COMMUNITIES OF PRACTICE
Virtual benefit auctions
Take your skill set from the stage to the screen and be the solution nonprofits need
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ccording to the State of the Auction Industry reports NAA has been conducting since mid-March, benefit auctioneers were some of the most immediately and widely affected professionals of the auction community facing COVID-19 government regulations. Because of this, many benefit auctioneers have been thrust into the virtual world quickly, and Misty Marquam, BAS, and Scott Robertson, CAI, BAS, have some ways to help benefit auctioneers navigate this shift in the industry. Robertson said first off, he has received many questions from benefit auctioneers on how to get charities “to bite” into the idea of a virtual fundraising event.
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Virtual galas can be done intelligently and raise money for charities, and you as a benefit auctioneer have the tools to do it well and convince charities that it can work for them. Point out to charities that they have three options at this point, Robertson said. 1. They could cancel it altogether and save the money of the event—albeit losing the money they would have raised at the event. 2. They could postpone the event, but then the question becomes when to reschedule. No one knows when the situation will return to normal. Even if the idea of rescheduling in the fall comes up, many other events are already rescheduled then. Also, where does that leave your Spring fundraising event?
Will the donors feel like they’re being asked too close to the fall event? 3. The third option would be to have a virtual gala. This could be an immediate solution to bring in income, which many nonprofits are in need of right now. On average, nonprofits have about 45 days of working capital, Marquam said. Can they survive for another 6 months without a fundraising event now? And just as importantly, can you as an auctioneer full time in the benefit industry survive 6 months without income? “This is real,” Robertson said. “But I think it’s even more real for the charities, and the charities are looking to us for leadership to
