Sports Ticket Auctions for Charity Events - Auction Sports Tickets to Increase Revenues!

Auctions are a great way for any charity to raise awareness and much needed funds. But including a few sports tickets during your event can really make a significant difference in the amount of money raised depending on the sporting event and your donors. This approach combines the excitement of competitive bidding with the appeal of exclusive sports experiences that can easily end up with big profits for your cause.

And the best part is, you can often secure event tickets like these from donors and corporate sponsors making it a cost effective strategy for any sized nonprofit. In fact, you can go so far as making the entire evening's event all about sports including auctioning off sporting goods, signed sports memorabilia and of course some sought after sporting event tickets.

Just remember, sports doesn’t just mean football or baseball, it can be anything from a golfing event to a bowling event. This strategy can work in any sport or sports related charity and is a great way to raise additional funds while at the same time being fun, entertain and exciting for the entire family. It’s also a great way to attract new supporters to your cause and give all your attendees a positive and memorable experience linked to your cause.

How to Organize a Ticket and Memorabilia Auction for Charity

Just like holding any event, you’re going to need to take some time to carefully plan everything so the event goes off without a hitch. And the beginning of your planning should be understanding your supporters and knowing what sports they’re most interested in. If you know many are baseball fans, then that should be your main theme for the evening. Or you can simply make it an all inclusive event and include a little of everything to reach a wider audience.

No matter your theme, your next mission is going to be actually securing the event tickets. Of course the more in demand the tickets are, the higher your profitability will become. And just to give you an idea, did you know the most expensive tickets to a sporting event were sold in 2016 for the Chicago Cubs vs the Cleveland Indians game? A very select few paid a whopping US$1.17 million to see them play! Of course the odds of getting those types of tickets are pretty low, you never know what will happen during your auction!

The best means to securing your tickets will be to reach out to all your supporters and hitting up local businesses. You can even go directly to sports clubs and plead your case. People often want to back a charity they feel good about, and some sports franchises even have tickets reserved for nonprofit causes. Plus sometimes stadiums are simply not sold out, and just by asking you may be able to secure a few free tickets for your events. After all, the franchise wouldn’t have sold the tickets anyway, so at least now they can get a small tax break. Show them how it’s a win win scenario!

The same goes for your supporters. Perhaps someone has season tickets or box seats and they will be away for one or two of the games. By offering your non-profit the right to auction their tickets off, they not only are supporting a worthy cause, they’re also getting a tax break for the cost of the donated tickets. Again, a win-win for all. You can also go to corporate sponsors and ask them to consider purchasing a few tickets and donating them to your auction in return for some public advertising of their support. The idea here is to try to make it a good deal for anyone willing to donate their tickets and you should be able to secure enough to make your event profitable indeed. This goes for sporting equipment, signed sports memorabilia and anything else that can fit into your event’s theme for the day.

Once that’s all out of the way, it’s time to think about your auction’s actual rules and time frames. You’ll need to clearly state the bidding process, start and end times, and payment terms. You should also have an idea of whether this will be an in-person event, virtual, or a hybrid of both. We’ve found hybrid events definitely bring in the most profits for any charity as not everyone who would otherwise be interested in your event can be at the required venue for a number of reasons.

Your next step involves securing a venue for the event, unless of course you will be holding a strictly virtual event. Your venue can be anywhere, but it would be great if it matches your theme. Think school gymnasium or local baseball field. The positives of places like these are there is a lot of parking and space to seat your guests and show off all your auction items. They are also cheap to secure and often even free for the right nonprofit. Plus there’s ample room to organize other things to boost revenues like offering a hot dog stand or selling your organization’s branded merchandise.

Nailing down the specifics of your event will make everything go a lot smoother when it comes time to go live. Securing your tickets and sports items, deciding on a time and venue and being clear about the way your auction will be run are the basic steps to a successful auction. In the next section we’ll go over how technology can make everything easier, faster and more profitable.

Choosing a Platform for Hosting Your Live Auctions

Choosing the right platform for a sports auction is extremely for maximizing participation and revenue. The best auction platforms are specifically designed for nonprofits, and offer an array of tools and applications that have tailored specifically for the nonprofit sector. In fact, our platform, Paybee, not only has the best auction software available online, but our backend end also helps you run your daily activities, keeps track of all finances and expenses, including employee and volunteer hours and involvement, but we also include an easy to use user dashboard that can seamlessly integrate with all sorts of third party software like accounting software and CRM’s for tracing your charity's KPIs.

We’re also a popular and trusted option for hosting charity sports auctions, offering features that simplify the entire process. Our auction paddles for in-person events accurately track all bids and instantly calculate each winner’s contributions. Additionally, our integrated electronic payment gateway allows winners to complete their payments directly from their smartphones, ensuring a seamless and efficient experience for everyone involved and cutting down staff involvement

We also have virtual and hybrid solutions so you’re able to tap into the global arena and allow your supporters to get involved no matter where they are in the world. You can include live streams so everyone can become involved in this exciting experience. And again, all bidding, no matter where the person is, is all done automatically so you can collect your donations legally and effortlessly. This makes us ideal for managing bids and processing payments.

But no matter which platform or fundraising software you decide to use, just be sure it is super easy to use and has a well laid out design. It should be able to handle all your items and bidding while also allowing for different payment options like Stripe, Paypal and credit card processing for your nonprofit. And it must include tools like mobile bidding, real-time updates, and reporting tools. These features can enhance your user’s experience and simplify event management.

Marketing and Promoting Your Sports Tickets and Events

Once all the previous details are all sorted out, now is the time to start promoting your event as hard as possible. This includes crafting impactful email campaigns, posting to all your social media channels and even including direct outreach programs like handing out flyers at your local supermarket. You can even build excitement on your nonprofit's podcast if you have one. The point is you need to get the word out about your event or how is anyone even going to know to attend?

Be sure to highlight your best tickets and any other high value items throughout your marketing. Some people are die hard sports fans and are willing to do anything for the right ticket or item. As you secure additional items, be sure to send out another email blast and post on Facebook or other social media channels to help build excitement and keep everyone engaged.

Include great looking pictures and even short video clips of each item so they can see themselves holding them after the auction. Use smart marketing words to grab attention and create anticipation for your event. Ask supporters to share your marketing with their family and friends. And if you do have corporate sponsors, ask them to let their clientèle know about your event as well. This helps them look great to the local community for supporting your charity while also bringing you more possible attendees that may otherwise not known about your event.

You want to reach as many people as possible and let them know about your event and how everything raised is going to a great cause. You Also want your attendees to be pumped to participate in your event before they even arrive, and if they know what’s involved before hand, they’re more likely to bring more funds in order to secure that item they just can’t live without!

Wrapping Up and Final Thoughts

Including sports tickets into your auctions are a powerful way to raise funds for your charity while engaging your existing supporters and even attracting new ones. They combine the excitement of bidding with the appeal of securing exclusive sports experiences and items all while creating memorable events that encourage generosity. Hosting such an auction can boost your fundraising efforts and strengthen connections with your audience.

If you are considering organizing a charity sports ticket auction, now is the time to start planning. Begin by identifying suitable tickets, selecting the right platform like Paybee, and promoting your event effectively. These steps will help you create a successful and enjoyable experience for all your participants.