Tricky Tray/Silent Auction

[TwistGrl101]

I am newly in charge of the tricky tray at our elementary school. Anyone have a list of companies that have donated in the past, so that I can contact them?

Thanks!

 

[agnes!]

Actually, I have no idea what ("tricky tray"?) you are talking about. And this is just for me but I wouldn't post online any companies' names that I have gotten donations from for any sort of school silent auction...they're usually local small businesses anyway, so their names would only be good for my locality. Plus the businesses might not need/want every online Tom, Dick and Harry knowing that they've given stuff away...

Good luck with your fundraising though, it's a necessity for schools in today's economy.

agnes!

 

[Gina]

Yeah, I'm curious now too -- I've never heard of a "tricky tray" in my whole life. What is it?

 

[JVL1018]

We just write to everyone and anyone we can think of.
People (us included) do guard their lists, but some places to start..., local bowling alleys and movie theaters, local dentists often donate teeth whitening, local hair salons, local professional sports teams, minor league baseball teams often give a family pack of tickets, children's museums, etc etc etc.

We also spend about $2000 on items out of the budget and make way more than that back.
You can also have a big ticket item and sell tickets for that separately at the event. We always buy a 42inch TV and sell $10 tickets to it, we make a ton off of that.
Check out www.trickytray.com you can get ideas there.

 

[tlbwriter]

Yeah, that pizza place just down the street from the post office donated last year.

 

[scrapquitler]

Actually, I have no idea what ("tricky tray"?) you are talking about. And this is just for me but I wouldn't post online any companies' names that I have gotten donations from for any sort of school silent auction...they're usually local small businesses anyway, so their names would only be good for my locality. Plus the businesses might not need/want every online Tom, Dick and Harry knowing that they've given stuff away...

Good luck with your fundraising though, it's a necessity for schools in today's economy.

agnes!

Add me to the list of people who have no idea what a 'tricky tray' is.

I agree with Agnes. Your best bet for getting donations for your silent auction is to approach local businesses (it can be good advertising for a local business with little cash to buy advertising if you use their product and prominently display "Donated by Mary's House Cleaning Co"). Don't forget the service businesses like the beauty salons/nail salons, house cleaners, tree removal services, caterers, etc. It might also be a good idea to let the parents of all the students know that you are looking for donations (maybe there's a Mom who would donate a handmade quilt, or a Dad who can offer golf lessons, or a Boy Scout Troop who might make a gift basket of some sort). Other ideas that we have seen at local events of things used in a silent auction: subscription to the local paper, birthday party event at the local Y, Massage from a physical therapist, septic tank pumping from the local company , if you get creative there are lots of ideas. Oh yeah, and we have someone local who worked for a company that releases movies. Somehow thru work he always got lots of promotional items for various movies and TONS of DVDs, and he would collect those items all year long, then when the annual Duck Race to benefit the Make A Wish foundation came along, he donates them and they are used as prizes. So you might want to think about parents and other local people who work for various corporations and ask if they can somehow contribute that way (then you've got a corporate donation without going right to the corporation)

 

[agnes!]

I love the idea of actually buying a big-ticket item and then raffling off the tickets to that... You wouldn't even have to necessarily get a 42", Costco for instance has really nice flat-screens around 27"-30" for less than $400. I think this next idea is kosher to do...if someone has a wholesale license they could maybe buy the TV and wouldn't be charged the sales tax... but not sure about that.

agnes!

 

[Tosie]

You can start by googling "ultimate donation list." That's where I started last year and was able to get some really great prizes.

FYI - Disney park hoppers are usually very easy to get as long as you give them enough notice.

As long as you are a non profit and can provide your tax ID number you should be fine.

 

[DisneyLoverUSA]

I love the idea of actually buying a big-ticket item and then raffling off the tickets to that... You wouldn't even have to necessarily get a 42", Costco for instance has really nice flat-screens around 27"-30" for less than $400. I think this next idea is kosher to do...if someone has a wholesale license they could maybe buy the TV and wouldn't be charged the sales tax... but not sure about that.

agnes!

You also aren't going to get ppl to buy $10 tickets for a 27 inch TV. A 42 inch TV is big enough to use in a living room or a family room. A 27 inch TV is not, unless you live in a tuna can. Keep that in mind. The bigger it is the more you can sell the tickets for and the more tickets you will sell.

 

[C.Ann]

Check out www.trickytray.com you can get ideas there.

Thanks for the link.. I'd never heard of that either..

 

[stsomewhere]

AT my kids school, they have a Chinese basket auction right before Christmas.
Each classroom is assigned a theme- italian, crafts, snacks, school supplies,gardening etc.

A note is sent home asking parents to donate an item or two for the class basket or you can send in cash for things to be purchased.

They have had donations from local businesses and families.

The office staff assemble the baskets.

It is a great fundraiser.

 

[LisaNJ25]

I love tricky trays... they are completely differently than a silent Auction and they take lots of work. When if your Tricky Tray? At this point hopefully not until late spring.


American girl will donate a doll every 2 years.

I know at the one I went to last week had 4 one day hopper passes.

Contact all of your local professional sports teams. I always see signed posters and balls.

