Our first 2 biennial auctions were at the school, but in 1999 we moved off campus to a country club location. In that environment, we were able to make the event classier, more of a night out for the parents. We went from $5 tickets in 1996 with dads in dockers and earning $6000 profit, to $25 tickets in 2001, with formal dresses and earning $20,000 in profit. Experience accounts for alot of that improvement, but the venue sets the tone that this is a big deal.

We have had an auction for the past 3 years at our public elementary school. The first 2 years we held the auction at our school. We did need to pay for a custodian as we were in the building after hours but the price was minimal for the custodians to be present. This past year we moved our auction to the high school gymnasium next door because we have out grown our gymnasium. This year was also the first year we added a live auction portion of the evening. We put all of the classroom projects and big ticket items in the live auction- it worked great! We also acceptted credit cards as a form of payment this year. The upfront costs were minimal and we made quite a bit in charges alone. Auctions are a lot of work but they are a fun event for all and worth all of the effort put into it.

Hi Calarenee, sounds like everyone had a blast. I have just sent all the companies on "dottie's list" letters, the responses have been trickling in slowly, mostly "sorry we don't donate". feel free to email me if you want specifics. [img]smile.gif[/img]
Add the big apple circus to your list though, they were very pleasant, and sent us a certificate for 4 comp tix.
Last year we got stuff from gymboree, gap, coca-cola, movie theatres, restaurants, and I can't remember right now what else. :&gt maggie

I ran our very first ever auction this year . With the help of our teachers donating time with our kids and the parents donating items or their time, along with businesses and local attractions we raised $15,000! That was profit!! We had it at a local golf club and made it a very nice evening out.Everyone has already voted to have another one next year,so I got your list of mailing donors and I am getting my envelopes ready! If I can help let me know.GOOD UCK It was so FUN!!!!
cala

We had our very first auction last Saturday. It was a huge success (for us!) We had about 170 people (both parents and outside people) We raised about $10,000. We are a catholic school with about 200 students. We kept it informal and fun. We had 100 gift baskets filled with anywhere from 5 - 10 donations in them. All together we had about 800 donations. We are already planning one for next year. It was so fun. We kept it at the school so the focus would remain on why we were doing it. Most people felt this was a really positive thing. Good luck

We're planning on an auction next year, too. We're going to check into getting a meeting room at a hotel (hopefully donated, or at least at a discounted price!). Our feeling is that holding it outside of the school makes it more of a community event. Good luck with your auction, Maggie, and let us know how it goes!