[NFBV-Announce] Announcing the 2020 NFBV Action Auction Benefiting Chapters & Divisions

[Sarah Patnaude]

> 
> From Earl Everett, Fundraising Chair
> ever23851 at gmail.com
>  
> The success of the National Federation of the Blind of Virginia (NFBV) is built on the generosity of our members to contribute time, talents, and money  to our movement. However, if we can make fundraising fun, this is even better.
> Our 2020 NFBV Action Auction provides the opportunity for our NFBV Chapters and divisions to raise funds to grow programming locally. When a chapter or division donates an item, the proceeds of that item will be returned to the chapter after the convention. We know it is hard to fundraise when we are not together in person, so we have built a program that makes it easy for chapters and divisions to be successful.
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> Our 2020 Action Auction will be conducted mostly online using the 32Auctions web-based platform with a small portion of carefully selected items sold through a live auction conducted during the convention over the Zoom platform. We suspect less than 10% of the items will be sold at the live auction.
> Here is how it works:
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> Identify Auction Items
> Chapter and division members identify items to donate which others from across the Commonwealth or across the country may wish to purchase. Remember, quality over quantity is important. As the donor of the item, you are responsible for shipping the item to the individual and paying for the cost of shipment. A glass figurine that sells for $15 might cost $10 to ship, making it less effective as a profitable auction item.
> These items might come from people’s homes, from businesses within your community, or may be items made by our members. Unfortunately, this year due to public health uncertainty, we will not be auctioning event-based prizes such as a dinner in someone’s home.
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> Document your exciting Items on our Web Based Form
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> Every auction item should be documented using the web form found at
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> http://www.nfbv.org/auction
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> The form will ask you for information about the donor, a catchy name for the item, the chapter or division which will benefit,  a detailed text based description of the item that clearly communicates the benefits to the purchaser, a photo of the item (if appropriate) and both the minimum you would accept and your guess at the fair market value of the item. All items donated should be submitted quickly but must be submitted no later than October 15, 2020 so our team has the time needed to make them live on our auction site.
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> Review by Auction Team
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> Each item suggested will be reviewed by or auction team led by auctioneers Jacki Brown and Laurie Wages. They will determine which items will be sold through our live auction, which items will be sold through the online auction only, and which items are more suitable for a door prize. They are the authorities on this auction and their decisions are final. 
> Item Established in 32 Auctions
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> Many NFB state affiliates have used the mostly accessible 32 Auctions platform to list auction items and run online auctions. Once reviewed by Jacki and Laurie, Oscar Montiel has agreed to serve as the administrator for our 32 Auctions site to capture the details for each auction item.
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> Check things out, share with your friends and families, and start Bidding
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> All auction items will be available to review on our 32 Auctions site.
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> https://www.32auctions.com/nfbv20
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> You can look at the auction items without registering but you will not be able to bid on the items unless you register.  You can place a bid, define a bid that escalates to a maximum price, and watch the interest in your items. Each item will identify which chapter or division benefits. You will be able to bid online on all items, but some will be marked that they will also shift to Zoom Live Auction.  for almost all items, the bidding closes on Sunday, November 1 at 5:00 PM.  For a small subset of Zoom Live Auction items, we will conduct an interactive live auction during the Saturday (10/31) morning and evening sessions over the Zoom platform where you will be able to bid for items by raising your hand in Zoom. We conducted a pilot of this approach at the Richmond Chapter meeting in August and it worked well. For Zoom Live auction  items, the final bid at the live auction is the final bid.
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> The auction is not limited to our members. You can encourage friends, family, colleagues, and anyone to register on 32 Auctions and bid on the great items available. If you wish to bid on a live auction item but will not be available on October 31, place a high bid on the   item and your bid just might be our highest bid for the item.
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> Jacki and Laurie will run a fast-paced live auction over Zoom. You will want to practice raising your hand in Zoom and if you win an item, you may be asked to unmute yourself to tell us who you are if we can’t tell by your name in Zoom. 
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> Check out over the phone
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> The 2020 NFBV Action Auction closes on Sunday, November 1 at 5:00 PM Eastern Time. We are establishing a small team to call people, walk people through the auction items they won and collect payments with a credit or debit card using Square.  Our team will be calling people between Sunday November 1 and Tuesday, November 3 to collect payments. Your items will not be sent until we receive your payment. At that time, we will also gather details about where exactly to ship your items. If you wish, you can define that a specific item is shipped to an address other than your home, allowing you to purchase an item for a friend or give the items as holiday presents. All items must be shipped to addresses within the United States.
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> Shipping Items
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> After payment is collected, the team will send the donor an email copying the auction item winner outlining where each item they donated should be shipped. The donor is expected to ship all items by November 10. If it is possible to provide the winner a tracking number from UPS or USPS, that would really help. The Virginia affiliate will not be paying for shipping costs. This is the responsibility of the donor. If necessary, donors could work with their chapter/division   to determine if shipping costs can be covered by the chapter/division.
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> Funds Provided to Chapter or Division
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> Since every item has a winning bid value and each item is associated with a chapter or division, the Action Auction team will provide the NFB of Virginia Treasurer the amount to be returned to each chapter or division. Please note, Square processing fees of approximately 3% will come out of the amount returned to the chapters and divisions. As a result, if your chapter donated an item that sold for $100, your chapter will receive about $97.
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> We hope this detailed explanation explains the process and has you excited about donating items and bidding. However, we know there will be questions. We are excited for your questions.
> Earl Everett
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>  
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