 Welcome back to the nonprofit show. You know, I like to say back because my assumption is that you've all found your way here before. I'm thrilled to have with me today as we round out this year, 2023. You know, we were finishing it with a bang. I've got some amazing rock stars that I get the chance to talk to. So today we have Bobby D, Bobby Eller joining us. He is benefit auctioneer specialist. I call to auction going once, going twice, talking to us about the trends in nonprofit auctions. So excited to have you with us. Julia is taking a much-needed and deserved rest. So enjoy the rest of your year, Julia. Thanks for letting me. I'm Jarrett Ransom. Be here each day to join our guest as we wrap up this year. Again, wanna say thank you to our amazing sponsors that keep growing and giving and so grateful to have them here. Thank you to our friends over at Bloomerang American Nonprofit Academy, nonprofit thought leader, fundraising academy at National University, 180 management group, your part-time controller, staffing boutique, JMT consulting, nonprofit nerd, as well as nonprofit tech talk. Please check out these companies. I like to remind all of you that their mission is your mission and they're here to help you do more good. So they've also helped us to produce nearly 1,000 episodes. And I think our guest today, Bobby, you were with us in probably one of the very beginning. So you can find all of these episodes on streaming broadcast podcast and you can, of course, download that app. So yes, you are not new to us. And in fact, you and I and probably Julia go decades back because we get to experience our amazing community together. But Bobby, tell us a little bit about yourself and what is the benefit auctioneer? What are you doing? I mean, you are up to a lot of big things that call to auction. Tell us a little bit. Yeah, well, Jarrett, thank you so much for having me on. Julia, we miss you. I wish you were here that we could give you the biggest hug in the world. But yeah, we want to say happy new year to all of our nonprofit friends that are out there. And what a year it's been. 2023, it's been great to be in the fundraising realm, especially the fundraising event realm. And that's kind of the space that I find myself in helping nonprofits across the country have great galas and events and golf tournaments and whatever event that they have to raise more money and raise more awareness. Really help those donors fall in love with the organizations that they have. So it's fun to be in that benefit auction or event strategist role to help design these events and help to create these events. And then as the MC auctioneer fundraiser live in person, is a great honor to be that too and get to be a life of the party, which is a fun, fun, fun place. And I also have a great team that works with me at Call to Auction. And we can pretty much serve any nonprofit with any size budget anywhere in the nation now. It's pretty neat. That is so neat. And I really love the benefit side of it because I remember when you and I met many, many moons ago and it really was, well, what is a benefit auctioneer and how are they different from an auctioneer in general? Would you be willing briefly? Cause I know we've got some key talking points to share with our audience why it's so important to work with a benefit auctioneer. Right, well, there's three types of auctioneers. Their first type is the free auctioneer. We're not going to talk about them because you shouldn't be using them if you're raising money. Then you have the second type of auctioneer, which is like a commercial auctioneer, someone that is selling assets, real estate. I mean, the finest property in the world is sold by auction. I mean, you've got automobiles and art and real estate and airplanes and so much more is sold in, you know, it's transactional is really what it is. It's a commercial business to business, business to end user space in that. And then you have a benefit auctioneer or a fundraising auctioneer specialist, which focuses on nonprofit events. Now there are some auctioneers that can kind of flip flop. They can do both. That was the world I was in for 20 years. I was an auto auctioneer, actually a world champion auto auctioneer. And that's why I was making my living. And then one day the light switch went off and I was like, wait a minute, there's bigger things at play and that I can use my superpowers for. And I want to make an impact in the world. And I found the nonprofit auctioneer space and dove in with both feet. And I'm like, this is it. This is where I need to be. And I know that you've, you took a similar jump one day and said I'm going full, you know, to help all the nonprofits out there. And it's been great to be in that space because again, the difference between a commercial auctioneer and a fundraising auctioneer, fundraising auctioneers understand the process of a fundraising event. They're not just up there to get, you know, talk fast. They're there to help cultivate and identify those relationships with those donors that are there. They're obviously, they're raised as much money as possible, but ultimately it's really to create the best experiences possible. And sometimes you have the other two types, the free auctioneer or the commercial auctioneer and they get up there and they get going real fast. 25, 30, 35, 35, 45, bit of it, sold it $45,000. And I was like, well, what just happened? And a lot of times they're like scared. Whereas a benefit auctioneer is a bit more like, you know, I've been 25,000 I've been to give $30,000 for this great cause. Let's go 35, 40, 50, sold $50,000. A bit more of an entertainer or