*~*amanda*~*
Junior Member
Posts: 51 
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Post by *~*amanda*~* on Jul 27, 2014 16:57:59 GMT
I am on the community club board for the kids' grade school (it's like a PTA or a PTO). This coming school year is my first year so I'm new to it.
I have been away from home on vacation for about 3 weeks and still gone for another week.
I missed the last board meeting we had that covered this so I'm kinda flying blind!
There is a carnival in September and it's a big fundraiser for their community club. In the email minutes of the last meeting it stated that we are each (board members) to supply 3-5 items for the silent auction.
I have no idea what to donate for this!
There were 3 items listed that had already been donated...a free week long basket ball camp, a school pride wreath, and a school pride pendant.
I was thinking about decorating a small scrapbook and leaving space for pictures to be added later. Is that a dumb idea?
Any other suggestions?
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cakatie
Junior Member
Posts: 77
Jun 29, 2014 4:45:05 GMT
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Post by cakatie on Jul 27, 2014 17:23:12 GMT
I'm an elementary school teacher, and each year my school does a carnival with a silent auction area too. I think the scrapbook idea is a great start, especially if if can be customized for your school (i.e., a page for activities that are specific to you school, like the carnival or other school events, or other events in your local community.)
The wonderful parents who put on our carnival usually visit local businesses and meet with the owners or managers to gather items for the silent auction. Popular items are usually classes for kids (like a month of after-school classes at local art studio), gift certificates to local restaurants or tickets to sporting events, and (since we are near a popular vacation spot) people who have vacation cabins often donate a week at their cabin for a date to be mutually agreed upon.
Hope that helps, and thank you for what you're doing for the school!!
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Post by cadoodlebug on Jul 27, 2014 17:24:38 GMT
It's not necessarily a dumb idea but you might be eliminating a large portion of people bidding because they don't see value in a scrapbook. When DS was in band I co-chaired a silent auction for 4 years. It's a shame you aren't at the high school level because a big money raiser was a coveted parking spot in the senior parking lot. Is there anything at the grade school level that you auction off like that that doesn't cost you anything but might bring in some money? Our principal was a very popular one so we auctioned off a one-on-one basketball game with him. Maybe those are dumb ideas for your situation but it's a thought.
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Post by JustKim on Jul 27, 2014 17:26:03 GMT
Ask your hair dresser for a GC. Do you know anyone who knits? I had my mom make 2 baby blankets for one auction (I did buy the yarn) but they sold for good money. Also do you know anyone who has pampered chef, scentsy, avon, etc.? They may be willing to donate. I am in a small town and many local businesses support school sponsored events.
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Post by mcscrapper on Jul 27, 2014 17:30:07 GMT
When dd was in elementary school we had great silent auctions. Every year each upper grade would do some kind of art project with the art teacher. One year a class did a hand painted chair with handprints all over it while another class did a bench kind of thing. Another class did a big canvas. Basically, the art teacher would find these chairs and other junk to repaint at yard sales and stuff. The committee gave her like $20 for each item so it wasn't all coming out of her pocket but then the kids did the decorating. Those pieces went for big money because every mom wanted it!
We also go a lot of donations from restaurants, books stores, the movie theater, coffee shops, etc. Some of the moms put together big theme baskets and those went over pretty well.
We live about 6-7 hours from the beach and 3-4 hours from the mountains. A few parents donated a few days to a week's stay at their condo / cabin. Some people on the committee actually secured a 4 nights stay at a beach condo just by calling that resort. I ended up buying that package one year and only paid like $180 for it!!! For FOUR nights that was a GREAT deal for me!
meredith
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CeeScraps
Pearl Clutcher
~~occupied entertaining my brain~~
Posts: 3,894
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Post by CeeScraps on Jul 27, 2014 17:35:09 GMT
Baskets.....choose a theme and fill the basket!
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Post by Basket1lady on Jul 27, 2014 17:39:10 GMT
It's not an auction item, but I so want to do this. There is a pin on Pinterest where kids pay for a predetermined length of duct tape. The principal stands next to a wall on a chair and gets duct taped to the wall. If enough people buy lengths, he/she will be stuck to the wall. You could sell off lengths for a favorite teacher as well. I could see that being a good money maker.
