What do movies and silent auctions have in common?
Both movies and Silent Auction Fundraising Events are built on three key principles that must be present for success.
What are these principles?
Let’s look at DC’s “Wonder Woman” for the answer…
Currently over $397 million in box office sales, Wonder Woman may very well become the biggest grosser of North American ticket sales this year.
This fierce and competitive world of movie production is quite similar to the nonprofit world. Nonprofits, like movies, are a dime a dozen. There is an endless amount of causes to support. There will always be charity events to attend. How does a nonprofit stand out?
Three principles are needed for Wonder Woman and your nonprofit’s next Charity Auction event to be a success.
Success is Shareable, Beautiful Milestones
Success is shared.
Success is beautiful.
Success is a milestone.
1. Success is shared.
Shared Success is relate-able. Shared success is collaborative. Shared success is based within a network and community… a team. Shared success brings people together from different walks of life. A built community does not discount diversity; they celebrate it.
A successful nonprofit event needs to be built on shared success.
A successful movie needs to be built on this community-based mindset. Movies bring us friends from different times and different places. Movies transport us to adventures, and they teach us through experiences that our outside of our familiar world.
Movies bring us friends. Characters are brought to life through movies. We laugh with them. We cry with them. We feel their joys and their sufferings. Movies, like books, become a dialogue between you and the characters. Forest Gump is a dear friend to many of us; he is always kind, always encouraging; always full of hope.
Movies are time machines. Want to visit the Roaring Twenties? How about the Roman Empire at the turn of the first century? A movie can take you back to the dawn of civilization or tell the stories of your contemporaries, giving you a deeper understanding of the world around you.
Movies transport us. Movies can take us to Urban Paris, the Tropical West Indies, or Desolate Deserts (the Sahara or Arctic) in a matter of seconds. It can take us around the world and places outside of our world.
2. Success is beautiful.
Life is beautiful. The celebration of life itself is beautiful. A nonprofit goal is to create more beauty and more goodness in this life. What an incredible commission! Take pride in that – see it beautifully.
The more a nonprofit sees its purpose as beautiful, that beauty will seep into the bedrock of the organization.
A successful nonprofit event needs to be built on an organization that is deeply committed to its purpose.
It may sound a bit flowery, but the movies get it! The point of life is larger than the humdrum of the day. A movie’s success comes from its ability to give us adventures that are larger than life so that we, too, can have the eyes to see life more beautifully.
Movies give us adventures, larger than life. We learn what life could look like outside of our own experiences. Movies can become the doorway into thinking and seeing differently. They are the epitome of imagination and excitement. The story of Mary Poppins came alive on the big screen, igniting the imagination of children for the decades to come.
3. Success is a milestone
The cliché saying, “life is not about a destination, but the journey” has a lot of truth to it. There will always be more that to do in support of a noble cause. So is there really ever an “end” point when it comes to nonprofit work? Because of this, nonprofits rely heavily on goals. Meeting “goals” is the way in which we manage event planning and shape our mission statements as nonprofits.
A successful nonprofit event needs to be built on goals. When these goals are reached, it is milestone in our journey that must be given its proper weight.
What is the weight of meeting a goal?
Realizing the weight of a met goal lies in realizing the impact your nonprofit organization can have in support of your cause. Own it. Treat each success as a milestone.
Milestones are important to recognize. You can rely on it when you jump for the next goal!
Successful movies are become milestones in our lives. The theme song from the “Good, The Bad, and the Ugly” is a staple in my childhood.
Focus on successes that are shared, that are beautiful, and treat them like a milestone for your organization! Learn from the movies.
Why Not have both?
Learn from the successful movies that share with us, that bring us beauty, and that have become milestones in our lives. But why not also incorporate their success into your silent auction event in the form of autographed movie and celebrity auction items! These successful movies and stars have made an impact! Their success and impact can be celebrated at your next charity fundraising event.
Contact us to get started!
