Going, Going…

A Bid by the Board to Reenergize the Attleboro Rotary Auction

PresentedBy Jim Jones & Gerry Hickman

October 30, 2013

The 2013 Rotary Auction Was Disappointing.

Net proceeds fell $3,400 to $14,900. There was little for Rotarians to do at

DoubleACS on auction night. With many items opening with significant bids

from early online bidding, the Cable TV show was unexciting.

The Board met during the summer to consider the fate of this traditional fundraiser.

Six Year Auction History

Recent history shows a decline in net auction proceeds. In 2012 we lost the big Country Gardens wedding package. 2009, the first auction after the market crash, is 15% over the 6

year average of $17.25. (perhaps there are lessons here) 2013 is down 15% from the 6 year average.

(000’s) 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013

Net Proceeds $19.8 $24.1 $19.8 $19.9 $18.3 $14.9

w/o Country Gardens

$16.8 $20.0 $17.3 $16.2 $18.3 $14.9

The Auction Remains Our Biggest Fundraiser

(000’s) 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013

Auction $19.8 $24.1 $19.8 $19.9 $18.3 $14.9

Golf $12.2 $11.6 $9.6 $12.1 $9.6 $10.6

Parking $9.8 $9.8 $10.3 $9.7 $10.8 $11.2

Auction Donation History

*Inconsistent data input make 2008, 2009, 2010 stats unreliable. 2013 maintained average value, but had 15% fewer items and

8% fewer donors.

2008* 2009* 2010* 2011 2012 2013

# of Items 169 159 256 250 244 212

Value(000’s) $29.1 $21.1 $41.5 $33.4 $31.7 28.2

Avg $172 $133 $162 $134 $130 $133

# of Donors 113 108 173 165 169 155

w/o CG

# of Items 168 158 255 249 244 212

Value $25.1 $16.9 $37.3 $29.2 $31.7 28.2

Avg $149 $107 $146* $117 $130 $133

Donations by Value Range

* Inconsistent data input make 2008, 2009, 2010 value stats unreliable. Since 2011 there has been a drop in the $100-199 range. Besides the wedding package, some large donations like SAT prep and furniture or bedding often didn’t

yield much.

2008* 2009* 2010* 2011 2012 2013

> $1,000 3 2 2 1 - -

$750 - 1,000 3 1 - - 3 2

$500 -749 5 2 13 5 5 7

$300 - 499 8 5 7 9 11 13

$200 - 299 11 8 31 17 29 21

$100 - 199 70 49 106 111 77 73

$50 - 99 45 54 76 71 69 62

<$50 24 20 18 35 46 32

Auction Bidding Stats

* Inconsistent data input make 2008, 2009, 2010 yield stats unreliable. In 2013, the # of bids were up from 2012, but the yield fell 10%. The difference between the $’s bid and the net proceeds are the cash

donations and on-line ad purchases less the expenses. Primary expenses are the Sun Chronicle ad, the phones and printing.

2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013

# of bids 2086 2821 2118 1947 1711 1861$’s bid $19.2 $15.7* $21.9* $21.6 $20.1 $16.4Yield 66% 75%* 53%* 65% 64% 58%

# of Winning Bidders

75 99 102 105 96 88

Winning Bidder Distribution

2008 2009* 2010* 2011 2012 2013

> $1,000 5 1 2 1 - 1$750 - 1,000 - - 1 1 2 1

$500 -749 4 1 6 7 5 2$300 - 499 8 9 16 10 19 10$200 - 299 9 9 10 11 13 16$100 - 199 17 21 25 24 21 26

$50 - 99 15 30 22 30 17 17<$50 17 28 20 21 19 15

What Does History Teach Us?

Despite the 2013 decline, the Auction is still our top fundraiser. 2013 had 15% fewer items and 8% fewer donors, though the

average donation value held. The 10% drop in yield may indicate a decrease in the appeal of

the donations, a reduction in audience, or both. The number of bids rebounded from 2012, but remains far

below the 2009 high.

We Debated Various Options Go back to the old format - no online bidding,

the phone bank, the bidding board and the auction pit.

Scrap the auction and solicit member cash donations to make up the shortfall.

Create a new fundraiser of equal impact. Re-envision the auction to recapture the fun,

fellowship and financial return.

Our Plan of Action: Renewal Jim Jones has volunteered to head the

revitalization efforts. With a committee that he will organize.

Eliminate phone bidding: Online bidding only. Eliminate the Sun Chronicle ad. Publish the

auction items on-line in a printer-friendly pdf format.

Create an aggressive social media campaign to generate even more interest in the auction, staring earlier than in the past.

Our Plan of Action(cont.) Analyze our donor and bidding history to

identify high/low yield items. Eliminate the low yield items and solicit more high yield items. The goal: Fewer items with higher yield.

Identify the solicitation strengths of certain Rotarians. Certain past donors would be solicited as in the past. New donors and orphaned donors would be identified and assigned to members who have a high success rate with solicitations.

Our Plan of Action(cont.) Make the Auction night more festive. Invite

spouses/guests along with recent Rotary community grant recipients. There would be beer, wine and finger food. No luncheon meeting at Highland that Wednesday.

Our Plan of Action(cont.) Make the Cable TV show more like a telethon.

Rotarian MC’s would announce cumulative auction results as the night progressed, perhaps using a thermometer to show movement toward our goal. The bulk of the show would be about Rotary and what we do in the community - interviews with local grant recipients and short RI videos. The goal would be a two hour, not a three hour evening.

Our Plan of Action(cont.) Set our financial goal to exceed $20,000 net.