Contact all of the local museums, restaurants, chain restaurants, stores in the malls etc.

Auto part stores, oil changes, gyms, dentist, people that offer consultation services.

Get out the work to parents asking each family for a donation )does not have to be a large one), Have each grade assigned to a theme and make a large basket per class.

I went to one last week that had over 600 prizes and had a great time..

Some larger items were Keurigs, ipod touch, kindles, tablets, xbox and kinect.

PTA's also tend to take PTA fund for some of the prizes because the know they will get it back at the end.

You will be hard to get someones complete list since there is so much leg work into it.

Make sure you do up a letter and include your tax id number. Have all the donated prizes go to one location and log them in to keep track.
Start looking for baskets to use to put the gifts in.. places like thrift shops, yard sales etc because you are going to need a ton. See if you have find a place to donate the cellophane you are going to need to wrap them all

The highest price tickets that one has was $5.00 a ticket or 3 for 12. Those prizes were a 40 inch flat panel, disney hoppers and I cant remember the last.

Here are my tickets from it:

 

[JVL1018]

AT my kids school, they have a Chinese basket auction right before Christmas.
Each classroom is assigned a theme- italian, crafts, snacks, school supplies,gardening etc.

A note is sent home asking parents to donate an item or two for the class basket or you can send in cash for things to be purchased.

They have had donations from local businesses and families.

The office staff assemble the baskets.

It is a great fundraiser.

We do that as well, the class parents assemble though. Some of our themes are Going on a Road Trip, Backyard BBQ, Game Night, Party Time, It's Sundae Every Day, Mom's Day Out, Snack Time, Going to the Beach, Movie Night...
Individual families can also donate(we list them in the program) and write it off on their taxes since we have our 501c3 status.

Since ours is always in the spring I always buy the slushie or snow cone maker from Target with the syrups and the cups and straws. Less than $40, very colorful and eye catching, and people are in a summery mood and love that kind of thing.

Bulk up the baskets with inexpensive add ons-like if you get a crock pot, wrap it along with maybe a big spoon and a few non perishable ingredients and some crockpot liners.

Also, the staff at our school donate cash and they make a money tree, which is always a big hit.

 

[katrina1122]

Go local. It supports local stores.

DH and I own a Hobby Store. We donate gift cards to auctions, tricky tray, etc because it introduces new people to our store and it benefits whomever is raising the money.

 

[java]

Don't forget a shoutout to your parents in the district. Does anyone have a vacation home to donate a week of? Does anyone work for a company that would be interested in donating some tickets (Think sports tickets that big companies use for wining and dining the customers)

We get all our items from Parent Donations and several local businesses.

 

[GJM]

I LOVE Tricky Trays and have been to many and have won some wonderful items!

In SC they don't seem to do Tricky Trays or know what they are. They have done silent auctions which I don't like.

I will buy lots of tickets at a Tricky Tray and not realize what I have spent, I can't seem to spend say $50 for a silent auction item, it seems too much.

I would contact everyone you can - the Tricky Trays I have been to will give you some tickets when you buy a ticket to the event, then you can buy more. Then there are different levels, the more expensive prices the tickets are a different color and cost more to buy.

And they always do a 50/50 - which I won one time!

 

[aprilgail2]

Yeah, I'm curious now too -- I've never heard of a "tricky tray" in my whole life. What is it?

sounds like a tricky tray is what we call a Chinese Auction here....
A silent auction here is an auction where you place high price items and then a piece of paper in front of the item and people write in bids - Say John smith offered 100.00 for it...Joe Jones would then write his name under John Smiths and write 150.00 etc...highest bidder gets the item. They are two very different types of auctions.

 

[aprilgail2]

I I think this next idea is kosher to do...if someone has a wholesale license they could maybe buy the TV and wouldn't be charged the sales tax... but not sure about that.

agnes!

We buy everything tax free when we shop for our chinese auction- the PTA gives me a budget of 1200.00 to buy whatever I need that we don't get donated and since we are a PTA we are tax exempt and don't pay tax on anything.
Make sure you start months in advance for many companies- like Disney there is a certain time frame.
American Girl will donate once every three years so if you haven't gotten from them before they will donate.
Build a Bear will give a Gift card too....
I have run the one at my daughters school for 5 years now- I always get concert tickets from the local radio stations and they are usually big ticket draws.
We AWAYS have ours after Christmas because that is where I get many of my prizes LOL....I always put out a plea right after Christmas for any Christmas gifts people got and don't want etc. I get a lot of things from the teachers and parents who are teachers in other districts- all sorts of bath and body works things and candles!

 

[dazedx3]

First off, I would say enlist help, this is not a one person job. Next don't overlook the simplest items ie. something like a priveledge,ex. no recess duty,reserved parking place, catered birthday party in the school gym etc.

The potential for raising money is great, my event just made $8,000 on this area of the night.
Good Luck!!

 

[kimberlym322]

There is a book...don't know the name of it that may be of help to you. It will tell you who you can contact to get donations. When I was in high school we used it to get donations for our club to auction off. We did it for 3 years and each year we made well over 3,000.00 on the stuff.

Good Luch