PRESS RELEASE
Contact: Kristi Saucerman, CEO & Founder (208) 407-2404 [email protected]
Auction software company launches new Virtual Event solution in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
After hundreds of thousands of fundraising events have been cancelled nationwide, Auction Frogs is now offering non-profit organizations a way to raise money virtually www.auctionfrogs.org/virtual-events/
Boise, ID – As the COVID-19 pandemic hit the United States, non-profit organizations all over the country are facing the postponement or cancellation of galas and other events that are critical to their annual fundraising efforts. In response to these cancellations, Auction Frogs, offers their Online Auction platform as a Virtual Event solution for streaming to their social media audience while promoting the cause, highlighting sponsors and featuring donors and their items to bid on.
Auction Frogs is proud to announce a new Virtual Event, in conjunction with their online auction, that brings the live event and awareness of the cause to life. By utilizing streaming services and social media channels, they are creating a narrative around the fundraising message and bidding. The online auction offers bidding on silent and live items with the ability to collect monetary donations throughout a 10 day online auction and offers a virtually hosted live event during the final hour to bring your online auction to a close.
Founded in Boise in 2007 by Kristi Saucerman, Auction Frogs was built as a web based fundraising application to augment physical live events, taking silent auction bidding online to accept bids from larger audiences and for longer bidding time frames. Now that fundraising remotely has become a necessity during this COVID-19 crisis, Saucerman worked with her team to create a Virtual Event using the online auction platform and streaming services and now offers this services from their Event Studio.
Kristi says, “Auction Frogs is no stranger to helping non-profits rethink their fundraising events; we are quite familiar with the benefits of augmenting live events with online auctions but this is slightly different in that we are integrating the virtual streaming technology and harnessing the power of narrative. We’re applying a live streaming narrative to the close of the online auction which includes the cause, sponsors and donors to the story telling with an emcee. “
In partnership with local videographers at Elsberg Studios, the Auction Frogs new Virtual Event solution includes a live streaming component during the last hour of the online auction. This live stream combines pre-recorded video and audio from sponsors, donors, and supporters of your organization with live coverage with our Emcee or your Auctioneer speaking to your cause and highlighting auction items for your viewers. Using Auction Frogs’ BidWars™ technology, bidding will extend beyond the close time as bids come in and will end when there are no more bids.
Auction Frogs tested their new Virtual Event technology concept with Cory Mikhels, Cory Mikhals Productions, at the end of March. Auction Frogs was not only able to meet but exceeded the Centennial High School Band’s fundraising goal. Shelly Hiner, a Centennial Band parent, was especially grateful for the Virtual Event. “It’s a hard time for everyone,” Hiner said. “Being able to hold our silent auction in this way and give a shoutout to our kids, our parents, Mrs. Brings, and our donors is really amazing right now. We still get to celebrate a little and we also get to make sure that we have our fundraising in place when we kickoff in the fall. And we get to do it while being remote!”
Auction Frogs is ready to host more Virtual Events and invites non-profits from all over the country to visit their website and sign-up to host their Virtual Event today.
“We aren’t going to let this pandemic keep our community apart,” said Saucerman. “Together, we can weather this storm, raise funds and keep our non-profits, Auctioneers and Emcees in business.”
For more information, or to sign-up for your own Virtual Event, visit: www.auctionfrogs.org/virtual-events/
About the author
Auction Frogs
Auction Frogs streamlines your fundraising process by giving live and silent auctions a digital backbone. Reduce hassles, save valuable volunteer time, and increase your revenue raised. We deliver unique technology to simplify the experience of hosting a successful fundraiser.
