Hosting a Date Auction

Need to do some fundraising, for your sorority, fraternity, or other organization, but want to have an enjoyable time, try a date auction. A date auction is a simple idea but does take some work in order for it to become a great time and for it to be a successful fundraising event. The things to consider are advertisement, location, refreshments, games, cost and rules. A date auction is where individuals that attend pay a cover charge for which they receive a certain amount of fake money, that they then gamble with to earn more, the fake money is what they use to bid at the actual date auction, they should also be able to buy more for a cashier, and date auctions are commonly semi formal events.

1) Advertisement

Once the specifics of the event are determined then in order to get people to attend the event it needs to be advertised. Some ideas for advertising the event include local newspapers, establish a facebook event page and have the members of the organization invite all their friends, flyers and contact other organizations directly. When contacting other organizations either see if attending their meetings is an options so that a direct invitations can be made or see if their officers would be willing to make an announcement about the invitation or send a formal written invitation to the organization.

2) Location

Try to estimate how many people will be in attendance, this wills the main determining factor in where the date auction could be held. By considering locations that are well known, centrally located, and fits into the budget for the event, the event will surely be a success.

3) Refreshments

The guests/bidders at the date auction should be served drinks and snacks while they play the games and mingle among the other guests.

4) Games

What kinds of games are the guests going to play? The games played could include; Black jack, craps, poker, which hand is the quarter in or something else. This is a decision that should be up to the committee and the games should not be overly difficult to play.

5) Cost

What is the cover fee going to be? How much is additional fake money going to cost? How much money does the committee have to spend on the event? What is the goal for the amount of money to be raised? These are all questions that the committee should consider about the financial aspects of the event.

6) Rules

This is probably the most important part of the planning the event. Some decisions include if bidders can purchase more fake money after they have purchased a date or if they have to have the money when they bid. How are people supposed to bid for dates? How long are the dates going to be if purchased? What is going to be the conversion rate between real and fake money?

Good Luck with all Fundraising Endeavors