Silent auctions have been a staple for raising charitable donations at nonprofit events for possibly hundreds of years. With the proven results of online auctions, the charitable silent auction has started to get a facelift. Biddingforgood.com provides a centralized location to host all kinds of auctions for nonprofit organizations. Not only can they host an organization's silent auction, but they have hundreds of thousands of members themselves that can bid on the items, increasing competition and donation amount. Improvements over the old pen and paper system are obvious. For one, bidders no longer feel intimidated by long list of names that have bid before them, but they also can be aroused to competition if they get an e-mail telling them that they've been outbid. Silent auctions of the past have tended to be social cocktail parties designed to keep the guests for as long as possible while they are bidding, but cocktails and socializing can have a distracting effect that is not conducive to the competitive bidding environment. Another obvious advantage is that all of the philanthropic supporters, instead of merely a fraction, can participate in the auction.
Reference: http://nonprofit.about.com/od/fundraisingauctions/a/auctionsonline.htm
https://www.biddingforgood.com/auction/biddingforgood.action
2 comments:
I have never known about this auction till now. This is one of the best ways to give money to those who are in need for it. You don't have to organize a special event to collect charity, but you could do it online. My only concern is that how safe is the website? Are there organization responsible for this kind of charity? How much did they collect? Is the government involved?
Mohammed Bin Ahmed
As far as I can tell using the website, the government is not involved, and the pricing structure can be found here: https://www.biddingforgood.com/online-auction-services/products/pricing.html
It involves a subscription fee as well as a performance fee. The website seems quite safe, as safe as any major auction website. I would say that there is a dual responsibility for how the charity is promoted. Bidding For Good will of course promote the auction on their website, but it is also up to the nonprofit client to promote to their supporters where the auction is being held.
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