Volume IV
Don’t Ruin Your Auction Just by Booking Too Late
ahead of time than you might think. Two or three months in advance isn’t enough time to ensure you’ll get everything you want booked. For your organization’s biggest fundraiser of the year, don’t you want to make sure you have all those ducks in a row as soon as possible? If you throw the same fundraising auction at the same venue with the same auction company on the same date every year, any change might mean losing supporters who count on that consistency. Say you do your charity fundraiser on Dec. 1 every year and you absolutely need the same venue you had last year, but you waited too long to book it. Now, if you want that venue, you have to push back the date of your auction, which potentially means that supporters who count on going on Dec. 1 every year might not be able to make it on the new date. Booking too late might also mean losing big-ticket auction items. Those large companies and corporations that donate auction items only have a finite amount of resources for charitable donations, and asking them for donations too late might mean you’ll leave that meeting empty-handed. We work with many organizations that loved working with us — and we loved working with them! However, because we’re running multiple auctions every weekend, we can’t guarantee they will have first pick of team members if they wait too long to ask us to do their next charity event. We have a large team, but we can’t promise they’ll be able to have the handsome Tommy Baker available for their auction. Like I said before, we want your auction to go off without a hitch. We absolutely want to be your auctioneer of choice. But for that to happen, you have to coordinate with us early on. With that in mind, if you just worked with us recently, we hope to hear from you soon!
The last time you bought a flight ticket or booked a hotel room for a trip, did you wait until the last minute to do so? Of course not. When it comes to reserving expensive tickets or rooms, you do it months in advance. Otherwise, the price will go up as time goes on, or worse — those seats or that hotel room could be unavailable by the time you decide you want to actually make the purchase.
With that in mind, my question is this: Why wouldn’t you think the same way about your charity auction and auctioneer?
We work with a lot of different charities and nonprofit organizations, and I’ve found that the auctions we help them put on are usually their biggest fundraisers of the year. Sure, they might put on smaller raffles or similar events throughout the year, but they call us for their most important opportunity to raise funds for their causes. I want for any organization we work with to have the best possible advantage when it comes to raising funds, and a big part of making sure that happens is booking your venue and auctioneer way in advance. When I say “way in advance,” I don’t mean just a couple of months ahead of time. I mean that if you want to have the same venue and same auction company on the same date next year, you need to book everything almost immediately after this year’s event. I know that may sound like overkill. But, in cities that are experiencing rapid growth and have limited venue space, like Boise and the rest of the Treasure Valley, we get booked further
Facebook.com/BakerAuctionCo | BakerAuction.com | (208) 739-8750 - Tyson Baker “It’s Sale Time”
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When I’m up on stage in front of the crowd, I can see a lot, but I can’t see everything. Even though I’m proud of all the good that Baker Auction Company does, sometimes the greatest acts of kindness happen behind the scenes. No matter how much you think you know about your event, there’s a good chance you don’t know everything. Recently, we were hosting an auction for a scholarship foundation. About a week before the auction, the father of a well-known family in the community tragically died in a farming accident. He left behind a wife and five kids. I knew the family, but I didn’t know that some of his kids and their aunts and uncles were at the auction that night. We started warming up the crowd with a card game where players had a chance to win a cash prize, and a little girl won $500 playing the game. I found out later that she was one of the farmer’s kids. Then, about halfway through the evening, we started the bidding for one of the night’s big-ticket items: a purebred doodle puppy. Stories From the Stage Not Every Act of Kindness Happens Where We Can See It For a lot of kids out there, all it takes is one dedicated mentor to launch them into a bright, successful future. At the Big Brothers Big Sisters of Northern Nevada, that’s what we try to provide for the kids in our community. If you’re not already familiar with the work Big Brothers Big Sisters does nationwide, we pair kids, ages 6–14, who come from disadvantaged backgrounds with adult mentors for an entire year. Many of these kids come from single-parent households, and around 65%–70% come from households where English is not the primary language spoken. It’s our passion to give these kids opportunities they wouldn’t otherwise have through mentorship. With such an important mission, we want to make sure we have the resources to continue our mentorship programs. I was fortunate enough to see Baker Auction Company in action at a fundraising event for the Boys & Girls Club in Bend, Oregon, back in 2018. I was impressed with their energy onstage and how they could engage a room and get the audience invested in an organization’s mission. When I went back to Reno, I told my team about And Helping Disadvantaged Youths Go to College Topping Their Own Fundraising Records If you’ve ever worked with us before, you know we like to start the bidding low. We started off at $100, knowing full well it would go for way more.
