Charity Auctions

In addition to its regular antiques and collectibles auctions, which often incorporate charity items during the live auction, BarnOwl Auctions is dedicated to helping local and national community organizations meet and exceed their fundraising goals through charity auctions. We work closely with you to design auction events that fit with the character of your organization while also maximizing fundraising. We work closely with schools, churches, non-profits, hospices, and similar organizations. We typically prioritize working with local charities, but work with local, regional and national organizations. While each organization has different requirements, we generally offer the following services to charities once retained: 

Before the Charity Auction:

• We work with you to align with fundraising objectives, determine frequency, style, etc.
• Collaborate with event planning staff to determine event timeline, best location and agenda
• Collaborate with you to identify potential attendees and important donors
• Develop an event promotion plan, including print & broadcast advertising, PR, online/social media strategies to drive highest event attendance  
• Help coordinate live, silent, online and phone-bid components of the auction
• Determine what will be auctioned, appraise items/services to be auctioned, develop ‘day of auction’ strategy and items placement
• Collaborate with other local groups and organizations that may participate in the charity auction
• Collaborate with you to determine effective entertainment options for the auction
• Work with you to train volunteers and staff to support the auction

During the Charity Auction:

• Pre-meetings, training and final logistics to ensure event goals are met and exceeded
• Charity auctioneer takes style of event/organization into account and matches that style with the auction format, auction ‘persona’ including auction calling and attire
• Stage, sound and lighting check
• Overall auction oversight to ensure success.
• Collaborating with staff for any special announcements, promotions, silent and raffle items, special guests, etc.
• Train staff/volunteers to assist with the live auction
• If required, supplement existing staff with retained, highly trained auction professionals to optimize the auction experience
• Execute a highly effective auction that maximizes donation/revenue opportunities and delivers the maximum hammer price for each item, experience or service auctioned
• If required, provide a professional clerk to record and report on all transactions during the live auction
• Additional customized assistance and services can be tailored to meet your exact requirements

After the Charity Auction:

• A full event ‘post mortem’ including assessing overall donations/revenue, which items performed best, attendee satisfaction, and recommendations for future auctions and fundraising events, review of live vs. silent .vs online and phone bidding
• A detailed, documented summary of donations/revenue for each item auctioned, including final ‘hammer price’, sales tax collected (if applicable), any additional fees collected, and auctioneer’s retainer
• Guidance provided to staff and charity board members for thanking participants, maintaining a good database and attendee list for future events, additional donation/revenue opportunities and more

We look forward to working with you! Contact us today to discuss your charity auction requirements. Heidi@barnowlauctions.com 530-320-4782