Auction expert wants your hard-earned dollars

A benefit auction becomes a social event where people have fun spending money.
MCCLATCHY NEWSPAPERS
SEATTLE -- Make no mistake about it. When Kip Toner is at work, he's trying to separate you from some of your hard-earned dollars -- as many as he can reasonably get.
Not only that, he wants you to hand over the money with a smile on your face.
"This is about people having fun," said Toner. "People getting together for a social event."
It's also about serious money. Toner conducts benefit auctions, a phenomenon generating about 13 billion a year nationally for schools, hospitals, foundations, arts groups and nearly any cause you can name.
Not only are the events becoming increasingly potent -- more than a dozen Seattle auctions will take in more than 1 million each this year -- auctiongoers are becoming more savvy and better prepared, doing everything from studying auction offerings ahead of time to coordinating group purchases of big-ticket items.
Powerful tool
When a travel package for two to China on the delivery flight of a Boeing jet goes for 35,000, as it did at a Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center gala in Seattle that took in more than 5.1 million last month, the power of an auction as a fundraising tool is apparent.
The Pacific Northwest, with a history of major charity auctions dating back to the 1960s, has been a leader in developing the events' potential.
"In the Midwest, it's still a big thing to send kids out selling cookies or magazines to raise money," says Harlan Rimmerman of the Kansas-based National Auctioneers Association. "But in the Northwest, people say, 'Let's have a benefit auction.'"
The Seattle area's experience is why more than 30 auctioneers from around the country headed here recently for the association's first three-day course to create "Benefit Auctioneer Specialists."
Toner, who teaches the course, has conducted charity auctions for more than 30 years and is one of the busiest in the business. Kip Toner Benefit Auctions, the firm he runs out of his Queen Anne home, will conduct some 160 auctions this year, with Toner himself doing about 105, from Washington, D.C., to Hawaii.
The visiting auctioneers will start their "curriculum" by working as volunteers at the Seattle Hebrew Academy auction, a sold-out event with a goal of 180,000 -- about one third of the school's annual fundraising target.
Charged atmosphere
Connie Kanter, the academy's development director, said the fun and entertainment of an auction dinner engages donors in a way a simple fund drive cannot. "There's a wonderful energy that takes place in that auction atmosphere. People get caught up in making a difference for that organization, and they see other people doing it as well."
What the auctioneers cover in the short course here holds some insights for charities and auctiongoers as well, and it starts with recognizing the key differences between commercial and charity events, said Toner.
At commercial auctions, professional buyers of livestock, autos or heavy equipment know exactly what they're looking for, what they're willing to spend and what signals to send to the auctioneer, and items are often sold in 10 to 20 seconds.
In contrast, it can take about two minutes to sell a single item at a charity auction, as the auctioneer talks up each offering and solicits bids from around the room.
Silence is golden
For that reason, Toner said, charities do well to set out a large number of items for silent bids at the start of the evening, but reserve the "live auction" program to 40 to 60 high-quality items that will stir interest, conversation and friendly competition.
"The sit-still factor is very important," Toner said. "How long will the audience sit still for the auction? If you exceed that, you're going to lose them -- mentally and physically."
Toner knows most patrons come to the auctions with a sense of what they're willing to spend. "It's my responsibility to see that they get a chance to spend that entire budget, maybe even exceed it a little."
And although wine is a part of most benefit dinners, Toner disputes the notion that getting bidders tipsy is the way to loosen their checkbooks. Occasionally, he's conducted auctions in schools where alcohol is not allowed, and he's found no significant difference in the take.
He does tout one chemical weapon, however -- sugar, advising charities to serve multiple dessert courses. "I say get people as full of sugar as you can with the desserts. That's putting energy into them at the time they need it most."