This text is contributed by Jeff Cova, President of Winspire. 

When your nonprofit hosts a fundraising public sale, your catalog is a crucial useful resource for connecting with supporters and sponsors earlier than, throughout, and after the occasion. Not solely does it function a information to the occasion, nevertheless it’s additionally a part of your advertising technique and a useful resource for thanking everybody who made your fundraising success doable. Moreover, an public sale catalog with an expert design and well-written content material can encourage occasion individuals to bid on high-value gadgets.

In accordance with the fundraising specialists at Winspire, a completely fleshed-out public sale catalog is greatest suited to an in-person stay public sale as a result of the merchandise record is normally brief and finalized effectively upfront, making the catalog comparatively straightforward to place collectively. For silent and digital auctions that function extra gadgets, well-designed bid sheets serve an identical objective in catching supporters’ consideration. Nonetheless, you would possibly nonetheless create an abbreviated catalog to preview a couple of fastidiously chosen silent public sale prizes.

On this information, we’ll cowl the important thing parts of a nonprofit public sale catalog and talk about the best way to distribute the catalog when it’s full. Let’s get began!

Contents of a Nonprofit Public sale Catalog

It’s no secret that at a fundraising public sale, the gadgets are the star of the present. Though it’s best to mirror this by making your merchandise descriptions take up the majority of your public sale catalog, this isn’t the one part it’s best to embody.

Let’s stroll by way of every part of a well-designed catalog in additional element.

Cowl Web page

As a result of your cowl web page is the very first thing supporters will see once they choose up (or obtain) your public sale catalog, it must be eye-catching and have an expert really feel to entice them to look inside. Top-of-the-line methods to perform that is to function your nonprofit’s model entrance and heart.

Kwala’s guide to nonprofit branding recommends together with the next model parts in your group’s advertising supplies, together with your public sale catalog’s cowl web page:

• Coloration palette. Guarantee enough distinction between the textual content and background colours. Darkish textual content on a light-weight background or gentle textual content on a darkish background improves readability.
• Typography. So as to add visible selection to your catalog, take into account selecting two model typefaces: one for titles and one for physique textual content. However keep away from utilizing greater than three fonts in order to not create a cluttered design.
• Brand. Place your brand on the high of your catalog’s cowl web page to make sure it’s instantly seen and recognizable to public sale individuals.
• Tagline. A tagline is a brief, memorable phrase that captures the essence of your mission. Embody it on the duvet subsequent to your nonprofit’s title and brand so new supporters can shortly perceive the trigger they’re supporting by collaborating in your public sale.

Moreover, embody images or one other attention-grabbing visible design in your public sale catalog cowl web page. These visuals ought to relate both to your mission or to your public sale gadgets, relying on what would attraction most to your nonprofit’s supporters.

Mission Info

When you’ve drawn supporters in with a visible overview of your occasion and its objective in your cowl web page, dive deeper into the trigger your public sale will assist. On the within cowl of your catalog, write out your group’s mission statement and supply particular examples of the way you’ll use the funds raised to additional that mission.

You possibly can additionally convey this mission info with a letter out of your nonprofit’s govt director or board chair addressed to public sale attendees. This strategy not solely offers area to incorporate information and tell stories that exhibit your group’s impression, however the signature from a frontrunner at your nonprofit additionally boosts credibility to reassure individuals that they’re supporting a very good trigger.

Occasion Agenda

The occasion agenda part is pretty easy: embody the order of occasions on the fundraiser, the beginning and finish time for bidding on stay public sale gadgets, and some other logistical particulars individuals ought to know, corresponding to the place to gather their prizes and whether or not meals will probably be served. As soon as the stay public sale begins, bidding can shortly change into intense, so it’s useful for attendees to understand how the occasion will proceed beforehand.

Merchandise Descriptions

This part ought to take up the vast majority of your catalog, and it’s greatest to incorporate about 12-15 live auction items in whole. This fashion, you may spotlight two or three per web page, add related images, and write detailed descriptions that encourage supporters to bid.

Listed below are some tricks to make your descriptions extra persuasive:

• Give every merchandise a catchy title. For instance, “French Countryside Chateau Getaway” will pique supporters’ curiosity greater than “Trip to Bordeaux, France” would.
• Write concisely. Hold your sentences brief and use bullet factors the place doable to make your descriptions skimmable.
• Embody all important info. Listing all the pieces included in a prize bundle, together with any limitations on its use (such because the dates when tickets are legitimate), so supporters could make an knowledgeable choice about whether or not to bid on every merchandise.

Accompany every description with a monitoring quantity so you’ll find the successful bidders and guarantee they declare their gadgets on the finish of the public sale.

Sponsor Acknowledgments

Securing sponsorships is important to maximizing your public sale’s fundraising ROI. Company companions can both present monetary assist to offset occasion planning prices or help you in procuring auction items at little or no value. Nonetheless, sponsorships should be mutually helpful to succeed.

One profit you may present your occasion sponsors is free publicity by recognizing them in varied occasion supplies, together with your public sale catalog. If a company companion donated an public sale merchandise, add their brand to the outline with a brief blurb corresponding to, “This merchandise was offered by [business name].” On the final web page of your catalog, record monetary contributors according to their sponsorship level to thank them for his or her assist.

The way to Distribute Your Nonprofit Public sale Catalog

When you’ve designed an public sale catalog that features the entire above parts, it’s best to ship it to a print store to make bodily copies and reserve it as a PDF for digital distribution. There are two primary causes for utilizing each distribution strategies. The primary is to permit supporters to decide on their most popular technique of following alongside through the occasion—some individuals would possibly like a tough copy, whereas others would fairly obtain the catalog on their smartphones.

Moreover, having each print and digital variations of your public sale catalog ensures you may seamlessly incorporate it into your whole advertising supplies. Embody a bodily copy with mailed invites, and hyperlink to the PDF in emails, social media put up captions, and the occasions part of your nonprofit’s website. This fashion, irrespective of how supporters discover out about your public sale, they’ll get a sneak peek at your public sale gadgets and are available ready to bid on their favorites.

Whereas some nonprofits solicit skilled graphic design companies for his or her public sale catalogs, there are additionally free instruments and templates obtainable on-line in case you’d favor to take a do-it-yourself strategy. By together with the entire parts listed above, incorporating your group’s branding and high-quality images, and guaranteeing your design interprets to each print and digital distribution strategies, you may create a polished-looking catalog to your nonprofit’s subsequent public sale irrespective of your degree of design expertise.

In regards to the Writer

Jeff Cova

Jeff has over 17 years of expertise within the Nonprofit and fundraising business. Previous to Winspire, Jeff labored for five years because the Director of Improvement at Cal State Fullerton earlier than co-founding an organization specializing in producing charity auctions for Nonprofits the place he efficiently produced the auctions for 250 of Southern California’s most profitable fundraising occasions.

In 2008 Jeff based Winspre with the purpose of serving to non-profits throughout the nation enhance their occasion fundraising income and establish new fundraising sources. Jeff and his group at Winspire have helped over 12,000 non-profits to this point.