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When you plan and host a successful year-end fundraising auction, your top bidders aren’t the only ones who walk away feeling like winners!
Charity auctions are standout nonprofit events, especially during the year-end season. They excite and engage audiences, generate high ROIs, and are infinitely customizable to suit your audience, mission, and goals.
Let’s say you’ve just planned and hosted a year-end auction. You acquired valuable items, leveraged auction software to streamline the event, and cultivated experiences tailored to your exact audience. It was a smash hit, exceeding your goals and delighting your guests. Great work!
But what comes next? What steps should you take after the auction as the year-end season comes to a close to maximize its positive impacts on your organization next year?
We’ll lay out the five key steps you should follow.
Step 1: Handle your immediate post-auction logistics.
Extending the benefits of your auction into the new year starts with making an excellent post-event impression on your guests.
First, knock out any immediate logistics shortly after your auction. These include:
- Delivering won items. If any auction items need to be delivered or picked up after the event, coordinate between the winners and your team to schedule the handoffs promptly. Use your bidding and auction software to collect address information and pickup availability from bidders upfront or as part of your event checkout process to streamline this task.
- Sending donation receipts. Ensure all donors and winning bidders receive documentation for their gifts immediately after your auction or the next day at a maximum. Remember, many donors give at year-end to tap into tax benefits. In addition to normal donation details, receipts acknowledging winning bids should include descriptions, the fair market value of won item(s), and the final purchase price. This enables donors to claim a deduction on the excess amount paid.
By handling these essentials immediately after your auction, you show guests that your organization is organized, compliant, and appreciative, setting you up to build upon the relationships in the future.
Step 2: Thank everyone right away.
In addition to item and receipt logistics, don’t forget to express your gratitude!
You should thank winners, item donors/sponsors, and all attendees soon after your auction. Include notes of appreciation in your donation receipt emails, and share general “thank you” messages via email and social media.
This is a top opportunity to build relationships with supporters that will carry over into the next year. To maximize your recognition efforts’ results, try:
- Segmenting supporters. Many people come together to support your year-end auction, and they all deserve appreciation for their unique contributions. Create separate thank-you message templates for event attendees, donors, and prize winners. Additionally, your sponsors and major donors should receive personalized follow-ups, such as a phone call or even a face-to-face meeting.
- Planning for long-term stewardship. Start your relationship cultivation efforts strong by assessing your auction attendee’s data. Use the information you collected from their participation at your auction to create personalized thank-you messages that set them up for future engagement.
- Getting creative with inspiration. Standard thank-you emails are great for connecting with your average auction attendee. However, you can stand out by adding a twist to your appreciation efforts. For example, you might send an electronic greeting card rather than a simple email.
Your appreciation efforts should focus on appreciation rather than solicitation. These messages put a bow on your auction and establish a positive relationship with your supporters. This will prime donors to future communication for your nonprofit in the coming year.
Step 3: Learn more about your auction attendees.
Events like auctions are a prime opportunity for your nonprofit’s development team. Refine your nonprofit data collection practices to screen attendees, particularly new donors and those who make big bids.
Dig into these supporters to discover their affinity and capacity to give, as well as who you can get in touch with immediately. You likely won’t be able to solicit a major gift right away, especially from a donor who just won an expensive item at your auction, but you can lay the groundwork for future gifts.
To learn more about your auction attendees, get feedback about your event, and provide updates on your nonprofit’s year-end efforts. While your immediate follow-up messages should focus on appreciation, your next ones can offer updates about your organization’s future to get supporters excited about your plans in the new year.
Step 4: Share the good news.
Your donors have invested in your organization and want to know about your successes. When you hit or get close to your year-end giving goals, let your community know and explain how you will use their donations in the coming year.
When it comes to spreading the word about your fundraising success, social media is an ideal communication tool. Post photos, fundraising statistics, videos, and stories from beneficiaries to connect with your existing donors and attract new supporters looking to help a good cause in the coming year. You can even use this as an opportunity to connect with specific donors by tagging them on posts related to their contributions.
With this approach, you can boost visibility for your cause, engage donors with interesting content, and provide prospective supporters with social proof of your organization’s viability.
Step 5: Integrate the auction into subsequent appeals.
Your year-end auction should ideally lead into a new successful fundraising year. Keep your momentum going by planning follow-up appeals related to your auction. When doing this, keep two things in mind:
- Messaging consistency. Your follow-up messages should connect with your auction. Present a clear, consistent image of your nonprofit, impact, and goals. This doesn’t mean future outreach should copy what you’ve done before. Instead, develop throughlines supporters can connect with through your slogans, impact, and fundraising announcements. The OneCause guide to year-end giving campaigns emphasizes how events capping off the end of the year should focus on thanking donors, and your subsequent messages should continue the celebration of your community.
- Insights from your auction. Charity auctions generate data on your supporters, and you can use that information to shape your next outreach campaign. Assess your event data to determine who attended the event, who was invited but didn’t attend, who bid but didn’t win anything, and what items received the most bids. This data can provide insights into your donors’ interests and giving capacities. Additionally, leverage this data to personalize messages, such as thanking donors who attended but didn’t win anything for their participation and providing them with another opportunity to support your cause, such as a discount on your nonprofit’s membership program.
Reminding supporters of a past engaging experience can jumpstart their excitement for next year’s events. Share photos, videos, and testimonials from your auction to showcase your nonprofit’s track record of hosting memorable events that make an impact.
Your end-of-year charity auction isn’t just a final opportunity to pull in revenue. Rather, with proper follow-up, it can launch your fundraising plans for next year. Focus your efforts on wrapping up any loose ends and start looking to the future to maximize the connections you built at your auction heading into the new year.