in the room.
Imaging a fundraising event in a hotel ballroom that was as much fun and as profitable as a vacation cruise! Imagine your donors feeling excited to buy a ticket, telling all their friends they were going, posting about the event on Facebook and getting even more pleasure from bidding competitively at the auction and giving generously to the solicitation.
Today’s guest, Abra Annes, came to fundraising through the cruise-line industry. As an assistant cruise director for Carnival Cruises, she learned the art of keeping guests entertained and happy about spending money for additional services and products once on the ship.
When her last cruise docked and she ended the hospitality phase of her career, Abra transitioned to professional fundraising – eventually running a $17 million annual campaign for a prominent Jewish organization.
But squeezing the most money from special events – without guests feeling squeezed – remained her passion. Consequently, she has learned the most effective techniques for generating big money through special event fundraising during her very successful fundraising career.
If you’re tired of spending way too much time and effort to produce an event that nets too little money, you need to hear this episode with Abra Annes. During our featured conversations, she shared many proven and effective techniques for helping your event guests feel happy about giving your organization even more money.
In this episode, we discuss:
Understanding that ticket price sets the tone and expectation for attendees
Knowing the perfect number of silent auction items you should offer
Creating silent auction bid sheets easy for donors to complete
Using bid sheets for prospect and donor research after the event
Closing silent auctions in a way that creates urgency and spawns last-minute bidding wars
Getting the right butts in the seat at your event
Preparing all attendees for a successful solicitation – two weeks before the event
Curating the stories of those speaking from the stage
Links:
Generosity Auctions Website
Email Abra Annes
Abra Annes Youtube Channel