FUNDRAISING INFORMATION

Silent Auction & Wine Tasting Fundraiser

Since 1988 we have held a Silent Auction & Wine Tasting Fundraiser in February. In its first year, this benefit auction raised $8,900, and proceeds have steadily increased each year. In 2011 we raised just over $130,000. Our school’s financial well being is dependent upon the success of this event as we traditionally budget 50% of our working income to come from the event. Thus, by participating in this event, you help support our school.

Parent Fundraiser Responsibilities

Each family must complete the following 4 tasks in conjunction with the fundraiser:

1. Serve on an Auction Committee
2. Bring-in donated items to be sold at the Silent Auction
3. Sell tickets to the event
4. Purchase two tickets for your family

Fundraiser Responsibility #1: Committees
A committee chair organizes each committee. Committees generally have from two to six members. Usually committees meet formally in order to get organized – most communication is done via the telephone and email.

Parents will be assigned an action committee before one of the General Meetings dedicated to Fundraiser planning. As you might imagine, certain committees require more time than others, some concentrate their work during the event itself, others before or after. We try to place you on a committee that interests as well as works with your time schedule.

Donations (non-wine): The chairperson organizes and keeps track of what has been turned in and which businesses have been contacted; sees to collection and storage of non-wine donations, sends letters to all “out-of-the-area” businesses (e.g. Disneyland, Marine World, etc.) and handles overflow from other committee members. Other members solicit donations from businesses, by region (St. Helena, Yountville, Napa, Calistoga) that Co-op families did not sign up for by a specified date.

Wine Donations: Solicits, collects and organizes wine donations from local wineries. Keeps track of all wineries contacted and provide information to Donation Computer person. Picks-up wine, stores at a central location and brings to the Auction site.

Computer: A two-person committee who work closely with Donation and Wine Donation committees and Fundraiser Chair to maintain database of donors & attendees, and auction lots. Also, produces bid sheets and works/audits the event.  Responsible for reconciling event data after the event and works with software company to transmit all credit card transactions to the credit card companies.  Prints reports as necessary. 

Visuals: Theme development and implementation. Oversees all visual aspects of the event.

Set-up & Clean-up: Prepares rooms before event in conjunction with Visuals Committee and cleans-up after the event, bringing the room to its pre-fundraiser state. Makes sure all borrowed items are returned after the event.

Bid Sheet & Auction Item Prep/Set-up: Proofreads all bid sheets and prepares them for display at the Auction. Comes before the event to help organize the Auction room and match items and their corresponding bid sheets.

Distribution and Table closing/clearing: Night of the event, gathers items as tables close, and organizes in designated area for easy identification & retrieval. Upon being presented a paid receipt, retrieves items listed for paid bidder. Open to answering questions from bidders regarding items they have “won”. Graciously thanks bidder! This committee also over-flows into Sunday morning to finish distribution of items not picked up Saturday night.

Ticket Sales, Registration and Money Collection: Organizes ticket sales and assists in entering ticket sales into database. Works the night of event to greeting people, registering their credit cards and assigning bidder a number. Collects payment (cash/check/credit card) during and after event and provides receipts to donors. Designated members will be assigned to collect money and help distribute items on Sunday morning.

Wine Tasting: Solicits wineries (usually eight to ten) to pour wine at the Auction. Gathers items needed for the wineries for the evening. Gets tables ready the night of the event. Greets wineries and shows them to their tables. Helps clean-up after event and returns borrowed items. Writes thank you notes to donors.

Food: Coordinates with local restaurants and food purveyors to provide staffed tables for appetizers, dinner samples and dessert for the fundraiser. Works in the days before the event to assist with food prep, or arrives before event to make-up food trays and sets up live lot tables.  Helps coordinate food throughout the evening. Cleans-up after event and returns all materials to appropriate places. Writes all food vendors thank you notes after the event.

Invitations & Thank Yous: Oversees printing and mailing of save the date and invitations. Writes/prints and mails thank you notes as donations come in and after the event to all participating persons and businesses in a timely manner. Assists Director in writing thank you notes to fund-a-need and high bidders.

Graphics: Updates poster, save the date cards, invitations, raffle tickets and catalog graphics. Coordinates with photographer for DVD and portraits of children at the event.

Live Auction:  Organizes live lots. Communicates with Auctioneer. Organizes high bidder tables. Sets up proxy bidding. Writes thank you notes to all live lot donors and with the director write thank you notes to all high bidders.
 
Catalog: Creates the auction catalog for the event.

Fundraiser Responsibility #2: Donations
All families are required to provide a certain number of donations. This number is determined each year by the Fundraising Chairperson, but usually is around two or three, depending upon the number of families in the Co-op, fundraising goals and needs, etc.

Donations are the key to the fundraiser. Obviously, the more “good” donations we have, the more money we raise. Donations may be solicited from local businesses and especially businesses you frequent (restaurants, hotels, your doctor, your dentist, grocery store, bicycle shop, shoe store, hardware store, travel agent, health food store… just to name a few) or may be a ‘home-made’ item such as a child’s robe or quilt, hand-made necklace or baby-sitting services. Certain categories typically hold their value more than others, for example, on the average; restaurants bring in 95% of their retail value where as apparel items bring in about 70% of retail.

Fundraiser Responsibility #3: Tickets
Each family is required to sell four tickets to our fundraiser. Co-op members must purchase their own tickets if they are planning to attend or are working the event. Most Co-op members sell their tickets to friends and relatives who they think will want to attend our event and support our school.  The Ticket Sales Committee Chair can assist families who need help selling their tickets.