Home > Blog > Silent Auctions > Cultivate Donors All Year Long With Sign-Up Parties
Let's dive into a fantastic way to increase revenue at your Silent Auction and build community after the auction night ends.
These easy money-makers go by many names:
Party Boards
Sign Up Parties
Buy In Parties
But no matter what you call them, here are 4 Hard and Fast Rules For Making Party Boards Happen Without Major Headaches.
Sign Up Parties are designed to engage your donors in activities they can enjoy with other members of the community by getting together to experience a shared interest.
This could be a Parents’ Night Out, a concert, whatever activity you think your donors will get excited about, and this is a great chance to help cultivate donors throughout the year.
I have 4 Rules for Successful Sign Up Parties...
Rule Number 1. You MUST have a set date.
Rule Number 2. You MUST have a set location.
These are critical! Or you may find yourself trying to coordinate 30 people’s calendars after the fact.
Trust me on this and don’t be afraid to make these decisions upfront.
You want them to sell out FAST.
Rule Number 3. You MUST limit the number of available spots.
As guests peruse your silent auction, we want them to walk by the party boards and say:
“I better sign up for that right now or there won’t be any spots left!”
If you offer too many available spots, they may say:
“Well, there’s still plenty of space, so maybe I’ll sign up later.”
And then you’ve lost them.
I like to cap availability around 20 to 30 people at the very most. You could even have a party that will only host 8. That’s perfect!
Rule Number 4. You MUST make signing up a ONE STEP process.
On your sign up sheet, you’ll want to have the cost of each spot pre-populated in the column on the right next to each bidder line with a blank for guests to write in their bidder number.
That way donors only have to write one number and they’re done!
You can go bonkers with themes for these parties, too.
We’ve seen everything from Poker parties complete with booze and cigars to Ladies Only Summer Pool parties with “flip-flops and lemon drops!”
Get creative and make it an event your donors will be dying to attend.
And if you want to go for something a little more intimate, you could have a higher price point for 5 couples to join in on a progressive dinner, limo included.
Or a special dinner catered by a famous chef. Delish!
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