I agree about going around to local businesses asking for silent auction donations. At one preschool we attended, a mom made class quilts for each class with the kids' handprints. Those usually went for about $200 and then were donated back to the school to hang in the hall.
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ReneeH20
Full Member
Posts: 452
Jun 28, 2014 16:00:48 GMT
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Post by ReneeH20 on Jul 27, 2014 17:46:39 GMT
Write to local sports teams and big corporations in your area. Some of them have time requirements like you have to meet certain deadlines. We got a lot of stuff for our sports club this way. We got autographed photos from professional sports teams plus some trinkets we put in baskets.
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Post by brina on Jul 27, 2014 17:47:53 GMT
A popular item at our school auction are sign-up parties. You 'donate' hosting the party and all the expenses involved in that. People sign up to attend at a specific price per attendee.
Some examples from past years:
Ladies tennis mixer and luncheon: 26 spots at $100 per spot at a local sports club
Cinco de Mayo: margaritas and Mexican fare 40 spots at $60 per spot on the host's patio
Kids Movie Nigh: movie, popcorn and soda, $25 per child in host's backyard - bring your own beach chair.
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Post by monklady123 on Jul 27, 2014 17:56:19 GMT
Some popular items at our silent auctions: -- themed baskets -- cooking, baking, knitting, beach, movie night, game night, reading, outdoor games, art, spa day, travel...limited only by your imagination. -- Principal for the Day, assistant to the librarian, after-school kindergarten helper, preschool lunch helper -- these teachers and the principal were very well-loved so this was something that a lot of the kids wanted to do. -- various donations by parents -- one year I bid on a bra fitting and two bras, offered by a parent who was a buyer for Macy's. Best money I spent. lol -- cupcakes/muffins/scones -- delivered to the buyer's house at a mutually agreed on time -- dinner for six (or whatever number) delivered to your house -- this was VERY popular because not only did we have parents who HATE to cook, we also had some who loved it, and who loved nothing more than catering a dinner. rofl. (I'm in the "hate to cook" camp, although I never bid on this one because it ended up being to expensive for me). -- yard work help -- check up and cleaning from our local pediatric dentist (people like this are usually happy to donate because it might mean a new customer for them) We made a ton of money on this auction. We also did a raffle for smaller items -- people would donate toys, books, games, sports stuff -- nothing very expensive. Every kid in the school got a few free tickets so they could try for one of these raffled items. But then one year we (the PTA) realized that although we had a good number of free and reduced lunch kids it was almost never these kids who won the raffle, because the parents with money were buying their kids a ton of tickets so they would win. sigh... So we changed the rules -- the only tickets that could go in the raffle buckets were those given out for free to the kids. That worked well despite some grumbling from *those* kind of parents.  The parents who could have well-afforded to just buy the darn toy. Anyway, that's my experience from years of PTA. SO glad I'm done with all that.  |
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Post by gritzi on Jul 27, 2014 18:26:56 GMT
Several years ago I solicited donations, locally & nationwide, for my son's 4th grade end of school year auction. It was a different setting because the students used "money" they earned throughout the school year & bid on the items. It was a huge success!
If you have time to write a letter that includes your non-profit status and event, Stampin Up was extremely generous with a huge donation!
I doubt you have enough time to submit a request, but American Girl has an online form for non-profit solicitation. You can request once a year (I think). Even though you request, a donation is not guaranteed.
Do you have a local cupcake, bakery or specialty chocolate shop? Perhaps a business would donate a treat basket from their shop?
Is there a local venue that is a huge hit for children's birthday parties/events?
Our local sports teams (NFL, NBA, women's NBA, baseball, etc) were very generous.
Is there an amusement park near you? Usually there will be a solicitation link on their website.
The children's museum made a donation to our auction also
Ask the local cinema and restaurants for donations. You could have a dinner & a movie night to auction.
Our local fire department hosts birthday parties at no cost. You could check with your local fire &/or police station. If they too offer birthday parties, request a birthday party certificate. Ask a local bakery if they would donate a birthday cake for that event. Have a birthday party to auction. You could also add themed plates, napkins, etc.
