How a fundraising auction is introduced tells the crowd a lot about what is to come. Successful events carefully map out the transition to the auction, ensuring that we’re building momentum to an important moment for the evening and the organization.

Occasionally, however, instead of setting the stage for success the person who introduces the auction (and auctioneer) sends a completely different message. Here, then, are the top 5 least successful ways to introduce a fundraising auction (all of which we’ve experienced at real galas):

1. “I hate to interrupt your dinner, but it’s time to do the auction.”
2. “I know everyone is having a good time, but…”
3. “Boy, has anyone else’s 401k/portfolio taken as brutal a hit as mine did this last week? Seriously. I’m glad to see so many people given how bad the economy is…”
4. “There’s going to be some dancing later, we’ve got a great band, so just sit through this and we’ll get to the fun part.”
5. “I know we all go to a ton of these auctions, but we really need your money tonight.”

And while a bad introduction for the auction and auctioneer isn’t the end of the world, it certainly doesn’t set the right tone from the onset. Of course, nothing will ever match the angry volunteer who hid the microphones for a full 40 minutes so that we couldn’t even start a particular auction, but that is another story altogether.

A successful fund a need builds on itself, creating a momentum that sweeps up the whole audience and brings them together in the act of making something good happen in the world. Every pledge in a successful fund a need begets more pledges, which in turn beget even more pledges, and so on. This momentum builds on itself, becoming autocatalytic.

The momentum of fund a needs can seem easy to create or sustain, especially if you’ve been part of a truly successful fund a need as an audience participant. But to make it happen, three key components need to be in place.

1. There needs to be an honest and emotionally engaging need that challenges the crowd to rise to an appropriate level.
2. The crowd needs to buy-in to the fund a need, literally and figuratively.
3. The fund a need must be delivered and administered properly.

We always work hard with our clients to make sure we are developing an appeal that is going to best serve the event. Finding needs that help tell a slightly different story about the organization - but are still true to the mission of the organization - and challenging with an appropriately set “bar” are both crucial components.

If your crowd is capable of raising $100,000 but you only challenge them to raise $60,000 you are leaving money on the table, and under-estimating their compassion. On the other side, if you have the same crowd but announce that you want to raise $175,000 they will think you are crazy…or greedy (which is worse).

Getting the audience to buy-in requires determining if your need is the right one through pre-planning conversations with donors, and obtaining lead donors in advance. If table hosts and table captains have all been tasked with “setting an example” during the fund a need, their guests will take notice and join in.

Finally, there is the delivery of the fund a need. Until recently I always took for granted the feeling of a successful fund a need in the middle of a good auction. We work hard to build momentum to the point where we can then turn to the crowd and simply ask them to do good by making pledges. Recently, however, I was witness to a fund a need done by someone who was not a professional fundraiser - and the results were less than I would have expected if I was on the stage running that portion of the show.

Without the right agent on stage helping the process along, the autocatalytic nature of the fund a need fails. The momentum slows, the crowd loses interest, and worse yet - they stop making pledges. Philanthropic goodwill is a finite resource that exists at your event for only the briefest moment of time; fail to capture it, and it disappears. Get everyone on board with your cause but fail to fuel the fire and build momentum, and the money you save from not hiring a professional will seem paltry compared to the money you let walk out the door when an amateur bumbles his way through it.