The Bailey House
In 1983 a group of clergy, West Village business people, and gay and lesbian activists founded the AIDS Resource Center. They were witnessing friends and community members, devastated by what was then a new disease, become homeless and lose access to the care and resources they needed. The Center was renamed Bailey House in 1995. Today, Bailey House provides housing and services to homeless people and families living with HIV and AIDS.
Highlights
- Using Auctionpay has increased The Bailey House’s fundraising to a record breaking $800K for their 20th Annual Auction.
- The Auctionpay Event Software packaging feature enabled The Bailey House to sell certificates in bundles and increase profits significantly.
- Utilizing Auctionpay’s products has increased staff morale, and helped the accounting department turn around reporting in 24 hours vs. a number of days.
Challenge
Bailey House’ biggest fundraiser, The Bailey House Auction Party, was started in 2000. For five years the event manager tracked and managed procurement, donations, catalog items, bid numbers, table assignments, and more using an Excel spreadsheet.
After the 2005 event, April McKenzie, Bailey House Event Manager, frustrated by the difficulties related to manually assigning bidder numbers, excruciatingly slow event night checkout, and the lengthy process of manually reconciling receipts after the event, decided to seek a technical event management solution.
Solution
Bailey House chose Auctionpay Event Software to manage their 2006 event and to solve the challenges faced in past years.
They started with Event Software in 2006 and quickly found that it was a tool that changed every aspect of the auction administration- from beginning to end. The software greatly reduced the time it took to create the catalog and assign items to packages. It also gave them an edge on procurement by having an instant update of the procuring status for the event committee at the click of the button. April loved the fact that they could get instant updates on where they were during every step of the pre-event planning process.
In 2008 Bailey House decided to add the Auctionpay Event Payments terminals to tackle the challenges of extremely long checkouts and payment collections. April was amazed at how easy it was for the guests to pre-register with credit card registration. McKenzie said, “It really set the tone for the rest of the evening”. The system made the night really easy for both staff and attendees, I was amazed at how well it worked.”
Another difference this year was utilizing Auctionpay’s Professional Events Services. Auctionpay trained the volunteers on the software the night of the event. It was really easy to learn. “I also loved the fact that I was able to print missing bid sheets and detailed receipts on-site”. McKenzie feels the use of Event Software has increased moral for the committee members. The Auctionpay consultant and Event Software removed much of the work and stress for everyone involved in the event- making it enjoyable to be a part of.
“Use of the software to assign items to a package has changed our presentation. Entering everything manually meant lots of opportunity for mistakes – it’s crucial – Auctionpay puts it all in one package. In the past we might have a $50 dinner certificate for a restaurant that would go for $25. Now we package several certificates, adding a massage and a show. These packages go for $500 or more. Love the packaging part – I love it I love it” enthused McKenzie.
Results
The Bailey House 20th Annual Auction and party held at the Puck Building was a great success on February 28, 2008. Hosts Tim Gunn, Jonathan Adler, Simon Doonan, John Bartlett, and Anderson Cooper were in attendance, helping raise more than $800,000.00. This record-breaking event auctioned off everything from a Nicholas Ghesquiere-designed Balenciaga crocodile bag, fine art and trips around the world.
April McKenzie feels that using Auctionpay has increased The Bailey House’s fundraising– they capture their payments– where in previous years they lost money with people not paying. It has also really helped the accounting department improve their number reporting turn around from a few days to 24 hours.
The Bailey House is now implementing the Auctionpay Event Software online edition for next year’s event. This will allow more staff and volunteer to access the catalog descriptions and enter data, and they will be able to control better. They feel it will be a big improvement to an event that keeps getting better, thanks to Auctionpay’s suite of products.
Return to list of client stories