Dayton Children’s Women’s Board: Stop the Hovering, Start the Bidding

Case Study – Dayton Children’s Women’s Board

Stop the Hovering, Start the Bidding

Dayton Children’s, the Children’s Medical Center of Dayton, is a hospital for sick or injured infants, children and teens. Its Newborn Intensive Care Unit (NICU) is the region’s perinatal referral center, receiving infants and children from any hospital in the region for specialized care. Since 1964 The Women’s Board has raised more than $2.5 million for Dayton Children’s, primarily through its biennial fundraising event, CHA CHA.

The Challenge

The Women’s Board set a goal for the 2011 event: they pledged to help fund the purchase of Giraffe^® beds for the NICU. The special beds help promote an exceptional healing environment—and with a name like that the event was naturally given a safari theme!

After the goal was set and the theme decided, the ladies gave themselves a new challenge: stop silent auction hovering.

“In the past, many guests would hover over the auction item they wanted which inhibited them from bidding on other items and prohibited other guests from bidding on that item,” explained Board Member Dawn Balonier. “We wanted to find other ways for guests to enjoy the evening, while enabling them to bid freely.”

How could the Women’s Board stop this perennial silent auction problem and increase revenue for Dayton Children’s?

The A-ha Moment

Balonier rose to the challenge and researched the organization’s options. After learning about BidPal’s hand-held bidding device, she was sure this was the right choice for CHA CHA. After all, frustration with hovering was one of the reasons that BidPal’s founder had invented the system.

With BidPal, there are no paper bid sheets to hover over—guests receive a hand-held device that allows them to bid on silent auction items from anywhere at any time during the event. The event turns into a fun evening where guests are free to roam and mingle, while participating in friendly competition for the silent auction items. Guests may also donate to a cause, such as CHA CHA’s Giraffe^® beds, directly on their hand-held devices.

The Women’s Board embraced the new technology and began to promote its new “lively silent auction” format featuring BidPal.

The Result

The Women’s Board raised $330,000 and was able to purchase 10 Giraffe^® beds for Dayton Children’s.

“Our biggest surprise was how actively guests bid—all night!” observed Balonier. “Everybody loved BidPal. Even guests who openly admitted they were not so ‘tech savvy’ were outbidding each other. They felt a personal connection to the auction and, more importantly, to Dayton Children’s.”

The appeal moment, when guests were asked to make a cash donation for a Giraffe^® bed using their BidPal hand-held device, became extra-special when CHA CHA guests covered the cost of a bed in minutes.

What did all this revenue generation mean for volunteers at checkout?

“Checkout has never been easier and more organized. BidPal invoices were printed quickly and had all of the information we needed,” praised Beth Grubb, Women’s Board member for checkout. “After the event, BidPal reports were helpful to reconcile my individual deposits to totals for the night. I had less accounts receivable than ever before and that helps collections and event profitability.”

Higher profits, easier checkout and no hovering? With BidPal, The Women’s Board was dancing the Cha-Cha!