Call for Silent Auction Items

As we prepare for the Business Excellence Awards and Citizen of the Year Award Celebration on Saturday April 9 at the Hills Health Ranch, please find a message below from one of our Directors, Rita Giesbrecht.

Dear community supporters;

This year’s Business Excellence Awards/Citizen of the Year Banquet will see some changes, which we hope everyone will enjoy.  One of the aspects of Awards Night has always been the silent auction. It’s fun and popular, and it helps to fund this important evening.  Historically the silent auction has relied on donated goods and services; much appreciated and very well presented.

This year we want to approach the auction using a different formula for acquiring donated items.

I’ll use our business, Chris Harris Gallery, as an illustration;

Our donation policy is to give everyone who asks, one of our publications. It’s easy, straight forward and economically easy to absorb.

In some instances, however, we contribute a larger item for which we cannot absorb the entire cost, such as a framed print or canvas.

When doing that, the auction is set at a minimum bid that is enough to cover our outright production costs, plus give the organization a small return. After that initial minimum bid, however high it goes is the gain of the organization. In other words, we donate our regular retail profit, but do not absorb the actual cash outlay for production.

We on the Board are thinking that this option may appeal to some of our members and donors, depending on the types of goods and services your firm or organization offers.

In this way, we are asking for a donation to the Business Excellence Awards/Citizen of the Year Banquet that properly represents your business, and if applicable wish to offset the cost of the donation.

We hope that this approach makes it possible for you, the donor, to make available an item more reflective of the quality of the product you offer, and showcase it in this prestigious setting.

Contact me at 250-791-6631 or rita@chrisharris.com to contribute; or to find out more.