Is That Picture Worth $1,000? How to Avoid Copyright Infringement for Your Organization
We’ve all heard the saying, “A picture is worth a thousand words,” and for organizations like yours, this is especially true. Images used on a website and in marketing materials contribute to a specific vision and encourage customers to buy into a service, product, or give at your next gala. However, obtaining and using those images requires much more than a quick search on Google. To make the biggest splash while avoiding heavy penalties that can tank your business, follow these tips when searching for images. Presume all images are protected by copyright. Never assume that an image you find while browsing the internet is free to use. It may be easy to download one you like and use it on your website, social media account, or blog, but it can have devastating consequences. Someone who wrongfully uses copyright material worth at least $2,500 may face up to five years in prison and up to $250,000 in fines according to federal statute. Play it safe by assuming every image or photograph you find online is protected by copyright law. Always ask permission for use. Even if an image isn’t under copyright, you still might not have permission to use it. Find the source of the image, and inquire about using it for your own organization. The image itself may have certain conditions you need to meet before you can use it. For instance, a licensing agreement may require you to pay a fee, give credit to the original creator, or guarantee the image’s use as-is without further alteration. In other instances, ask the photographer, designer, or artist for permission to use the image and agree to include a watermark or a link to their website. Find and use free images instead. Several websites, such as Pexels, Pixabay, and Morguefile, provide hundreds of photos for organizations to use for free and without worry of copyright infringement. Creative Commons is also a great resource to consult. This nonprofit provides free licenses and tools that make copyright material easy to understand. You may need to meet some agreements under a Creative Commons license, but afterwards, you can access and use numerous photos.
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It’s Sale Time!
2/22 Jayden DeLuca Foundation Masquerade 2/27 LIA Gala + Auction 2/29 Treasure Valley Policeman’s Ball (1 of 4 events this evening) 3/6 LA Light in the Window Benefit Gala 3/14 St. Joe’s School Auction (1 of 4 events this evening) 3/28 Idaho Youth Sports Commission Upcoming Events at a Glance (For more dates and detailed information, visit BakerAuction.com.) *Please note: This is a partial listing of events.
This little girl, bless her heart, bid all the way up to $500 for the puppy. She really wanted it, and she was devastated when she didn’t get it.
The bidding war went on until the puppy sold for over $5,000 to a wealthy donor family. We thanked them for buying the puppy and went about the rest of our night. The next day, I found out that family had given the puppy to the little girl. They bought it just for her. It would have been hard for me to keep my emotions in check during the show if I had known all of this was going on. Call it destiny, fate, or whatever you want, but something special happened that night that proved there are some really good people out there with a lot of love to give.
BOOK FOR NOW 2020-2021! Dates are going quickly!
Take a break
them, and we decided to bring them down for our next Big Chefs Big Gala, which was our biggest fundraiser of the year.
In the past, Big Brothers Big Sisters has had a few different auctioneers. We chose to work with Baker Auction Company because of the incredible energy and level of professionalism they bring to nonprofit events. They ran the most successful auction in terms of fundraising in the history of our organization. Baker Auction has only worked one event for us, but they beat the previously fundraising record by 20%.
The funds that Baker Auction Company helped raise will help Littles in our program graduate high school and move on to their college education. One of the most rewarding experiences for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Northern Nevada every year is seeing the kids whom we helped mentor graduate from high school. At least in part, Baker Auction Company helped make that possible.
AUCTION BOOK NOW GIVE SCHOLARSHIP BIGGEST EVER
DOODLE KINDNESS BIG TICKET
-Derek Beauvais
FATE LOVE
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WHY BOOK NEXT YEAR’S AUCTION RIGHT AFTER THIS YEAR’S AUCTION? AVOIDING COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT FOR YOUR ORGANIZATION
STORIES FROM THE STAGE
BAC AND BIG BROTHERS BIG SISTERS OF NORTHERN NEVADA
UPCOMING EVENTS
CELEBRATING NATIONAL MOM AND POP BUSINESS OWNERS DAY
Giving Back to Local Companies On National Mom and Pop Business Owners Day
them a better value for your dollar. Take this day to shop for birthday and holiday gifts for your loved ones that will bring them great joy and last a lifetime. Get social and spread the word! While small businesses utilize every form of marketing available, social media is essential for their success and growth. After shopping at your favorite mom-and- pop business, share that experience on your social media! When you write a post on Facebook or take a picture for Instagram, be sure to tag the business and use relevant hashtags so your friends, family, and everyone else in your community can shop there, too. Writing reviews on Google Reviews and Yelp helps establish validity for the company. When another potential customer looks for reviews, they know they’re getting quality products and services from a well-established pillar of the community. The local businesses that are active on social media may post deals and sales for that day only, so keep your eyes peeled and be sure to follow all your favorite businesses!
March 29 is National Mom and Pop Business Owners Day, which is huge for small businesses everywhere. Mom-and-pop businesses are the backbone of the U.S. economy; Small Business Trends reports that mom-and-pop businesses account for 64% of gross domestic product (GDP) and generate 78% of all new jobs. Furthermore, no matter what turns the economy takes, small-business owners are less likely to lay off their employees than big corporations. Mom-and-pop businesses support all communities, and you can support them by celebrating this unofficial holiday! Give your local economy a boost! Shopping locally has a massive impact on your community. Local businesses return three times the amount of money to the local economy than larger corporations do. With that big of a returned investment, your community can support even more small businesses that generate a wealth of jobs and keep the cycle going.
In addition to the economic boost, products from small businesses are usually higher quality, which makes
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