Benefit Bidding & Quilt Country in the News!

The Lewisville Leader Star recently ran an article about our Online Auction

Click Here to read the newpaper articel

Quilt Country Hosting Miniature Quilt Online Auction – All Proceeds to Benefit North Texas Food Bank

PRESS RELEASE

Quilt Country
Contact: Sandy Brawner
Owner
701 S. Stemmons Fwy #60
Lewisville, TX 75067-4591
Phone 972-436-7022
Fax 972-436-6065
sandy@quiltcountry.com

Quilt Country Hosting Miniature Quilt Online Auction – All Proceeds to Benefit North Texas Food Bank

Food Bank Faces First Financial Shortfall since 1982 Opening. Lewisville, Texas Quilt Shop and its Customers Organize Auction

Lewisville, TX June 29, 2010: When Sandy Brawner learned the North Texas Food Bank donation receipts for the current fiscal year are $250,000 less than budgeted, she knew immediately the staff and customers of her Lewisville, TX quilt shop would want to help. Sandy and her Quilt Country team decided to hold its first miniature quilt auction and donate 100% of the proceeds to the food bank. The miniature quilts, all of which are beautifully designed, crafted and donated by customers and employees of Quilt Country, are available for auction online by accessing the shop’s website at http://www.quiltcountry.com  or http://www.benefitbidding.com through 3 p.m. CDT Sunday, July 11, 2010.
The public is encouraged to visit the store, located at 701 S. Stemmons Freeway in Lewisville, to personally view these unique miniature quilts.
Auction bids will also be accepted in the shop.

This auction offers buyers an array of exquisite mini quilts to bid on while supporting the nutritional needs of North Texas families. When viewing the quilts, the public will be moved by both the talent and compassion of these quilt designers. One of the quilters, Coleen Voss, decided “I had to use only fabric scraps in my quilt, nothing new, only what I had on hand. I wanted my quilts to show hunger in some way…I thought what does hunger look like …That is how I choose my fabric scraps. What does hunger feel like? I imagine it must feel raw, so I left some raw edges. It must hurt, so I used porcupine quills…Hunger also must feel cold and lonely, so I used polished stones.”

The staff and customers of Quilt Country have a long history of supporting various charitable causes. Since 2003, the shop has hosted an annual food drive for the North Texas Food Bank between Thanksgiving and Christmas.
Quilt Country held a bra quilt challenge to benefit the Susan G. Komen Foundation. Each entrant made a quilt using a pattern for a bra quilt. Quilt Country staff and customers have donated shoe boxes filled with necessities for children worldwide through Samaritan’s Purse. The shop’s customers and staff donated and shipped boxes of toys for children in Afghanistan and Iraq as well as magazines, food, socks, cards, games and personal care items for our soldiers serving in these countries. In the wake of 9/11, Quilt Country sponsored a drive to make and collect quilts for NYC firefighters and survivors of victims. Soon after Katrina, the staff and customers of Quilt Country made and donated quilts for victims. Residents of the Denton State School have received pillowcases made by a Quilt Country customer. The shop has sponsored a quilt drive for Project Linus, collected items for the Chin refugees from Myanmar, donated fabric to Lutheran World Relief, and participated in the 1,000,000 pillowcase challenge.

For release 8 a.m. CDT, July 1, 2010

If you’re having a fundraising event for your school, consider adding a teacher’s wish list. 

Ask each teacher to create a list of items, typically ranging in price from $25 to $50, that they would like for their classroom.  If ”big ticket” items such as computers, printers, etc. are needed, split them into multiple requests of $50 to $100 towards the purchase of the item. 

Next, create an attractive list for each classroom.  The teacher’s name and classroom should be easily visible.  Each list should have an area for bidders to place their bid number next to the item they want to make a donation for. 

Display all the wish lists in an area which is easily accessible to everyone attending your event.

At the end of the evening, the donations from the teacher’s wish list are added to the bidder’s auction purchases.  The money raised is placed in a fund for the purchase of those items “purchased.”

Bidumup,

Lloyd

• Solicitation - Instead of just asking for an item donation, be specific! Ask for exactly what you want from each donor. Shoot for the stars! They can only say no, and just might say yes.   Also, when asking always use consider.  Would you consider donating the beautiful Grandfather clock for our annual auction?   If the answer is no they only said no to consider donating the clock.  You can then counter offer by asking for a donation of a lesser item. 

•  Item Grouping – How much money can you raise with a $25 dining gift certificate? If your lucky $20 to $25.  How much excitement can you generate from the certificate? Not much.  But, if you package it with 12 other gift certificates worth $25 to $50 each- you have “Dinning Out For A Year”.  Throw in a couple of movie tickets and you have a “Date Night” Package.  By doing this you now have an item that should bring between $400 to $600.  You also have an item that people will get excited about and hopefully help in creating a “Buzz” about your event.

• Building your catalog – Having a variety of Merchandising is key!  If possible try to gather images of the donations from the donors such as logos, property photos this will help make your items stand-out.  A picture is a must if you’re listing your item Online.

• Email announcements - Keep your potential bidders informed by sending emails that list frequently added items.  Be sure to mix up the range of pricing and types of items that are new to the catalog.  Also be sure to invite them to forward the email to family & friends who might be interested in bidding on any of the items.

Bidumup,
Lloyd

The biggest mistake non-profits can make when having an auction is not hiring a professional “Benefit Auctioneer”.

The second biggest mistake they make is not hiring him early in the planning process.

A professional benefit auctioneer generates more revenue as well as makes the evening more enjoyable for your guests. Quite often, organizations honestly believe they will save money by using a volunteer from their organization or a local celebrity. While using a volunteer who is “free” versus a paid auctioneer may seem like a good idea, it will cost you thousands of dollars of lost revenue. Novices leave money on the table because they are not able to maximize bidding.

A fund-raising auction is unlike any other charitable fund-raiser and offers a number of unique challenges. A professional fund-raising auctioneer, understands this environment better than any volunteer, celebrity or other type of auctioneer. The goal is not just to sell items, but to also get the audience excited about the mission of the organization. An effective auctioneer will inspire the audience to bid high and bid often. When planning your event, you will hire the best caterer, decorator, designer, etc. you can afford. Why try to save when it comes to the person motivating guests to open their checkbooks?

An experienced Benefit Auctioneer should have hundreds of auctions worth of experience. You should hire him early so he can assist you in the early planning of your event. When you wait until the last minute to hire an auctioneer it’s usually too late to avoid costly mistakes that you might have made in the planning of your event.

Bidumup,
Lloyd

A lot of us auctioneers have been slow to embrace online auctions.   After all who wants to be replaced by a computer!  An online auction will never replace the fun and excitement that’s generated by an online auction.  However if used correctly an online auction can greatly increase the success of your event.  

That’s why we created the Benefit Bidding site and are now adding Online Auctions to our services.

Your organization can benefit in several ways by incorporating an Online Auction to your current event:

 Promoting your event – When you host your Online Auction with Benefit Bidding we will create your own custom branded Online Auction website.  The website can also be used to advertise your event, request auction item donations, and honor your sponsors.  The website is also a place to preview and catalog items. 

 Your live & Silent auctions start higher bids – Why wait until the evening of the event before accepting bids on your items.  With Benefit Bidding you can start the items online several weeks before the event.  Just before your event we close the online bidding and the latest online bids are your opening silent auction bids and your proxy live auction bids.

 Larger audience – With an online auction you can invite EVERYONE to attend your event.  A larger audience will raise more money and awareness for your cause.

Bidumup,
Lloyd