Putting the Magic Rolodex to work

13 Mar 2013 By Roger Devine

How much time is typically spent by new auction volunteers calling, emailing and digging through binders and notes to find important contacts and information?

Based on my own volunteer experiences, I’ll wager it’s a lot.

In the first post in this series, I mentioned the importance of creating institutional memory… records that allow next year’s auction team to move forward with the knowledge you gained through this year’s experience. Makes sense, yes?

It only takes a small amount of pre-planning to set things up right for next year’s team.

One of the best ways current auction teams can benefit future efforts is to catalog – and pass along in an organized format - key vendor contacts and account information.

Your rolodex should include contact info, websites, logins, and passwords for key vendors such as:

● Auction software

● Merchant Account/Gateways

● Event Liability Insurance

● Hardware rental

● Event Venue

● Printer

● Caterer

● Equipment rental: tables, dinnerware, sound system etc

● Auctioneer

When you put these key contacts into the hands of your successors, you are connecting them with the people and products that will assure the long term success of your school fundraising efforts. Which is, of course, why we’re here.

Cheers to the relationships that make it all work,

Delila