I know of several public media colleagues (and of numerous other stations with which I have no personal or professional connections) who use fundraising auctions as an important source of their annual operating revenue. And so it was with interest I read Seth Godin's blog post today. He does not often focus directly on the marketing activities of NPOs, but when he does it's usually worth reading (especially since as a blogger he has mastered brevity . . . a quality that eludes me in my own blog escapades as much as does posting on a regular basis).
I know, I know . . . if you're up to your eyebrows in an actual auction right now (or preparing for one or doing post mortem meetings for one), what Godin suggests here will sound a bit far-fetched if not Utopian. And he admits that the paradigm shift he suggests "is not the easy path." Nor am I suggesting that anyone should throw away their current auction baby with their auction bathwater in trying to achieve what The Robin Hood Foundation has, according to Godin, pulled off.
But it may be interesting for anyone who is looking for ways to improve and innovate to consider where, how and when the paradigm suggested by Godin could be implemented, or at least insinuated, into their current auction models and strategies.
