Appraisals
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With the growing popularity of antique appraisal TV shows, people are becoming more and more curious as to whether they possess something of value. Everyone dreams of finding an unknown treasure in their home, so why not organize an antiques appraisal event as a school fundraiser?
Planning an Antiques Appraisal Event
Plan a one-day event where people can find out if they have an item of monetary value, by reserving a hall and hiring a few professional antique appraisers. An appraisal event can range from a simple event planned in just a few short months to a much more involved fundraiser. It could be a stand-alone event or could be paired with a Yard Sale, Bake Sale, or Raffle.
FORM A COMMITTEE
Form a committee of volunteers that can assist you with the planning and execution of the appraisal day. You will need assistance contacting potential appraisers and sponsors, advertising, ticket sales, and other planning details.
SET YOUR FUNDRAISING GOAL
By setting a goal, you will be better able to put together a program that helps you reach it. Considering the planning time involved, a reasonable minimum profit for a school is likely to be in the range of $1,000.
RESERVE THE HALL
Reserve the hall where the appraisals will take place - school gymnasium, local boys & girls club, or another local club. A Saturday usually works best. If you plan to have the event at your school, be sure to obtain appropriate approvals from your school principal. You'll also need to ensure access to the school, which may entail hiring a custodian for the day. If you plan to have the event at another site, ask to have the hall donated or sponsored. Also, check with your town hall since some cities/towns require a one-day permit for this type of event.
RESERVE THE APPRAISERS
An appraiser is a person who has the knowledge and expertise necessary to estimate the value of an asset. Without professional appraisers you will not have an event. Appraisers generally specialize in certain areas - furniture, glassware, art, coins, etc. Since attendees will arrive with all types of items to be appraised, you should reserve at least one appraiser for each specialty.
Contact several appraisers and see if they would be willing to be part of your event. Negotiate their fee for the day or ask if they will donate their time to your fundraiser in exchange for exposure and advertising of their appraisal services. Always ask school parents if they know an antiques appraiser that may be willing to work the event.
To find an antiques appraiser in your area, visit local antique stores or check online at:
- Antiques Dealers' Association of America
- National Antique & Art Dealers Association of American
SPONSORSHIPS
In addition to ticket sales, sponsors are a key element in reaching your fundraising goal. Sponsors are businesses and individuals that donate money, products, or services to help offset the cost of the fundraiser. You'll want to obtain corporate sponsorships to offset the cost of appraiser's fees, hall fee, food and beverage costs, and advertising costs.
- As a school, you automatically have a vast network of parents available to you. Utilize these contacts and have them ask their companies to sponsor an appraiser. If a parent is a member of a local club, ask them to have the hall donated. If a parent works for a beverage company, ask them to donate water, soda, or coffee.
- Send letters to local businesses, from small merchants to large corporations, requesting sponsorship.
- Follow-up all requests with phone calls.
You'll want to recognize the sponsor's generous donation at your fundraising event. Publish their names in promotional material. Depending on the level of sponsorship, you may even display a sign at the hall. Negotiate with a local printer, perhaps they will be willing to donate to your event or offer a discounted rate. Collect logos and exact spelling of corporate sponsor names. By working with a local printer, they may be able to help you collect logos electronically.
For more information on obtaining sponsorships & advertising, Sign up and receive immediate access to Fundraising: Success is in the Details, a Free online guide from PTO Ideas featuring 8 essential steps to creating successful fundraisers. Click here.
ADVERTISING
The success of your fundraiser will depend upon the number of people you can draw to your event. Advertise 3-4 months in advance. Focus your attention on reaching the parents, townspeople, and local businesses. Advertising suggestions include:
- Distribute flyers to parents of all local schools. Be sure to contact the principal or PTO president for prior approval and request that they hand the flyers out to the students for you.
- Ask grocery stores to place a flyer in the shopping bags of each customer for one week.
- Contact local businesses. Ask them to display flyers in their stores.
- Advertise with newspapers, magazines, church bulletins, radio stations, and community TV.
- Email parents, family members, teachers, and school staff. See our Increase Participation page for information on emailing.
- Post an ad on the school webpage.
TICKET SALES
Tickets are sold as an entrance fee to meet with the appraiser(s). You'll need to be sure that whoever purchases a ticket has an opportunity to have their item(s) appraised - this may mean closing the doors an hour or two prior to the end of the scheduled event to give the appraisers a chance to complete all of the appraisals. Depending on the attendance, you may also want to limit the number of items a person can have appraised to 2 or 3 items.
Tickets can be sold in advance, but you can count on most of the tickets being sold at the door on the day of the event. For advanced ticket sales, distribute tickets among the volunteer committee members and ask them to promote the event and sell advance tickets. Ticket prices should be high enough for the school to make a profit, but low enough as not to turn people away - assuming that all expenses (appraisers, hall, etc.) have been donated, $5-$15 is reasonable. Or perhaps, $10 per item with a maximum of three items per person. Following are some estimates:
- Schedule the event to run for 5 hours (9:00am-4:00pm, with 2 half hour breaks).
- Reserve 3 appraisers.
- Estimate that each appraiser can view 10 items per hour and 50 items throughout the day; therefore, 3 appraisers can view a total of 150 items.
- At $10 per item, that's $1500.00 in ticket sales.
