Auctionpay's Funding Edge

- Featured Article -

Six Steps for Boosting Procurement
By Stephen Hamann

Procuring items… will it be your auction nightmare, or a great reflection for your organization? Let's face it - when it comes to procurement it's all about who you know. The six degrees of separation comes into play because it's who you know, who knows someone, who knows someone else, who has a contact for a potential auction item….

You're scouting your family, friends, neighbors, business associates and vendors for auction items. Suddenly, you're looking at where you shop, eat, bank and wash your car very differently. How do you turn six degrees of separation into six steps for boosting procurement?

About Stephen Hamann
Stephen Hamann is a professional Charity Auctioneer, Master of Ceremonies and Event Host based in San Diego, CA. Known for his great enthusiasm and attention to detail, Stephen is an expert at extracting donations from guests while - at the same - time ensuring they go home with smiles on their faces. For more information, visit his website at www.slhamann.net.

Event Software Online

The Online edition of Auctionpay Event Software allows you access to your software anywhere, anytime online. Leverage the power of the internet to connect multiple users who work on your event from remote locations.

The online version of Auctionpay's software provides:
Secure, online access to event details - so you can be productive anytime, anywhere
Role-based security that you control
	Customize access of each user based on their role with the event
	Role-based levels control what each user can edit and view
Access by multiple users from remote locations to simultaneously update event information
	Ideal for committees and volunteers working on events
	Users have flexibility to work from home, office or the local coffee shop
Customized event website for your event
	Online auction catalog builds excitement for the event
	Online registration for your guests' convenience
	Accept donations and payments before your event starts
Central data storage keeps information safe and secure
	State of the art data center managed by Auctionpay
	Your organization won't be burdened by additional IT work
Macintosh compatible for complete user flexibility

Auctionpay's Event Software Online gives you the functionality of Auctionpay Event Software with the additional convenience of the internet. Click here to read more.

Auctionpay Receives 2007 Oregon Entrepreneurs Network Tom Holce Award for Entrepreneurship

Auctionpay recognized as an outstanding entrepreneurial company in the Working Capital Stage at 14th annual awards ceremony. Read more.

Auction items do make a difference!

John and Maureen Winter of Target Funding Group recently conducted a survey of more than 100 auctions and discovered that there are item trends that are common to all auctions, schools, national organizations, local charities and service clubs. Some auction items do sell better than others. The more you populate your auction with hot-selling items, the more money you will make. And your guests will have a more enjoyable time.

The formula for a successful and profitable auction becomes so much easier if you "accentuate the positive." You might consider supplementing gifts from a reliable consignment organization (like Auctionpay's Booster) in order to satisfy your fundraising goals. Request the full results of their survey by sending an email to john@charityauctionhelp.com.

About Target Funding Group
Maureen and John Winter have devoted 15 years to managing charity auctions for organizations all over the country and have now developed a website where they hope volunteers and staff will gain from their insights and exchange new ideas. Visit www.charityauctionhelp.com and consider joining their auction community - which features chat rooms, downloadable forms, donation exchanges and much, much more. Submit your idea for the most unique auction item and you can win one of their two books - a valuable resource for any charity auction.

California State Parks Foundation
California State Parks Foundation Jumps, Wins Big

California State Parks Foundation (CSPF) held their Fifth Annual Golden Poppy Award Gala on October 13th at Sonoma State Historic Park to raise funds in support of its work on behalf of California's 278 magnificent state parks. CSPF funds a diverse range of programs, from environmental education for California's children including FamCamp-a program that allows low income urban families to enjoy their beautiful state parks; to restoring wetlands at Yosemite Slough in the Candlestick Point State Recreation Area, which will create one of the largest contiguous wetland areas in San Francisco.

This year, CSPF partnered with Auctionpay to augment their gala fundraiser with their first-ever auction at the event, which raised more than $320,000. Taking advantage of multiple fundraising products from Auctionpay, they held online, silent and live auctions simultaneously.

Bonnie Davis, Development Manager for the Foundation laughed, "If you're going to jump in, jump in all the way!"

An innovative approach to raising excitement and funds came from Auctionpay's Auction Booster sales. Auction Boosters are complete packages, including trips to paradise (from Fiji to Pinehurst) and experiential, adrenaline-pumping rides on fighter jets. They are available without risk to the organization. CSPF simply reserved the packages, offered them at the event and ordered the packages that were sold.

"We sold 18 Booster packages in all three auction formats," said Lee Thiesen, Associate Vice President for Development. "The fighter jet rides were the most popular item for us, we sold three of them."

CSPF is still riding the adrenaline of a successful event, with a boost from Auctionpay.

Using Event Software Online to Streamline Your Event

Utilizing Auctionpay's newest product Event Software Online will assist you with organizing and managing your procurement efforts by allowing your procurement volunteers to enter their latest most recently procured items straight into the software - from any remote location that has internet access. The value of this is that multiple volunteers can work on entering procurement data entry simultaneously. Also, all the data is stored in one central database, so there is no need to be concerned about who is working on the most current database.

Another way to use Event Software Online is to use the mini-sites feature to highlight your current items by creating an online catalog. This can be a teaser or a 'preview' to grow your event attendance, entice your potential bidders and also to encourage potential donors.