A person at my husband's workplace has cancer,?

Question

and they are getting ready to do a benefit dinner for him to help with medical cost, etc. They need help with finding things to auction off there, with all the proceeds going to him also. Can you help me with ideas for getting things to auction off, or other ideas to raise money? So far they haven't had much luck in getting any sponsors to donate items. Has anyone ever done anything like this, and if so, could you please help with ideas?

All of these ideas are good ones, but say I went to a radio station or a place of business and asked for a donation-how do I authenticate it for them? What I mean is, how to prove that's really what I'm doing, and not just someone off the street looking to mooch a gift certificate or concert ticket?

Thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone who has given me such wonderful helpful advice!!

Answer 1

1) The single most valuable person you could get involved with this benefit would be an Event Coordinator (professional) to volunteer his/her time...they already know the ropes and how to do what, what kind of articles work best.
2) I have been a pro Event Producer in my life, of considerable talent who catered to very large corporations..and this is what I have found:
All the donated articles are sold at far below their value...so IF it comes to buying something to donate, it is far better to donate the money instead! Most donations of this kind are "white elephants" of the donor, so will be white elephants to the attendees...usually not worth the time it takes to display, or warrant the room and tables it takes to display them on... a money tree works very, very well in deals like this!
IF you have not picked the place to do the event, I suggest you contact a place that can handle the event WITH a dance floor! Contact a local DJ..perhaps he will not be busy that night and will work at a reduced fee...tell him the age group attending, gear all music to that group. Get a real person up there during the evening who can really pour it on...give till it hurts kind of thing...never fails, even the cheapest in the crowd will contribute. Charge more for the dinner than will cost, all monies left over go to the intended. Get local shops involved perhaps (more work than often worth the effort.) and perhaps they will donate time (hair do's, nails, etc. This kind of SERVICE sells better than items. Vacation for a weekend at a cabin owned by one of those involved can be auctioned, usually brings in some nice bucks.
The unfortunate part of all this is that the money donated is NOT tax deductable to the donors, so you will not expect donations to exceed about 50.00 per person...so plan accordingly. I volunteer 50.00 to your cause, but I must know where to send it to. Write me with an address and I will drop it in the mail today just to get things started for you. Love and Peace, Phil (Goldwing)

Answer 2

I worked for a faith based non profit for many years whose major fund raising event of each year was an auction [both silent and live]. Over the years we learned that the items that brought the highest bids were the following:

1. Vacation trips - offered by private owners of condos, times shares and homes in other countries, in the mountains or by the sea. One of our employees owned a home about an hour outside Rome and that home went for thousands! [though still below what would have been market price]

2. Catered dinner parties at the donor's home or at the buyer's home.

3. Spa days donated by local businesses

4. Maid for a month

5. Laptops [Dell donates on regular basis]

Here when having an auction you must gain 'permission' which authenticates your event...not certain about your area. You might want to also contact your local Cancer Society office to see what experiences they may have had.

Answer 3

Actually, you can talk to the American Cancer Society who will help you with this. They are able to get good donations from businesses for this sort of thing. People recognize that better than someone off the street. We had a auction at a place I worked that was sponsored by the American Cancer Society and it was quite a success.

Answer 4

Dont know if its been mentioned but cake auctions really bring in the money. You could also have a hot dog supper and many people will donate more than the door charge. You could get a particular item and hold a raffle. Get kids in the neighborhood to have a car wash. Ask the teenagers to do a bake sale. Have used clothing sale.

Answer 5

I went to several benefits for a cancer child. What they did was get help from people they knew. ! person donated the facility, another donated tickets to ballgames, another donated a certificate to his restaurant,these people had lived in this town all their lives and knew everyone,as did their parents,so getting items was easy, the family all pitched in and decorated and did all the cooking and they had door prizes and sold raffle tickets for big items,1 was a donated tv.,insurance paid for the child,but the transportation back and forth, and the parents staying near the hospital and the part that insurance didn't cover were all paid by the benefit.They also had cancer bracelets made with a certain color and sold them for 5.00 dollars each and almost everyone bought one. Good Luck.

Answer 6

We did a silent auction for a co worker and invited people hospital wide. We had all kinds of things donated, but the most popular things were theme baskets that people made up. Movie baskets with soda, pop corn, candy, and rental girt certificates. Spa baskets with candles, scented soaps, and other girly bath things.
Our auction was a hit! We also had a donation jar and we really able to ease her burden for a long time.
Good luck and hope all goes well.

Answer 7

Ask around if somebody has a time-share week to offer.
Also a novel idea is to offer yourself as a domestic for a day and have yourself auctioned, also a basket with fancy foods is popular. A white elephant item , wrapped up, could bring in some money. There are lots of ways to make money and it is a lot of fun too. Good luck

Answer 8

Contact one of your more popular radio stations. The ones around here are always doing some kind of benefit. If they can't do one for your cause, perhaps they can give you some ideas.

To answer your second question about authenticating the event, you might want to see if one of the radio personalities would like to come as a guest, to the benefit dinner.

Answer 9

Gold Wing is the most informative so run with his ideas ASAP. Do call upon in person if possible nail boutiques, hair salons, dry cleaners even stores like WalMart, Target, grocery stores. As they get free advertisement from the benefit. At the event have the bows and all you need to clip cash to the money tree. Mention it many times as people will enjoy helping cover it in cash. Good luck!

Answer 10

Get in touch with your elected official....it is an election year, is it not? What better way for a politician to get good press than to "help" a cancer patient raise money to cover the cost of his medical care? You can present it in just that way as well. It would also help if you happened to have a reporter for your local paper close by when you approach him as well. If he knows he will get bad press by refusing, then chances are that he will do something to get the ball rolling regarding corporate sponsors (from his own contributors) etal.

Don't think of it as blackmail. Think of it as creatively using the existing situation to your (and your husband's colleague of course) advantage!