Ask your appraisers how many items they think they can view during the event. Then keep a running list at the door of the number of tickets sold for each appraiser. Give ticket buyers a voucher to be redeemed for a particular appraiser as they arrive.
FOOD & BEVERAGE
Your appraisal event will be a long day for all, generally beginning at 9:00am and running until mid-afternoon, so you may want to have lunch, snacks, and drinks available for sale. Offer a simple hotdog station, pizza, or you may opt to purchase deli meats and bread and prepare sandwiches. These can be sold for a fee to add to your fundraising profits. It's a good idea to provide your appraisers with a complimentary lunch and beverages throughout the day.
ON THE DAY OF THE EVENT
Arrive at the hall early with the volunteers to ensure all is ready:
- Set up a ticket sale table at the entrance.
- Set up a sponsor sign in a visible location.
- Set up appraisal stations around the room and have a sign at each station identifying the type of appraisal (furniture, glassware, etc.). The appraiser will want a chair or two and may want a table.
- Set up a table for food and beverage sales and confirm that sale items are available.
- Have a camera and film available to take pictures.
- As the event organizer, you should designate all jobs to your volunteers ahead of time so that you are available to roam the hall throughout the day, monitor supplies, and attend to any major issues that arise.
THANK YOUR APPRAISERS AND SPONSORS
Please remember to always send a thank you note to the appraisers and sponsors. Let them know how much money you were able to raise for your school due to their support. If this is an annual event, reserve the hall immediately and let them know the date of next year's event.
A letter can also be written to your local newspaper, along with photos, thanking your appraisers and sponsors for a successful fundraiser. This will serve as additional publicity for them as well as publicity for your event.
MAINTAIN A DATABASE
By planning an appraisal event, you have just gathered invaluable information for next year's event. Rather than start from scratch each year, keep a database of your sponsors, appraisers, parents, and any other valuable information. You will want to know exactly what each sponsor donated or which parent was the contact in obtaining specific donations so that you can easily approach them next year for assistance. Also keep track of the most popular types of items that people brought to be appraised - this will give you an idea of the type of appraisers you need to hire next year.
Now that you know how, coordinating an Appraisal Event as a fundraiser should be easy!
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SAMPLE SPONSORSHIP REQUEST LETTER: APPRAISAL EVENT
Date
Company Name
Address
City, State, Zip
Dear Company Name:
The (school name) School of (city), (state) will be hosting an Appraisal event on (date) at (location). We are working toward raising funds for several enrichment programs that will benefit the students.
Our fundraising goal for enrichment programs for the 2006-2007 school year is $4,000. This includes 12 educational programs that go beyond the scope of the typical classroom. We are asking for the assistance of our community to make this happen. We are asking for your help by becoming a sponsor. Your generosity would be greatly appreciated and acknowledged at our event.
Sponsor an Appraiser - $500: We plan to have 4 appraisers available for the day, each focusing on an area of specialty - small furniture, art, glassware, coins, jewelry, or instruments. Sponsors will be highlighted with a promotional display at the hall.
Event Sponsor - $50, $100: We also plan to reserve a hall, offer lunch items, snacks, beverages, and raffle prizes.
We would love to make this a fun, successful, event but we need your help to make this happen and ultimately raise the funds for our school. Please return the attached Sponsorship form to the (school name) School, (street, city, state, zip), Attn: (your name), Appraisal Event Coordinator.
If you have any questions, I can be reached by phone at (phone)or by email at (email). Thank you, in advance, for your support.
Very Truly Yours,
Your Name
Appraisal Event Coordinator
_______________________________________________________________________
_____ Yes, I would be happy to sponsor the (school name) School's Appraisal Event. Enclosed is my check made payable to the (school name) School PTO in the amount of $______________.
Name_________________________________________________________________
Company Name_______________________ Phone________________________
Address______________________________________________________________
City___________________________ State_____________ Zip______________
Please mail to the (school name) School, (street, city, state, zip), Attn: (your name), Appraisal Event Coordinator. Thank you for your generous support.
___________________________________________________________________
SAMPLE THANK YOU LETTER: APPRAISAL EVENT
Date
Company Name
Address
City, State, Zip
Dear Company Name:
We would like to express our sincere thanks for your generous support of the (school name) School's appraisal event that took place on (date). This event was a huge success. We were able to raise over $2,000 toward our overall goal of $4,000 for enrichment programs for our children.
The commitment and generosity of our community continue to amaze me. We hope to make this an annual event.
Please let this letter serve as a receipt for your donation for which you received no product or service in return:
__________________________(state donation here)___________________
Thank you again for your generous support. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at (phone) or (email address).
Sincerely,
Name
Appraisal Event Coordinator
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SAMPLE ADVERTISEMENT: APPRAISAL EVENT
Do you have an unknown treasure in your home?
The ABC School will be hosting an
Appraisal Event
Date, Time, Location
Antiques Appraisers will be available to value:
- Small Furniture
- Art
- Glassware
- Jewelry
- Autograhs
- Coins
Entrance is $10 per item. Maximum of 3 items please.
Lunch and Beverages available for purchase.
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PTO Ideas has provided you with ideas for planning an event. This information should not be used as a legal reference and may not be all-inclusive. We suggest consulting with the head of your school or any other essential professional.
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