Before I describe how to plan a picnic auction, please let me introduce myself!
Hi! I'm Lisa Clark and I help nonprofits and fundraisers like YOU raise money through events so you can meet your annual revenue goals! I'm also the host of a free Facebook Group, Raising with Lisa Clark, a free group for fundraisers, NPOs, development team members, volunteers, and supporters. I included a link below so you can request to join right away!
Link to Join Facebook Group:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/112148672944584/
I know trying to come up with cool ways to raise money is a huge challenge for both large and small nonprofits. And, planning an auction isn’t easy as I’ve said in the past. They are very time consuming and take half the year to plan (for a mid to large sized one). Some people don’t get enough ROI out of um, too. Same all questions come up where do we host and who will come?
Speaking of places to host mini events, check out my FREE mini checklist on how to create a pipeline of new donors for your next big fundraising event. I give you some ideas on where to host mini events. If you haven’t already grabbed it, the link will be provided below.
Ok, back to the picnic auction.
I was asked to be a part of a campaign to raise money for our church and school. We needed to raise $1m in four months. How we did this involved a variety of activities and one of them was this picnic auction fundraiser. That darn little event brought in $10k with very little effort on our part or the host’s part.
Recently, I did a webinar on Network For Good (be sure to check it out). Anyway, I mentioned that I planned this picnic fundraiser and a few people inquired about it so I thought I would share with you how we planned this event.
When I think back to the planning of this event one word, well two words come to mind, “Easy Peasey.”
Here is the breakdown of what we did:
1) Secured a host willing to host the event in their backyard AND provide desserts and beverages. They kept it simple and had a signature drink, lemonade, tea and coffee. The host also had to designate a table to place all the baskets on and around. The host also had ice chests on hand in case someone needed to keep a food item chilled.
2) The host also invited their network of friends, families and colleagues and allowed us to add names to the invite list. That is how the invite list was formed.
3) The invite included the details of what each guest was expected to do and this included preparing a picnic meal for two with a budget of $50 and the meal had to be an entree and side dish. It also needed to include the paper goods (utensils, napkins, plates). One final important detail is we encouraged folks to make sure to prepare a meal that is good at room temperature and to bring their own coolers if they need to keep something chilled. Or, provide ways to keep their items warm if necessary. For some reason this wasn’t an issue. Whew!
4) The guests were also instructed to provide a description of the meal being served (we didn’t worry about allergies but this was back then so you might need to have a mix of meals like vegan and vegetarian) boy have we gotten complicated over the years!
5) Next, you need to secure a dynamic and charismatic person to auction off the baskets.
6) While guests participated in the cocktail hour, picnic baskets were given a number and descriptions were collected and organized.
7) We had paper bidding paddles and everyone was given a bid number when they checked in.
8) The bidding started and folks were able to pay via credit card, check or cash.
We had about 50 people and the baskets and some baskets sold for $200, $500 and even $1,000.
Everyone took great pride in creating an exceptional basket and meal.
This event was done several more times in different peoples homes and it got improved upon year after year.
This was pre-internet or at least right around the time the internet got started. If we could pull it off back in the day, there’s no telling how much better it can be done now!
I say go for it! Don’t over complicate it. Keep it simple and true to the style that was intended. A no fuss way to raise money and have fun, too!
Ok. As I mentioned earlier here’s my FREE Checklist on How to Create A Pipeline of New Donors for Your Next Big Fundraiser? Click the link to get the instantly downloadable checklist that's easily implementable (is that a word?)!
https://risingwithlisaclark.lpages.co/donorchecklist/