Our town's recreational soccer league donated a certificate for a child to play the fall league for free. A local sports store donated a boy's & girl's soccer ball plus shin guards.
A hotel donated a night's stay also.
Those are just a few ideas that come to mind.
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Deleted
Posts: 0
Oct 6, 2024 8:16:38 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Jul 27, 2014 19:12:07 GMT
I'd see about contacting small businesses about donations. Maybe a bakery will donate a cake or rather a coupon for a free cake for a child's birthday? A coffeeshop might be happy to put together a little basket with their coffee, a mug, and maybe a treat. One thing that seems to be popular at some of the raffles I've seen at car shows is a free oil change at a local shop. My Dad always hopes to get one of those even though he's perfectly capable of doing it himself.
Everyone else had some great ideas. For most of them, you'd have to be willing to approach businesses. I find that the smaller places are more often willing to donate than the big national chains.
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Post by cindyupnorth on Jul 27, 2014 22:04:12 GMT
Our school did the duct tape fundraiser this last yr, But the kids bid on how many times they got to place the duct tape. They had 2 teachers stand on a chair, the kids duct taped them to the wall, and then they pulled the chairs out to see how long they stayed up on the wall. It was pretty entertaining.
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Post by ktdoesntscrap on Jul 27, 2014 22:39:28 GMT
A popular item at our school auction are sign-up parties. You 'donate' hosting the party and all the expenses involved in that. People sign up to attend at a specific price per attendee. Some examples from past years: Ladies tennis mixer and luncheon: 26 spots at $100 per spot at a local sports club Cinco de Mayo: margaritas and Mexican fare 40 spots at $60 per spot on the host's patio Kids Movie Nigh: movie, popcorn and soda, $25 per child in host's backyard - bring your own beach chair. WOW fabulous idea! I am so taking this! |
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Post by shinyhappytina on Jul 27, 2014 23:27:58 GMT
I work for a nonprofit and we do big silent auctions. Some of the things that go better are "experiences". We got a fire department to donate an experience there. Basically, a family can host a birthday party at the firehouse and the firemen give the kids a tour, let them get on the fire trucks, etc., that goes really well. We also get local golf courses to donate play for a foursome, that kind of stuff always sells well.
We also got a local bakery to donate 6 cupcakes a month for a year, so we sold it as "cupcakes for a year". If you have a local sports team, they are usually good about donating tickets, autographed memorabilia, etc. Lots of nice restaurants will donate gift cards too.
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Post by dualmaestra on Jul 28, 2014 0:19:09 GMT
At my school they do an auction during a Spring Fling. There are theme baskets from each classroom (teacher or room mom pick theme). Then teacher asks parents for a donation of that theme. If there are lots of donations, they might break them up into more than one basket.
Another thing they auction off are front row seats for 6th grade promotion, as well as parking spots. Also, local businesses also donate gift certificates or items from their business.
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kate
Drama Llama
Posts: 5,583
Location: The city that doesn't sleep
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Jun 26, 2014 3:30:05 GMT
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Post by kate on Jul 28, 2014 1:19:46 GMT
At my school, front-row seats to the Holiday and/or Spring school concert are always hot sellers. Another idea: if you have parents willing to donate a week at a vacation home, see if you can find someone who will donate their frequent-flyer miles so the flight to the vacation home can be included. For the first time this year, we did a wine pull - it was fun and made some good money This blog gives details of how a wine pull works - ours was similar. |
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Post by jill225 on Jul 28, 2014 2:10:14 GMT
I have done a lot of fund raisers in the past for my kids schools. Mostly high school though. Themed baskets were always a huge hit. We also asked parents to donate any sports memorabilia they had. We raised a lot of cash doing this. We had jerseys, balls, bats, pictures and cards.
Good luck.
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Post by worrywart on Jul 28, 2014 4:33:57 GMT
My suggestion on the scrapping theme would be a basket with the small scrapbook, maybe some stickers, a punch or two and some paper etc. This would be a great idea ESPECIALLY if you already had some of the stuff. Silent auctions stress me out - it is hard making a basket! I am so not creative! Two of my ds years in band I made quilting baskets - fat quarters a quilting book etc. and they always did alright.
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The parents who could have well-afforded to just buy the darn toy. 
