Silent Auction for the RMC Club (e-Veritas)? Yes or NO?
By: WJO
The idea to run a silent auction leading up to Reunion Weekend 14 (RWE 14) sponsored by the RMC Club, in general, e-Veritas specifically is being tossed around in Panet House with no final decision at this time.
Club president, Jacques Gagne has been advised and has given the green light to continue the thought but with no final approval from the Club Executive until more details are available.
The first question we need to ask is: is a silent auction right for the RMC Club? Keeping in mind that in order to raise a significant amount of money, the silent auction will either need to have a large number of items to auction off, or a few high-end items that are attractive to people.
Either way, a silent auction is hard work: either we have to spend lots of time digging up a few large items, or we have to find a lot of small items and track them throughout the process. No matter how we cut it, silent auctions are time and manpower intensive. Before planning the auction, we have to decide if the return is worth the investment of time, people, and resources for the RMC Club.
In this regard, we are asking for feedback from e-Veritas readers.
Would you support the Silent Auction by “sponsoring’ a gift value minimum of $120? Ideally, the gift would come in the form of a gift certificate from a reputable business anywhere in Canada, USA and even further abroad. Included would be restaurant and other hospitality type gift certificates – NHL hockey tickets (pair); hotels; time shares; and other popular events from almost virtually any place. We are confident we can contact potential ‘buyers’ from coast to coast to coast and most major cities in the World.
As e-Veritas is widely read by a very diverse group, it is our belief a bona fide gift card from almost anywhere would not be a hard item to auction off. Further if we receive gift cards – display & logistics etc are eased tremendously.
We have set the $120 minimum per item, for a reason. Silent auctions are run for one reason – to raise money. By setting this limit we feel we will best achieve a good return for the effort and time invested to run this event.
Of course, we are open to more high-ended items and welcome readers to contact us with their offers.
We are well aware that silent auction events generally take a few years to hit full stride. In that vein we are prepared for “growing pains”. If we do go ahead this year we should be ready to commit holding a similar event each year for a few years until it hits full steam.
One of the most important things we can do to ensure the success of the silent auction is to put together a strong auction team. The team is tasked with one thing and one thing only: sponsor an item and helping the OPI find items to auction off at the event.
In short, we are searching for people who are willing to join the team and solicit auction items from their friends, family, colleagues, vendors, and more.
Please contact Bill Oliver if you are up to the challenge of joining this team.