Had a conversation today with a guy named Scott Merrin. He's got a great story - for years he was The Guy at American Airlines who got all of the letters from auction chairs, asking for donated tickets. He made the decision who got a donation, and who didn't. And he saw a whole lot of mediocre letters, from chairs who had no real understanding of why he would choose one request over another. Plus a few really good ones, from savvy chairs who did.
He doesn't do that job anymore. He's an entrepreneur now, running a company called Silent Partners. He has a huge database of people in the kind of job he used to have. And he knows what makes a great procurement letter. And (for a fee) he will send letters on our letterhead, over my name, to his database.
Interesting...
Friday, October 15, 2010
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
Next up: Credit-Card Processing Account
What am I working on now?
Credit-card processing. It's vital; people just spend more if they know they can put it on a card. Bidding goes higher in the live; people signup for more easel-parties, etc. PLUS, it lets us sell tickets online (when coupled with our SchoolAuction.net website) and we can use it throughout the year for things like selling Chinook Books, etc.
And something I know to be true: we can use pretty much any bank we want. There are specialized services designed to just provide credit-card processing services to fundraising auctions; the biggest such player (Greater Giving/Auctionpay) has their offices just a few miles down the highway from us. There's another one in Minnesota. But like any middleman/specialty reseller of services, these companies mark up the fees, by any where from 1 to 2% (the underlying bank fees range from 1.74%-2.5%, based on a whole bunch of qualifications.) In return, they give you an "express pay" service - you can have guests swipe their card when they check in at the beginning of the night, and then if they don't want to wait in a line at check out, they can just leave, and you can charge them later.
But you know what? There really isn't a need anymore for these specialized resellers. There are many, many "regular" merchant-processing banks that are willing to compete for non-profit accounts - even PTAs. Couple that with an Internet Payment Gateway, and I can integrate it into our auction software to provide for swiping at check-in (the "express pay" option), and thus, a quick and easy check-out on auction night. And if I skip the specialized reseller, then I can get away with paying about half the processing charges. Woo hoo!
So, I have an application sitting in my inbox, from a local company, and I'm going to get that filled out (with the PTA Treasurer's help) in the next day or two. The rates are reasonable (interchange plus 0.35%) and the service is great, and it's going to work well.
Credit-card processing. It's vital; people just spend more if they know they can put it on a card. Bidding goes higher in the live; people signup for more easel-parties, etc. PLUS, it lets us sell tickets online (when coupled with our SchoolAuction.net website) and we can use it throughout the year for things like selling Chinook Books, etc.
And something I know to be true: we can use pretty much any bank we want. There are specialized services designed to just provide credit-card processing services to fundraising auctions; the biggest such player (Greater Giving/Auctionpay) has their offices just a few miles down the highway from us. There's another one in Minnesota. But like any middleman/specialty reseller of services, these companies mark up the fees, by any where from 1 to 2% (the underlying bank fees range from 1.74%-2.5%, based on a whole bunch of qualifications.) In return, they give you an "express pay" service - you can have guests swipe their card when they check in at the beginning of the night, and then if they don't want to wait in a line at check out, they can just leave, and you can charge them later.
But you know what? There really isn't a need anymore for these specialized resellers. There are many, many "regular" merchant-processing banks that are willing to compete for non-profit accounts - even PTAs. Couple that with an Internet Payment Gateway, and I can integrate it into our auction software to provide for swiping at check-in (the "express pay" option), and thus, a quick and easy check-out on auction night. And if I skip the specialized reseller, then I can get away with paying about half the processing charges. Woo hoo!
So, I have an application sitting in my inbox, from a local company, and I'm going to get that filled out (with the PTA Treasurer's help) in the next day or two. The rates are reasonable (interchange plus 0.35%) and the service is great, and it's going to work well.
Saturday, October 2, 2010
A Date, A Venue, An Announcement
Much of the planning for our auction has been suspended for the past two weeks, while the PTA and Foundation wrapped up the Fall Fundraiser (a Fun Run) and I negotiated a date with our preferred venue.
I'm delighted to report that the negotiations (and the Fun Run, for that matter) are finished. Our auction is going to be on April 8th, at the Multnomah Arts Center. Yay! Now I just have to call the auctioneer back to see if he is available on that day (pleaseohpleaseohpleaseohplease!)
And the PTA sent out an announcement yesterday that it is on. So that's good.
I'm delighted to report that the negotiations (and the Fun Run, for that matter) are finished. Our auction is going to be on April 8th, at the Multnomah Arts Center. Yay! Now I just have to call the auctioneer back to see if he is available on that day (pleaseohpleaseohpleaseohplease!)
And the PTA sent out an announcement yesterday that it is on. So that's good.
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