What could be better than raising money to support not only your membership, but your community? Blue Valley Quilters Guild does exactly that with the funds they raise. Ibby Rollert, Executive Director, and Lynn Droege, Community Outreach Committee Head shared how they used Auctria to help them fulfill their mission. Running an online auction sounds easy, but what are all the things that made it a success?
- Branded, easy to navigate website
- An auction catalog that shows off the items
- Maximum Bidding
- Easily used/customizable donation opportunities
Brand Your Website
Raise money and awareness on your event website! Blue Valley Quilters Guild’s “Quilted Auction” used their organization’s branding throughout their website to let their bidders know they were on the right website. They used Theme Color options to easily integrate their colors and ensure consistency throughout their event website. Beyond the colors it was easy to add their logo and make sure to stay true to who Blue Valley Quilters Guild is.
Showcase Your Items with an Auction Catalog
For their first online only event, Blue Valley Quilters decided to have an online auction and a raffle. They used high-resolution vibrant images and detailed descriptions along with a ‘quick bid’ button to attract bidders and make it easy to bid on the items they wanted. These high quality, hand-made quilts brought in more than 180 bidders, driving the competition to win one of these unique pieces.
Know Your Audience
Knowing who was participating in their event was a key factor in the success of their event. While the quilts were a focus, their auction included so much more! They had toys for children which gave parents and grandparents something else to bid on. They also had items that appealed to their base audience like a portable quilting table which kept everyone engaged. Having items that appeal to a diverse range of people allowed them to draw in more people and raise more than if they had kept it as a quilt only auction.
Make Bidding Easy!
Turning on Maximum bidding allowed their bidders to set a maximum they were willing to bid up to on an item. Then, they could sit back and let the platform place proxy bids on their behalf. This took the pressure off the bidders to monitor the auction 24/7; for the organization, it also helped drive bids up faster.
No Pressure Donations!
They were able to raise 6.5% of their total event income by using passive donation requests. They had donation elements on their homepage, a donate page, and as a part of checkout. Using the donation elements allowed Blue Valley Quilters Guild to ask for donations in a way that did not pressure their bidders and allowed people to donate what they could.
Planning Ahead
Blue Valley Quilters Guild’s next event will be an opportunity drawing, in the spring. This gives people time to take a breath after the holiday season and get excited about a new event. Next fall, they will have another online auction. Timing their events appropriately allows their bidders not to be distracted with the end of summer and back-to-school activities and to focus on the fall auction. With the expansive Auctria offerings, who knows what will come next! The only thing we can guarantee is that with their continued successes they will be supporting groups like Habitat for Humanity, and a Veteran’s Tiny Home Community as well as supporting their membership with workshops and other educational opportunities!
Special thanks to Ibby Rollert and Lynn Droege at Blue Valley Quilters Guild for sharing their auction and event fundraising story.
Since their inception in 1981, after the reorganization of an existing guild, they have grown from 21 founding members to over 260 members today making them one of the largest quilters guilds in the Kansas City area. Together they have supported numerous other groups either directly, with products they have made, or financially by donating the funds they have raised by either auctioning or selling their products. To learn more visit www.bvqg.org/