Gift Auction and Talent Night (or No Talent Night!)

One of the best fundraising events I've ever been to was a “Gift Auction and No Talent Night”. This was a youth group fundraiser and we raised over $500 in one night.

Members from the church community and local businesses donated goods and services to be auctioned off during the night. Items included nights baby sitting, dinner cooked and delivered, beauty salon vouchers, a slab of beer, paintings, lawn mowing, and so on.

Anyone with an idea for a talent act was invited to participate. Each act paid $1 to enter their act. Acts included serious acts such as a pianist and a singer or two, as well as people “hamming it up”, taking off TV shows, and doing stand up comedy.

The night was divided up with 2-3 acts then an auction or two. We've done this twice and each time was a little different depending on how many acts and auctions there were.

The audience paid $1 to enter the hall, this included the performers.

The audience voted for their favourite act with their wallet! Each vote was worth 10cents. The winner was the act with the most votes. The votes were able to be rigged – one act put a fifty dollar note in the bucket for their act!!!

This was a great family night and no one felt pressured to participate. As the buckets for voting were passed around the audience, no one noticed if you didn't vote with a lot of money! It was an easy fundraiser to organise, especially with a group of talented (or not-so-talented) people.

If you have a lot of items to auction, you could also have a silent auction before and after the show and during an interval.

Article Source: http://www.therepozitory.com.au

Melissa Khalinsky is a work at home mother of 2 boys. She runs www.businessmums.com, a support and information network for parents.

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