some of our friends call it auction attainment. But it's more of a impromptu performance that's there that's interacting with the audience that that that's raising their paddles that want to be generous, that want to have a good time and to build that energy and electricity in the room. So there's kind of your difference. Well, thank you for that because I always love seeing you do your work. I've got to see, you know, several other of our colleagues is always inspiring. So let's talk about, I want to say this elephant has been in the room for quite some time, COVID, right? How has COVID, the pandemic? Yeah, how has this changed our nonprofit auctions? What are these changes that you're seeing? Are they staying? Are they permanent? Are they leaving? I mean, what are you seeing right now in this space? Well, there's definitely a trend going on in the donor space. Now, donors are becoming with everything. They're becoming more strategic and more selective with the dollars that they're spending. They're being more selective in, you know, the investments that they're making and the automobiles that they're buying and the homes that they're buying. Whereas pre-pandemic was a bit more like, yeah, let's just do everything and go to all the events and everything. And now they're being more selective with their time. They're very much more selective with their attention. Also, their, you know, what nonprofits really speak true to them. Whereas pre-pandemic, some people would be like, okay, let's go to 20 nonprofit gallows and we're gonna go and we're gonna give them all, you know, $500 or $1,000. And now there's donors that are like, you know what, we're only gonna go to five gallows this year, but we're gonna give bigger at these gallows because we trust this organization for, you know, for us to invest our dollars in. We trust and we know that they're gonna be doing good things with that money. So they're, again, being more specific and more selective to the nonprofits they're choosing to partner with. But then they're also being very selective and choosy about which events they're attending. Now, if they went to an event free COVID, they're probably gonna come back, give it one shot. But if it hasn't been good in the last three years, they're probably not going back because there are way better events that are out there. The donors are raising their expectations. They're raising their hopes, they're raising their dreams. They wanna have a great time. They wanna feel really, really inspired. They wanna feel really good and have that lump in their throat and that warmth in their heart when they're leaving. And if nonprofits aren't delivering that and are not providing that individual, that donor is not coming back next year. But for the ones that are really knocking it out of the park and creating a great program, creating a great storytelling opportunity and then also a great fundraising opportunity that's smooth, that's fast, that's fun, that's energetic and inspiring, those donors are gonna come back and they're gonna invest more and more in the future. So that's the biggest change that I've seen. You know, that's really interesting, Bobby. And I have not only witnessed it for myself, but you know, really seen that in our community as well, where I feel like there's fewer galas, galas, tomato tomatoes, right? Like taking place and being, you know, like we're being a little bit more intentional about what events we are creating. What's that online space? I'm curious, right? And I see the galas are still being produced in this hybrid situation, so what about the auction side of that? Is that successful to have that hybrid? Well, it depends on the organization and I hate to use the D word depends because every organization situation is completely different, but there are national organizations that are trying to bring in individuals from multiple states or even multiple countries. And in that space, they're seeing a lot of success with the virtual or hybrid style of events. And then there's those that are very localized in specific, you know, like locales like Phoenix that you have to have an in-person event. And sometimes they will stream at live stream, you know, out into the world with all the now mobile bidding or mobile giving technologies that are out there. They do have an opportunity for people that aren't at the gala to make bids or make gifts and whatnot. So the technology is there, but the donors, do they want to interact with that? I mean, I think what's happened now post COVID is that everybody has been zoomed out like crazy and they're like, okay, if I don't have to go on a zoom meeting on my off time because I'm on it all the time at work now that I really want to go when I want to see people, I want to feel people, I want to be in that electric energy space that is a gala. And that's what we're seeing craving. And there's so many, again, events. Like you say, the ones that were just okay or mediocre definitely are going away, but there are some galas that continue to grow by leaps and bounds because they see that focus. They're like, okay, this is where we're going and this is what the donors want. We're going to give them exactly that. Well, and that innovation. And I think we're seeing some innovation on those items that are being offered. So what are the donors interested in? What are you seeing some bidding, popularity bidding happening? Well, what donors are really wanting and what we're seeing in this marketplace or industry is these unique experiences. Now, the best selling auction items that I've seen are locally sourced chefs, restaurants, sommeliers, vintners, anybody that's