Fundraising events are an important part of your nonprofit’s annual calendar. They’re wonderful occasions to celebrate your community and supporters while raising money for your cause. How can you take fundraising events to the next level? By using technology to improve upon existing strategies! Take a load of stress off your shoulders by leveraging new innovations to make your events run more smoothly than ever.

Recently we hosted a webinar with fundraising software provider Greater Giving on how to describe, display, promote and sell auction packages more effectively. Today we are sharing Part II of the lively Q&A session that followed, featuring 10 questions from charity auction organizers around the country.

Donor management software, the program of multiple functions, has an overarching, primary goal: to better, deepen, and strengthen donor relationships. With both the centralization and organization of your donors’ data, you’ll be able to create the most complete image and understanding of each of your donors. (Because of your donor management software, you might even end up knowing your donors better than they know themselves!)

Did you know? Experts estimate 30 percent of auction events today utilize some form of mobile bidding. As donors get more comfortable using smartphones or tablets to text bids in a silent auction, mobile bidding is a more viable option for nonprofits than ever. To help you navigate a changing auction landscape, we sat down with Debby Roth-Bush, certified benefit auctioneer and Relationship Manager at mobile auction software provider Greater Giving. She shares the top benefits of using mobile bidding, plus 19 concrete tips to get the most out mobile bidding in your event. In part 1 of a 2-part series, we'll cover: Top 3 benefits of mobile bidding Find the right mobile bidding provider. Consider cell reception before signing off on a venue. Get more event sponsorships (branded charging stations, anyone?) Tell donors ahead of time Bundle items What items sell best 1. Is mobile bidding right for your event? 3 Benefits "Mobile bidding aims to help nonprofits raise more money every day through products like event software management, mobile bidding, fast payment collection and online donations," explains Roth-Bush. Indeed, auction software is a way for groups to solve a number of problems at their events. Here are the top 3 indicators that mobile and online bidding may be right for your event. Solves space constraints "A few years ago, I was at my son's school auction, bidding on the front row seat of the play in which he was scheduled to perform," recalls Roth-Bush. "I remember being excited for the item - but when I went to check on the bid sheet, I literally couldn't get through the crowd of people holding their drinks. "I didn't want to spill something or make a scene. In the end, I knew the organization lost a little bit of money because I couldn't physically get back to the auction." Silent auctions can get too crowded if the space isn't carefully optimized - and you want to remove any obstacles in the way of the donor's inclination to spend.

With Giving Tuesday behind us, it's time to close 2016 strong. You know the impact of December giving is huge. In fact, CharityNavigator.org reports 31 percent of all annual donations occur this month! Today we'll look at one simple but commonly overlooked strategy for supercharging year-end revenue: running an online auction.

Charity auctions are consistently among the most popular and lucrative events nonprofits can host. While the basic rules of fundraising auctions have remained the same over the years, the format of these events is rapidly evolving, thanks to the advancement of auction technology. On the one hand, auction technology has made planning and executing charity auctions much easier for nonprofits. On the other, because it’s so specialized, many organizations are at a loss as to what exactly auction software does and how they can use it in practice. We regularly receive questions from fundraisers about auction technology, so we wanted to clear up some of the uncertainty. We teamed up with our friends at BidPal to create an expert comprehensive guide to auction technology. Today we'll cover: Online Auctions & Event Sites Online Auction Catalogs Online Ticketing Mobile Bidding: More Profitable Silent Auctions Mobile Bidding: Smoother Live Cash Appeals Auction Scoreboards and Fundraising Thermometers Read on to learn the basic functionalities of auction software, plus practical ways these tools can raise more at your next auction. 1. Online Auctions & Event Sites Online auctions are, simply put, digital silent auctions. While most charity auctions are limited to a single night and venue, online charity auctions allow organizations to open up their auctions to more donors for longer periods of time. They're typically paired with silent and live auctions to make the most of your marketing efforts. Plus, since there are fewer costs with an online event, they can be done with minimal risk or investment.

Are you and your smartphone connected at the hip? If so, you're not alone: about 7 in 10 Americans (and nearly 9 in 10 millenials) currently own a smartphone, and that figure is expected to rise dramatically in 2016. Whether shopping online or scanning to pay, mobile phones are increasingly replacing wallets as the easier, faster and more portable way to make financial transactions.  For charitable organizations, this means it's more important than ever to incorporate mobile technologies into their outreach and fundraising strategies. In fact, in 2015, the number of individual donations made through mobile devices increased 45% from the year before. And annual events like Giving Tuesday are presenting nonprofits with unprecedented opportunities to combine social media campaigns with easy mobile giving, connecting more and more people to their causes.

When a Nonprofit fundraising event is managed efficiently and effectively, it can be a highly successful platform for raising money for your worthy cause. However, an event that is poorly planned or mismanaged can quickly become a losing proposition that costs your organization more money than it earns. Here are five simple tips to keep your good event from going bad.

It's no secret that competition for charitable donations is very high. As a result, it is important for charities and nonprofit organizations to develop unique fundraisers that distinguish their group from other organizations competing for the same donor dollars.