PROCUREMENT
Procurement is over for the Midnight at the Oasis auction.
Thank you for all your hard work!
Please feel free to start thinking about next year!
The success of an auction depends on the value of and the demand for items up for bid. The best items are unique experiences, activities and items that are not easily purchased and have greater value than just the ticket price. Be creative with your items! Look to your relationships. Find out who knows whom and leverage those relationships.
The answer is always NO unless you ASK!!
Don't forget to keep those procurement forms with you at all times.
Jump to:
Item Guidelines
Getting Started
How To
Procurement Item Guidelines
- Procurement form deadline for items is Friday, MARCH 7th.
- Each family is required to donate at least two items totaling $125.
- Items should be new and in the original packaging. No used items will be accepted.
- No clothing will be accepted. Handmade items are the exception and will be accepted on an individual basis.
- Items valued for less than $30 should be kept to a minimum and may be combined with other items in a theme package.
- Procured items must be turned into the designated area at the school. Please do not send an item in with your child (items have been lost before). If you can’t get the item to school, check the box on the procurement form indicating that a pick-up is necessary.
- Please be sure items are safely wrapped, bagged or boxed to protect them while they are being stored. All items must be in a bag for easy movement to storage and back to school and to ensure items won’t get lost.
- Please turn your items in early and try not to wait until the last minute. This will guarantee that the items are included in the catalog.
- Please review your item ideas to make sure they are “sellable”. This is especially true of services. For instance, your family doctor might be happy to donate a free office visit, but how many people would want to go to a doctor other than their own? Suggest advertising in the auction catalog as opposed to donating a service. This would be true for lawyers, dentists, etc. Business card size ads are $50.00. A good rule of thumb is to ask yourself if the item is something you would be excited about purchasing.
- Get together with friends. Several people can pool resources and put together an item that would be impossible for one person to procure. Use your imagination! Have Fun!
GOOD LUCK
Getting Started
- Start with YOU. What can you personally do or offer. Are you a seamstress? Chef? Handy Person? Painter? Tutor? Do you have a boat? Season Tickets? Vacation home?
- Go to family. Do any of your relatives have special items, vacation homes, talents they would share with you?
- Go to parish friends. Would your parish friends want to share or donate special items to show support for the community. Parishioners have a vested interest in seeing the school and the children succeed. Certainly they would love to help you if you ask. And, don’t forget to invite them to the auction.
- Go to friends, neighbors and acquaintances. Say to them: “We have our annual school auction coming up and I am trying to think of something unique/fun/ interesting/valuable to procure/put together this year. Do you have any ideas or thoughts or friends who could help me?”
- Talk to merchants, especially the ones you frequent. Most businesses have a budget for donating to the community. And, they are willing to donate to charitable auctions. If you are a regular customer at a local business, don’t be shy about asking for a donation. If you don’t ask, another school or organization will. Businesses are very generous and this is a form of advertising for them and we have a huge community, over 2,000 families! Think of it this way; you are doing them a favor by asking them to donate!
E-Mail! This opens up all kinds of new opportunities. Almost every business, hotel, resort, restaurant, merchant has a website. This is a fast and easy way to ask for goods or services. All the materials you need (the procurement form and letter and the Tax ID number) are all on the Holy Family website. - Cold calls. If there is something out there you would like to see at the auction, say sky diving lessons, and you don’t have any connections to that item, pick up the phone or visit that merchant. Explain that his/her item or services would be great at our auction and you won’t take no for an answer!
- Be persistent, courageous, use humor and get a friend to go with you.
Remember, if you don’t ask, someone else will!
How To Suggestions
- Use an “official” procurement letter. Many businesses like to have a request for a donation on the school’s letterhead for their records. Most of them require the nonprofit tax ID number, which is located on the bottom of the procurement letter (as well as the procurement form).
- If you need to download the procurement formletter, click on the appropriate link in the sidebar.
- School letterhead can be found in the school office. Use the letter and tailor it to fit the business you are writing.
- Each donation must have a procurement form which should be completed by the Donor. They keep the gold copy and all other copies are submitted with the item. Forms are available in the school office or by clicking the link in the sidebar. NOTE> If you are using a downloaded form, please be sure to make 3 photocopies, 1 copy for the donor and the other 2 plus the original to submit.
- Follow up! It may take more than one letter, visit or phone call to get your item. Some merchants “hold” your request until a follow up call or visit is made. But once that is done, you are almost guaranteed success.
- Send a personal thank you to any business that donates. Remember, we can not say thank you enough. The auction Thank You Committee will also send a thank you note.