Cool Auction Worth Talking About

So I have yet to promote an auction of mine on my blog, and don’t plan on making a regular practice out of it… but this one is worth mentioning.

Maybe it’s just me, but sales like this are what the auction business is all about.

The auction is a surplus auction from a Hollywood Prop House.

Having sold a few of these in the past, I can tell you that they are amazing places, full of real treasures. Most Prop Houses I’ve dealt with were begun by clollectors of some type. And the business provided the perfect excuse to keep collecting thousands of items.

The project I’m currently working on is the sale of surplus from a Major Hollywood Prop House. They’ve made the difficult determination that the items we’re selling, while great treasures, are not benefiting their clients. This means not only don’t the items rent, but they are not likely to rent and do not diminish any one category in a detrimental way.

The result is over 1,500 items (was over 800, then over 1,000!), including many pieces of art (one department they are closing completely), rare african sculptures and other antiquities and art items, Vintage Americana items (i.e. gas pumps, juke boxes, vending machines), European Antiques and Collectibles (i.e. French Armoire, a Gilt Bronze Clock Suite, Porcelain Figurines, etc.), American Antiques (i.e. Old clothes washer/ringer, Floor Standing Coffee Grinder, Brass & Button Leather Horse Jockey Scale), Asian Antiques (from statues to wood carvings and furniture), Old English Pub Items (barrels, Signage, Furniture, etc.).

Being a prop house, of course, almost everything has been in some production. This is where it gets fun. You may be watching your favorite movie and realize that the totem pole in the background or the oversize gumball machine is the one that’s now sitting in your family room or backyard!

Some items have already been identified, like a Christofle Silver Meat Carving Station that was used in the production of “Titanic” or a couple of rubber swords used in “Pirates of the Caribbean”.

It’s too cool not to share and too cool not to check out. I’ll give you some info on the sale below, but again, I won’t make a regular practice of promoting sales here!

Viewing location: 5431 W. 104th St., Los Angeles (near LAX)
Viewing Dates: June 24 & June 25
All Bidding will take place online on my partner’s website – click here to bid or for more information.
Bidding will close on June 25

Fund-A-Need Fundamentals

If you have not yet seen a successful Fund-A-Need program in action, you have no idea what you’re missing out on.

A Fund-A-Need program is a means of generating revenues for a specific organizational need. Ideally included as one of the live auction items, the Fund-A-Need is an exceptional way to raise thousands or tens of thousands of dollars (if not more), year after year, in an energetic and often inspiring way.

While Fund-A-Need doesn not fit every event (i.e. conflicts with the organization or event priorities), I have yet to encounter a client who has regretted using one.

As to ‘why they work?’, consider this…

Guests who attend your event either come with the intention of supporting the cause, or are hopefully moved to do so while there. By the time you have neared the end (but not completed) the live auction, you will have many “losing bidders” – whether from the live auction or perhaps a silent auction – who still want a way to support the cause. You may also have guests who found nothing of interest or in their price range, but likewise want to support the cause. This is why a Fund-A-Need works.

Like all business strategies, though, success can be contingent on some basic fundamentals. Consider the following:

Here’s what you need to know:

1. Identify an organizational need. Select a need and describe the need based on the benefit that will be achieved. For example: A scholarship fund would be described in terms of the educational opportunity it will provide the recipient. A building fund would be described in terms of the people that would receive the benefits of the building’s existence.
2. Associate 3 defined funding levels for the need. For example: $1,000 will provide a child with a 6 month enrollment in the program, $500 will provide 10 children with access to a computer workstation, $100 will provide a child with supplies and food for 1 month.
3. Make your lowest level an amount that most people in attendance could participate in.
4. Create levels that cater to quantity bids. For example: When the auctioneer asks for $1,000 to provide a child with a 6 month program enrollment, they can easily ask the bidder, “how many children would you like to support?”. This opens the opportunity to multiply bids at each level.
5. Conduct the Fund-A-Need during the live auction. This ensures people are still in a frenetic paddle raising mindset; conducting it afterwards implies a separate fund raising event and often provides just enough energy shift to dilute results.
6. Include a complete description of the Fund-A-Need in the program as one of the live auction items. Proper sequence within the auction should be determined by your professional auctioneer.
7. Use bidders’ paddles to track bids and to inspire participation.
8. If you have received donations for these amounts prior to the event from those that cannot attend, ask the donors if you can have them represented at the event to help generate initial bidding response during the ask.
9. Invite a poignant and relevant speaker to introduce the ask, but always use a professional charity auctioneer to make the ask. This can be one of the highest revenue generating activities of the night. Use a professional that understands proper implementation of the program and ensure great success!