in that high class food and wine, that gourmet meal stuff, that a organization has a partnership with someone like that and they can create that experience where a bidder, an auction winner gets to bring eight, 10, 12, 15 of their friends and then they have this thing. Whether they're barbecuing steaks under the stars out in the desert or if they're having a hot air balloon brunch, hot air balloon brings them into this beautiful brunch space or they're doing a wine bourbon tasting with this gourmet food from this food network shaft or something like that. Like that's going, like people love that. They're like, okay, those are selling like hotcakes. And then exclusive travel opportunities where someone couldn't just book the thing on the internet is really what it is. Now maybe the organization knows someone that has like a ski condo in Park City. Maybe we know somebody like that or they have a place in Napa or they have a special access to something in Southern California and there's maybe a meet and greet that goes on with a celebrity or an entrepreneur or something like that. Like here in New York City, we love to have these lunch dates with different celebrities or kind of high-powered business people. Those always sell really well, but it's what I call inobtainium. And if people can have an opportunity to buy something they can't buy anywhere else, that's a great auction item. Yeah. You know, it's so interesting. And I do think it comes back to knowing your audience. I was at an event, probably it was in October, so not that long ago, still Q4, goat yoga was a hit, Bobby. And not to say that it was a very expensive item, but the popularity of the bidding for that experience because it was a private opportunity, that as well as some sound healing bowls, like it's personally coming to your home and you could create this experience for yourself. And I think it was like six other girlfriends or whatever. So these experiences that you're talking about, and I love that you're saying really that locally sourced. So what's happening in your community that maybe the general public have access to? Yeah. And it's looking within your donorship, looking within your leadership, who knows who knows who that can identify these unique opportunities. And it could be something as simple as goat yoga. We're seeing Botox parties like crazy, champagne and Botox. Yeah, bubbles and Botox, I don't know, but it's like, I mean, it works in some sectors, it works in Scottsdale really well. Now in Portland, Oregon, maybe not so much. But it's, again, looking at the clientele or the donors that you have, what types of thing could you create that are outside of the box that some people really don't even, had ever really thought about. And then when they get to the gala, they're like, oh, that's so cool, we have to do that. And if it's a multi-person opportunity, like two, three, five couples all come together and they pool their money, well, then what ends up happening is that auction price is that much more bigger and then you have that many more donors that are a part of that. And a lot of times people that are at those tables, you'll have a host and then they'll bring, you know, four other couples and then they look around the table like, hey, should we go in on this? Let's do it, all right. And then they all bid on it and everybody's happy. Yeah, and to see that energy is always fantastic. You know, I'm curious, do you recommend that organizations survey their donors, their previous attendees? Like, how do we really capture? Because I have to witness to you, Bobby, early in my career, right? I was thinking, no one's gonna bid on this. This is so expensive. And then I realized that I was essentially shopping with my budget, which was not the budget of the attendees, right? That was a big mindset shift for me. Can you talk to us a little bit about how do we essentially secure and procure, you know, items with our attendees in mind, not necessarily the committee or the staff that's planning these events? Well, the key component to that is bringing leadership into that conversation. There's a service that I provide to my clients is I call it the dream game and it's usually during a board meeting, board committee meeting, however it is. And we throw it out there. It's like, friends, where would you wanna go? And someone's like, oh, I wanna go to Maui. Someone's like, oh, I wanna go to Napa. Someone's like, I wanna go to New Zealand. And they throw out all these different ideas. So they're like, I wanna have dinner with so-and-so and so-and-so. And then we go around the room again. It's like, does anybody know anybody on this list? And a lot of times, there'll be people that raise their hands. They'd be like, you know what? My sister's husband is a famous chef from Food Network and he lives in California and we could totally get a house there and all of a sudden now it's like, whoa, this is something that they would have never thought that they could get because they didn't know who they didn't know. And then on the other side of that is then we go around the room and say, is this something that you would be interested in? And if the answer's like crickets, like then okay, that doesn't belong in the auction. But if everybody's like, oh, that's a great, I would totally give money for that, then that's your win. And then another piece of advice I give is especially for those that are in the paid admin positions or staff positions and they're in charge of the organizing of the items in the event is not to judge your donor's wallets. Again, because we have different financial biases and kind of experiences with money and