Our parent booster club meets regularly. With current budget cuts, fund-raising is a topic that always comes up. At the last meeting, a parent suggested we try an online auction. Are schools really doing this, and are they successful?
According to the National PTA, fund-raising through online auctions is growing in popularity, and can be quite lucrative. Of course, the success of an online auction depends heavily upon its organizers.
Some schools work with companies that specialize in hosting online auctions for non-profit organizations, while others go on their own through commercial online auction sites. In either case, there are fees charged by the auction site, so it’s possible to end up in the red if sales aren’t good. This means it’s important to offer attractive items and get the word out. Many of the most successful fund-raisers have combined the online and live auctions.
Suggest that a few members of the parent group do a little research. ReadySetAuction.com provides information about non-profit auctions at. Also MissionFish is partnering with eBay to support non-profit auctions and offers information about this program on its site.
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