Donating to a Silent Auction

Hey guys, I did some searching on here and found a few old threads about charity events and the like.
A guy I met through our men’s group at church (who is an extremely good man) has a daughter who has many medical conditions and they are having a benefit dinner for her. I was asked to donate to the silent auction.
I would like to be able to raise as much money as I can for this cause. Have you done this before? What kind of limitations do you put on the gift certificate ( monetary/ sq ft / mileage range)? What has gotten the best results? Do you have pictures of your silent auction spaces?
Any experienced info is appreciated.
P.S.-I live in northeast Indiana and many people don’t even realize that house washing exists. They think they have to borrow a pressure washer, spend a weekend getting soaking wet while blasting the crap out of their house.

when I donate I put a valid through…
and
$xxx of house wash
now the key is house wash, and only house wash.

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If it’s someone you care about, it’s probably better value for you to donate the cash value of a job instead.

Often times the silent auctions sell for less than the value of the good or service.

Example, you donate a $300 house wash voucher and it’s sells for $100.

You’re still doing $300 of work; but the charity onlt gets $100.

If it’s a cause you care about, skip the auction and just donate the cash. That’s my 2c.

I’m usually a bit short on cash, so Personally most of my charity thru work is actually free or discounted services. I look around my town for charitable organisations that own their own buildings and I’ll offer them my services. My fave is the men’s homeless shelter who get an annual building wash and a few Window cleans :+1:t2:

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I don’t donate to silent auctions…but I do offer cleaning to churches and I recently cleaned the concrete at our local VFW/American Legion. Matter of fact, I will be washing the building and concrete at the church that is next door to my home, the end of this week or the beginning of next week.

I have offered cleaning to one church that has not accepted it yet…although, they have not declined, either.

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@JimLuke When you say you offered cleaning to churches and other charitable places, do you mean you offer to do the work for free? Or you offer to clean for them at a discounted rate?

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Thanks Buzz,
I do care about him and his family, they are extremely good people. He is a Captain of the Fort Wayne Fire Department and he and his family are deeply religious. I can not tell you how much time he has invested in our Church.
I’m OK with it selling for less than I usually charge, I have attended silent auctions before, I know how it plays out. Over the years I have made many donations to and been the winner of many benefit auctions .My family and I will attend the benefit dinner and make our contribution (Bid on other items over and above the value of the house wash),
I just want to know how to get the ‘best bang for the buck’ per se. I would like to know how others have dealt with this in the past and the best experiences they’ve had.
I have sat down and figured out that I have about $15-$20 invested ( Chems and gas, not counting depreciation or wear) per house wash, so not much loss on my end but a HUGE gain to the actual winner of the bid.
I want to know the best way to do this for this cause.
God Bless

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Ahh, I think I understand your question better now. You want to get the most marketing value out of your donation?

Here’s a couple ideas

  • get your logo and name on any promotional material for the auction
  • get a photo with the winner when you clean their house, publish in a press release in local paper or community newsletter
  • you could also wash this gentleman’s house and ask for a photo and review. Would make another great promotional story… plus it would a feel good thing for him :slight_smile:
  • if there is a “goodie bag” or printed auction program given to everyone attending the auction, you could include a discount voucher. You’ll have lots of goodwill for contributing to the auction, a modest discount may encourage some attendees to support you in return.

Hope this helps. I’m weird and can’t publicise the donated work I do for personal reasons. But if I did… these ^^ are the things I would do

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Yes…I do the work for free.

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That’s really cool!

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Sorry Buzz,
But NO! You completely mis-read my intentions. I am not trying to further my business from this BENEFIT auction.
I was asking other washers out there how they made the most money for the charity they chose.
I want to make the most money for the benefit that I can. I am willing to donate my time and so called expertise to raise money for something that I believe is good. My business is doing just fine, thank you.
I just wanted it to look professional so that people would be willing to bid higher.
I have NO intention on turning it into an advertisement for me or my business.
I appreciate the response but I think you missed my original intention.
God Bless

[quote=“NewGuy89, post:10, topic:9791”]
I just wanted it to look professional so that people would be willing to bid higher.[/quote]

Hahaha… now I understand. third time lucky! Is there a projector or tv available during the auction? Showing some impressive before and after images beside the auctioneer may help?

Same here… for some reason I feel really really bad benefiting from an act of charity. I know I shouldn’t. But it no longer feels like an unconditional gift from me if it’s publicised. And it’s giving the gift that I appreciate most.

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Buzz,
There won’t be a projector. I will have probably a 2 foot by 2 foot space on a 8 foot dining table next to all sorts of other really cool stuff.
The main problem I have is that the majority of the people in my area don’t even know that house washing is an available service. And if they do, that it’s not just some random guy with a Lowe’s pressure washer blasting the crap out of the house.
I originally wanted to see a very professional display that I could copy.
I guess I’m asking too much.
I have a graphic design friend that I have talked to and I will post pictures after I have a finished product
Thank you!

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Check out Staples for promotional materials

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First of all no matter how much your contributed work raises it will be great for the family. I have done this with fence staining and not only has it gone for more than face value, I have never had anyone call me after they bought the job. Strange but true. If you want to expand the gift you can also put a code on your display that when used will send X% of any job using the code to the family. That way even if they don’t get the whole thing they can still use your service and donate too.

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Here’s a display I mimicked for a few charity events that I donated to.

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I also have a picture of the gift certificate I made in one of these posts on the forum. Search gift certificate and you should find it.

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Thanks Scott, that is more like what I am talking about. I appreciate the response.
Did you have a limited service area?
Did you have a sq ft. maximum?
was there a monetary cap on services?

Thanks again.

If I donated a house wash I put it up to 2500sqft. Of I donated a driveway cleaning I out standard 3 car driveway.use the notes or comments section to your advantage.

Some I donated a house wash and driveway cleaning just depends on the charity. But everything was written on the certificate when I handed it over.

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