whatnot. And a lot of times that gets brought into the conversation like, oh, they would never buy that for $10,000. And all of a sudden now you put that item in there and it sells for $25,000. Two of them, right? Yeah, they sell it twice. Yeah, and you're like, well, I had no idea that our donors had this much money and you don't know until you ask. And I think that's coming up to our next question. It absolutely is. And I was just queuing that up. So really looking at this from the impact of the paddle raises and current strategies and curious what you're seeing of this. I know that you have a great footing in this space across the space as you shared earlier. So one thing I've noticed too, and I don't really want to take this off course, Bobby, for the four years we've been doing the non-profit show geography matters, right? Like really knowing where is your event, where are the attendees? So what are you seeing? And I'm curious if you could speak across the nation, of course, the impact on these paddle raises and the current strategies, what are you seeing in this space? Well, just like everything, it always starts in New York City and then it radiates out from there. And what we're seeing here in New York City is that the, again, the attention span and the time investment that donors have is very, very small. And we're seeing a lot of Monday night, Tuesday night, Wednesday night events where in the city, they will have a big gala or it'll be like a cocktail party, it'll be heavy hors d'oeuvres, and it'll be more of a kind of networking mix and mingle time and they'll have a very short program. Hey, this is what we are, this is who we are. You know, this is what we do. This is the story that we're telling, they tell the story, they build up to what we call the golden goosebump moment. We make the ask, all right, who's in 10,000, 5,000, 2,500 and creating that opportunity for everybody to give in an effective and efficient manner. And then as soon as that's done, oh, thank you so much. We've raised $2.3 million, enjoy the rest of your night. And the program can be 15 to 25 minutes. It's a much more compacted thing. And I'm starting to see this more and more paddle raise only events moving across the nation. And like when I pull my colleagues that are fundraising auctioneers, they're starting to see that they're doing more paddle raise or philanthropic oriented events versus events that are more transactional with the silent auctions in the live auctions and the raffles and all the things where they're now really looking more into storytelling and that true event philanthropy. So it's definitely switching towards there. Now, this is a place where I really dove in with my partner, my wife, Aaron, and we came together five years ago and we created a brand called Inspire Hearts Fundraising. And we're the only fundraising event firm in the nation that focuses on paddle raise only events. So we're starting to have that conversation with a lot of different organizations that are looking to change it up a bit or they're looking to create more efficiencies or they really have got kind of distracted from what the whole point of having the gala is. And they're like, all right, let's bring it back. Let's bring this focus back. This is why we're here. We're here to raise money. We're here to identify more donors and we're here to make sure everybody feels good when they leave. And we wanna bring everybody in and that inclusivity is really a big component of that. Yeah. You know, I love that you mentioned and that you've seen it too. It kind of starts in New York and then it radiates from there. We've certainly seen that here for the show. You know, our guest staffing boutique, they are right there in New York as well. They've brought a lot of the trends early on. You're part-time controller similarly. I'm really curious about this paddle raise and having more of them throughout the year. My curve ball question, I know you're ready for Bobby, are you seeing this more in that gala type setting or are you seeing it in a more intimate, you know, be it a private space in a restaurant or even a personal residence? Are you seeing it happening in those situations as well? Yeah, all across the board. Like we've done paddle raises with 10 people. We've done paddle raises with 10,000 people. And it's anytime that there is a gathering of individuals that are coming together to try, you know, they wanna do something amazing as a group, as a community. And now the nonprofit, like they're spending all this time and energy to gather this group there. It's like, why not maximize the time that you're there? Many times, especially different private school or church organizations, they're like, you know, our donors won't wanna be public in giving. They don't wanna raise their paddles. It's like, well, most of them do and there's a few that don't and that's okay. We have strategies that we can include them within this paddle raise and this, within this special appeal, whatever you wanna call it. But yes, any event that has a gathering of individuals that really care about the cause and have a capacity to give, make the ask. I mean, it doesn't, I mean, you don't, what is the thing is you get 0% of the 100 but things you don't ask for. So you gotta ask and you can ask big. And if you have someone that's an expert in the ask, they can help you set you up for success. Yeah. I think you're trying to paraphrase a Michael Jordan quote, right? Something like that, yeah. It is 100% of the shots you don't take. Thank you. Yeah, here we are mid Christmas and my brain's not working. Well, show us that mug because I just think that's