A Year In Review: GalaBid NZ 2017 Highlights

Last year we introduced you to our fabulous New Zealand team and some of the terrific projects they were working on.  2017 was a successful year for GalaBid's NZ fundraising partners. Cathy Taylor and her team worked hard to help lots of charities and non-profits beat their event fundraising targets. As 2018 gets underway, we took some time to chat with Cathy and find out about the highlights from 2017.

NZSO - A Gala Soiree

It was the first time the NZSO had used online bidding and GalaBid NZ. The event itself was stunning, it was a privilege to be involved with such a special event in an incredible location.  I worked closely with the organisation to curate a range of auction items that would appeal to their guests and reflect the nature of the event.  Their initial target for the entire auction was $20,000, which they raised to $40,000 after I helped them secure some beautiful additional items. We were thrilled the NZSO raised $70,000 from the silent auction alone, plus $36,000 from the live auction.  It was an incredible result and we were delighted to be able to help the orchestra raise money for a new Kim Webby harp.

Ronald McDonald House Charities New Zealand

This was another event where the charity was using online bidding and GalaBid NZ for the first time.  After the success of the annual Red Shoe Ball in Auckland, three Ronald McDonald House regional offices used GalaBid at their annual “Supper Club” events. We're delighted that the success in 2017 has meant the charity has re-booked GalaBid for their 2018 Red Shoe Ball and all seven of their 2018 “Supper Club” events around the country.

Virgin Unite

Working with event organisers, Duco Events, we helped raise over $350,000 for Virgin Unite at the 'An Evening with Sir Richard Branson' event.  Although they had used the GalaBid platform at previous events for their silent auctions, they had never used it for their live auctions. Duco opened up online pre-event bidding on their live auction items to ensure they reached a good price before reverting to live bidding by auctioneer with the 1,000+ guests at the event. The online element enabled people from as far afield as the US, the UK and Australia to bid on the high-end auction items. These included a $280,000 Sealegs Boat, a holiday on Sir Richard Branson's "Necker Island" and Drinks with the (then) New Zealand Prime Minister Bill English in his Beehive office. As a result of the well-executed pre-event auction marketing campaign, the bids rolled in as soon as the auction went live - which included a $100,000 bid for the Sealegs boat.  This was achieved by Duco sending out an EDM pre-event to their database, not just the event guests, which showcased a few of the big ticket live auction items and some of the more interesting and quirky silent auction items. Sealegs also sent out an EDM pre-event about their auction item, as well as phoning customers who were due to upgrade their current boats and new customers who were told they could possibly pick up the boat in the auction for a lot less than they would from the shop. Duco also gave Sealegs two VIP tables to bring along 20 qualified bidders to the event so they could bid live on the night and see Richard Branson at the event.  The boat sold extremely well and made a lot of money for Virgin Unite so it was a huge success all round. This was a particularly rewarding event to work on given the strategic approach undertaken by Duco and Galabid NZ. It was great to see the marketing campaign work so well to achieve a fantastic result for the charity.