Clients rave about the July KTBA Benefit Auction Workshop!
On Wednesday, July 21st, a group of fundraisers joined Kip and our staff for a KTBA Benefit Auction Workshop at the beautiful Harbor Club in downtown Seattle. Our guests were fundraisers from all types of organizations: theatres, animal welfare centers, community action groups, school foundations, and more. Some guests were current clients and some were new clients. Some were auction “pros” and some had never been involved in a benefit auction before. Some weren’t even currently planning an auction and were just curious about what it involves. But they all seemed to have one thing in common: They all wanted to raise more money for the causes that they care about.
We began with introductions to find out more about the wonderful organizations and their representatives in the room. Then Kip was off and running, providing the eager attendees with information and assistance from his over 37 years of benefit auction experience. We discussed the importance of utilizing your mission, acquisitions, attendance, structuring your auction items, space layout, sound design, budgets, item trades and reserves, auctioneering, ExpressPay™, and allowed plenty of time for guests to ask specific questions about some of the challenges they were facing in their own auction events.
One of the best parts of the evening was moving to the dining room where we were served an amazing seared tuna dinner from the Harbor Club chef while overlooking the Puget Sound from 14 floors above downtown Seattle. The view was amazing, the meal was impeccable and the company was fantastic! Everyone really enjoyed getting a chance to talk and get to know one another as fellow fundraisers and as new friends.
But don’t take our word for it- read some of the comments from attendees below:
“Thank you so much for the workshop. It was amazing and we learned so much!”
“Thanks so much for the workshop. I had a splendid time, learned a lot, and got excited for next year's auction. I think the workshop was extremely well done and I enjoyed every bit of it.”
“Thanks for hosting such a great event. Surely this reflects the kind of benefit auctions you organize!”
“We enjoyed the workshop and the Harbor Club as well as the meal. It was all very professional and a great chance to chat with other fund raisers. Thanks for putting together such an educational and inspirational evening.”
Would you like to attend a workshop? We are planning out next workshop for early September, so please let us know if you’d like to receive more information about the event. There is a fee for attending, however we do offer a few grants to organizations who cannot afford the ticket price. Please email our Director of Sales and Marketing, Mary Bliss McCrossen, at mbm@ktba.net for information or call our offices at (206)282-9050 anytime between 8AM and 5PM, Monday through Friday.
We hope to see you in September!