adorable. I know the listeners can't see it, but is that a gnome and L? Yeah, there's no place like gnome for the holidays. Oh, perfect. Yeah, we have about 300 gnomes in our house and Erin loves gnomes and they're everywhere. They're everywhere. That is so great. So Bobby, I'm gonna pitch you on the spot here but we always like to ask the crystal ball questions, especially as we're so close to ending this calendar year, flipping the calendar to next year. What are you predicting? Shine up that crystal ball. I know you and Erin have a few there in the home but what are you seeing for next year? You've already shared so many great trends and best practices and what's shining through. What is your big prediction for next year? Well, what we're already seeing is more highly produced events and highly produced storytelling opportunities where the event organizers, the fundraising strategists as well as the production teams are really teaming up to design an experience that you really can't have anywhere else. And it's always about creating what I call that golden goose bump moment. And it's using light, it's using sound, it's using scripting, it's using different positioning in the room, it's using all of these different production elements. I mean, literally taking a cue right from Broadway and making that program more engaging, make it more interesting and then making it just more inspiring. And when donors are more inspired, then they're more inclined to give and then you have to have that motivator that's there to help them to take action. And then instead of the donors and the guests that are in the room just being a passive observers, they're actually active participants within that experience that's happening. And the more participation that's gonna happen in the room, the more fundraising that you're gonna have. So it's really crafting and designing these fundraising experiences to be like very, very impactful, not only on the donors, but then for the nonprofits themselves. That's in my crystal ball. I love it. And it gave me that golden goose bump moment because I could see the production. And maybe you've been to a similar event. I'm thinking of one here in our community where they had multiple stages and it was more or less, I'm gonna throw out the Ben Avon model breakfast, right? But multiple stages, a lot of people, production. I too, I love going to an event. Now I will say I'm an extrovert. Some of this might be different for different personalities. I love the experience of these opportunities. And no shocker, Bobby, because if people are bidding on experiences, why wouldn't we want to effuse our event into one big experience in production? That's it. The experience ties to the brand of the nonprofit and it's a positive experience that's gonna live for a long, long, long time. A negative experience will live that much longer. So just make it good. It's like, yeah, my whole purpose in life now is to help organizations have better events because the days of the boring, sucky event, that's gone. It's like, no, we're gonna make them great. We're gonna make them amazing. And people are gonna leave and they're like, we love that organization. I can't wait to come back next year with my rich friends. That's right. And just so you know that Jan was for the event, not for you, of course. Oh, those are so over snooze fest. I think the kids are calling it cringe. Cringe, total cringe. Well, Bobby, you have definitely brought some insightful wisdom with us today, as always. So, Bobby D. Eller, thank you for joining us. For those of you watching. Oh, thank you for having me. Yeah, absolutely. You've just heard from Bobby, Benefit Auctioneer at Call to Auction. Check him out, calltoauction.com up to some big stuff. So, Julia, I hope you're enjoying some time off. Maybe you're planning some experiences already for 2024. And I'm Jarrett Ransom. Always fun to be here. I wanna say thank you to our amazing sponsors that have been with us all year moving into next year. So, shout out of gratitude to our besties over at Bloomerang, American Nonprofit Academy, Nonprofit Thought Leader, Fundraising Academy at National University, 180 Management Group, your part-time controller, Staffing Boutique, JMT Consulting, Nonprofit Nerd, as well as Nonprofit Tech Talk. You know, many of these companies truly have been with us from the very, very beginning, as have you, Bobby. So, again, thank you, gratitude. And I know that I'm gonna be scheduled on your podcast. So, tell people where we can find your podcast, because that's interesting too. Absolutely, everywhere you can find podcasts, it's called Heart of the Gala podcast, sponsored by our firm, Inspire Hearts Fundraising. And we really talk about all things Gala and it's people that are in the Gala space, but then we're also bringing in experts from outside of the Gala space, because the Gala is really one night of 365 days of fundraising. And if we can leverage the event to make it awesome, then it's all of those other opportunities for revenue is huge. And having someone like yourself with so much experience and knowledge and be able to leverage those different elements there to make the event better and to set it up for a bigger success before, during and beyond, that's what we're all about. So I'm obviously passionate about helping events be better. Absolutely, I'm ready for those in 2024. Well, Bobby, thank you. I know you've got some family commitments, so enjoy your time with your family. For all of you that have joined us today, as we end every episode, we want to remind you to stay well, so you can do well. We'll see you back here tomorrow. Thanks, Bobby.