ADVERTISING INCOME

Advertisement income may be obtained from a variety of formats and may not be limited to commercial ads, business cards or slogans from business establishments.  Among your choices are:

A souvenir journal mainly used when an individual is being honored for their contribution to the charity.  The journal can consist of advertisements acknowledging the honoree without any mention of the auction. Sponsorship tickets may also find recognition in this journal.

Photographs of children who are served by the organization can provide the foundation with a beautiful and memorable journal.  Opportunity to buy space is available for all levels of participation and the journal can be produced as a beautiful  “keepsake.”

A full page of small personal “notes” may be sold to parents, grandparents, supporters and other members of the organization for a reasonable fee. Offers a great opportunity to obtain financial support from friends and relatives.  Often used to express appreciation and good fortune.

CASH CALL

          A captive audience has assembled to support your cause.  Many of these guests will not have the opportunity to contribute by “winning” an item.  Create an additional giving opportunity by having a member of your community deliver a short address on the fundraising goals or highlight some special organizational achievement during the past year.  Following the heart-felt speech, request the auctioneer to call for “cash” bids, asking all those who wish to donate $1,000, then $500, then $250 and finally $500 to support the cause.  As an alternative, print donation cards that are placed on the table and request all guests to complete the card with their chosen donation.  In this way everyone will have an opportunity to participate. By scheduling this “cash call” a new enthusiasm will develop that will continue through the balance of the live auction. In either case, timing is important so that it does not disrupt the flow of the event but allows for billing of the donor.

 CERTIFICATES: THE HEART OF YOUR AUCTION

Certificates designating donations of services are always numerous and must be handled with great care and organization.  They are valuable, often impossible to replace.  Some donations ask that you create an award certificate for the donation and you must be prepared to complete the task.

 The certificate coordinator should:

Copy all certificates immediately upon receipt. This will help if the committee or the winning bidder misplaces a certificate.

All certificates and their copies should be carefully placed in file folder or loose-leaf binders, color-coded by subgroup after being cataloged.

The original award certificate should be placed in an attractive envelope with a label depicting the item and catalog number and perhaps decorated with a special seal, perhaps the auction logo.

These original certificates should be filed according to catalog number and placed in a container ready for distribution at the conclusion of the event.

Display counterfeit certificates may be utilized to illustrate items at the silent auction tables.  It is not advisable to showcase the actual certificates.  The exception to the rule is baskets that contain award documentation in addition to other physical items.  As an example, you might consider packaging several dinner certificates with a limousine transportation award and two bottles of wine in an attractive basket.

BID SHEETS: ONE PART OR TWO?  

This topic will begin an extensive discussion of bid sheets and the role they play in obtaining the maximum results from your silent auction.

The eternal question as to whether the bid sheet should be single or multipart can only be resolved by examining your procedure and choosing the form best suited for your needs.

If you are not utilizing a computer program for checkout it is advisable to have multi-part NCR forms.  They may be manufactured by local printers or are available from several vendors. (Please send an email for further information on pre-printed NCR bid sheets.) Remember that you will need a dot-matrix printer to imprint the copies, a laser printer will not work.  Following the close of bidding, one part will remain with the item while the second copy will be available for tabulation of the bidder’s account.

If you are using a computer program for checkout, the need for two part forms depends on your methods of notifying the winning bidder not the tabulation of the accounts.  Bid sheets produced by a computer program printed by laser can be duplicated by Kinko into two part forms (please see our January 2001 article).

'Quid Pro Quo" Disclosure Requirement

A quid pro quo contribution is a payment made partly as a contribution and partly for goods or services provided to the donor by the charity. A donor may deduct only the amount of the contribution that is above what the goods or services are worth. For example, if Ms. Music Lover gives a contribution of $100 for a concert ticket which has a fair market value of $40, only $60 of the contribution is deductible.

Previously, when a donor received some benefit in exchange for a charitable gift, the donor had the burden of accurately reporting the benefit's value. Under the new rules, the nonprofit organization must provide a written statement to any donor whose quid pro quo contribution exceeds $75. The statement must fulfill the following conditions:

It must be made in a manner that is reasonably likely to come to the donor's attention.

It must inform the donor that the amount of the contribution which is deductible for federal income tax purposes is limited to the excess of any money (and the value of any property) contributed by the donor over the value of goods or services provided by the charity.

It must give the donor a good faith estimate of the value of the goods or services that the charity is providing in exchange for the contribution.