A Chip off the Old Auction Block: Bidding on Services to Help Others

By NICOLE LEWIS

The AIDS Foundation Houston doubled the amount it raised through its annual auction

by redesigning the event to focus not on items that donors wanted to purchase for themselves, but instead on services the donors could buy for the charity’s clients.

The foundation netted $210,000 by inviting guests to a February dinner where they could bid on how much they would pay to provide various services to help people with AIDS. The bidders were also eligible for a drawing for a trip to Mexico.

About 700 people paid $150 each to attend the Party of a Lifetime, as the event was called. Organizers spent $40,000 on the event, now in its fourth year.

The evening featured entertainment by a jazz musician and a traditional live auction for just one item — an oversize chair called the “magical throne” that was decorated by guests at the party and sold to the highest bidder, for $35,000.

The real focus of the event, however, was on garnering bids to pay for services for people with AIDS. Entering the auction, partygoers were greeted by staff members who manned displays about services available for bidding. Each guest received a bidding sheet where they could check off the services they wished to “buy,” as they circulated through the displays.

A $50 donation, for instance, provided AIDS-prevention classes for a group of adolescents.

Seventy percent of those who came to the event made a donation to pay for at least one client service. Unlike a traditional auction, it wasn’t just the highest bidder who got the item: The charity accepted multiple bids of the same amount for each service, so that if 10 people wanted to sponsor AIDS prevention classes, they could all underwrite the same item.

Their bids were not totally altruistic, however: Those who placed bids received raffle tickets, with bids on the more expensive services for clients earning more raffle tickets than bids on cheaper services. The winner of the end-of-the-evening raffle walked away with two round-trip plane tickets, luggage, a $1,000 shopping spree, dinner for two, and two nights at a hotel in Mexico.

For more information, contact Kenneth Kelly, Communications Director, AIDS Foundation Houston, 3202 Weslayan Annex, Houston 77027; (713) 623-6796; communications@aidshelp.org.