[NFBV-Announce] Announcing the 2021 NFB of Virginia Auction to benefit Silver Bells Program

[jackibruce6 at gmail.com]

>From Renee Valdez, Fundraising Co-Chair

(703) 966-0836

Renee Valdez reneerome at yahoo.com <mailto:reneerome at yahoo.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 2021 NFBV Action Auction provides the opportunity to raise funds to
support our new NFB of Virginia Silver Bells Program for blind and low
vision seniors. When we donate an item, the proceeds of that item will go
directly to support our Silver Bells program.

 

Our 2021 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:

 

A.	Identify Auction Items

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. 

 

B.	Document your exciting Items on our Web Based Form

 

Every auction item should be documented using the web form found at 

 

http://www.nfbv.org/auction

 

The form will ask you for information about the donor, a catchy name for the
item, 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, 2021 so our team has the
time needed to make them live on our auction site.

 

C.	Review by Auction Team

 

Each item suggested will be reviewed by or auction team led by auctioneer
Laurie Wages and Fundraising co-chair Renee Valdez. 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.  

D.	Item Established in 32 Auctions

 

Many NFB state affiliates have used the mostly accessible 32 Auctions
platform to list auction items and run online auctions. Once reviewed by
Laurie and Renee, Oscar Montiel has agreed to serve as the administrator for
our 32 Auctions site to capture the details for each auction item. 

 

E.	Check things out, share with your friends and families, and start
Bidding

 

All auction items will be available to review on our 32 Auctions site. 

 

https://www.32auctions.com/nfbv21

 

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.
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, October 31 at 5:00 PM.  For a small subset of Zoom
Live Auction items, we will conduct an interactive live auction during the
Saturday (10/30) morning and evening sessions and the Sunday (10/31)
afternoon session over the Zoom platform where you will be able to bid for
items by raising your hand in Zoom. We are only doing a very small number of
items and numerous state affiliates have made it work over Zoom at their
state conventions.

For Zoom Live auction items, the final bid at the live auction is the final
bid.

 

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 30, place a high bid on the   item and your bid
just might be our highest bid for the item.

 

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.  

 

F.	Check out over the phone

 

The 2021 NFBV Action Auction closes on Sunday, October 31 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 Monday November 1 and
Wednesday, 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.

 

G.	Shipping Items

 

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. 

 

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.

Renee Valdez 

(703) 966-0836

Renee Valdez reneerome at yahoo.com <mailto:reneerome at yahoo.com> 

 

 

 





 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://nfbnet.org/pipermail/nfbv-announce_nfbnet.org/attachments/20210923/28aa17ff/attachment.html>