Thursday, December 31, 2015
Monday, December 28, 2015
BEHIND THE SCENES: How the Autograph Industry really works
That’s what most people think
how companies like BW Unlimited Charity Fundraising gets items autographed, it’s
the direct opposite. Around the world,
autographs of professional athletes are highly sought after. In North America, there are millions of
Sports Collectible stores which mainly specialize in the local teams.
How it truly works may make
you mad, but the athletes maximize their earning by conducting autograph
signings. In reality, the normal NFL
career only spans 3 years. Plus the
athletes have to pay their agents, publicists, trainers etc. So in order to earn more money, they respond
to what the fans want – paid autograph signings.
The reality of how these are
conducted honestly is mechanical. The
Athlete is paid a certain amount to sign a certain amount of items. Routinely, it’s 1,000 total pieces or
more. The items range from Helmets,
Pictures, Jerseys, balls, bats etc. At some autograph signings, the national shows, there could be as many as 50 well known athletes. These "Bulk Item" autograph signings for wholesalers are referred to as "the Back Room."
At the signings, autograph
authenticators such as JSA & PSA/DNA are asked to be present to actually
witness the items being autographed. It’s
truly amazing, there will be stacks of pictures & jersey’s for each
athlete. Rows and rows of helmets, cases
of baseballs. How do you think
businesses like ours actually get the items autographed?
However, celebrities and
musicians rarely sit down to do an autograph signing. The main stream or ultra famous stars do not
do autograph signings at all, they truly don’t need to. In order to get their autographs, companies
like ours employ “Chasers.” The people
watch to see what celebrity is in town and wait outside a venue that they are
appearing and ask for their autograph. They are normally 8x10 photos. The celebrities or musicians will sign the
items in passing with their autographs looking more like “Chicken Scratch.” The “Chased” autographs are hard to
authenticate. Furthermore, they NEVER
EVER sign more than a few 8x10’s. Chasers
cannot carry stacks of guitars or stacks of 16x20 large photos.
However, it is incredibly
rare to get an entire cast of a certain movie or even harder, the entire band
to sign one item. You can find
autographed guitar pick guards that one of the band members signed, but you
will NEVER find a “Body” signed guitar (which means signed around the large
part of the guitar) signed by the entire band.
You will find them true, but you will also find Big Foot autographs and
Loch Ness Monster being ridden by Elvis autographed photos too.
Another important fact, when
a celebrity or athlete dies, their autographs become extremely rare for obvious
reasons. The prices skyrocket!!! As time passes by, the autographs are harder
and harder to find. But then this is
easy to understand right?
So, I hope this gives you a “Behind
the Scenes” explanation of how Authentic Autographs are actually acquired.
BW Unlimited Charity Fundraising is a North American Charity Fundraising leader in a “One Stop Shop”
convenient setting. BW Unlimited Charity
Fundraising is a North American Charity Auction Item leader, providing
everything a charity could want and be successful with including 100%
authentic, 3rd party authenticated auction items from athletes and
celebrities. BW Unlimited also carries a
wide array of Décor and Jewelry. In
order to better serve charities across North America, BW Unlimited formed its
own Travel Package company – CharityTravelPackages.com. Offering a wide array of Charity Travel
Packages ranging from “Once in a Lifetime,” Concerts, Vacations, VIP
Experiences and much more.
If we can help you, contact us at www.BWUnlimited.com. Check out our Charity Travel Package website at www.CharityTravelPackages.com.
Saturday, December 26, 2015
Wednesday, December 23, 2015
The “Grinch” who stole your Success
If you’re reading this, I bet
you already are thinking of your very own Grinch. You know the Negative person who is the wet
blanket. “That won’t work”, “I don’t
like that idea”, “We shouldn’t do that”, “I disagree”, “What happens if we don’t
sell tickets” and on and on and on. I
see them all the time; in fact, sometimes it’s even the person in charge of the
event or the charity.
When I’m initially meeting
with a charity, I try to shake the trees to find the hidden “Grinch” because
there will always be one or several. Here
are several reason why there is always a “Grinch”:
#1 – They were in charge in
previous years of planning and hosting your fundraiser.
#2 – If your NEW ideas are
successful, that means they were not. No
one wants to look bad.
#3 – Fear of change.
#4 – Fear of the unknown.
#5 – Fear of Failure.
All of the above are viable
reasons why “Fundraising Grinch’s” exist.
But, you shouldn’t let them deter you.
Build a committee around positive, supportive people. Building a happy committee is the key to your
overall success.
Your “Fundraising Grinch”
will be the “wet blanket” and their negativity will take over your
committee. The best way to change them,
is don’t even try. Recruit the people
you need to be successful and will support the mission you are on.
Remember – NO FUNDRAISING
GRINCH’S.
BW Unlimited Charity Fundraising is a North American Charity Fundraising Leader in a “One Stop Shop”
convenient setting. BW Unlimited Charity
Fundraising can and will assist you by helping you build a positive, educated, supportive
committee who will carry out the mission of the event toward its ultimate
success. To learn more, contact us at www.BWUnlimited.com.
Tuesday, December 22, 2015
Monday, December 14, 2015
Wednesday, December 9, 2015
Tuesday, December 8, 2015
Why were they successful – a True Success Story
This is the true story of
success in regard to charity fundraising.
I will tell you exactly why it was successful but here is the back story:
Several months ago, I was
asked by Frances Straka (who is my part of my family) if I would help her and a
few of her friends hold a fundraiser for a young boy battling cancer – Austin Harrison. Of course, I agreed and scheduled to meet
with them.
Several months ago, I was
asked by Frances Straka (who is my part of my family) if I would help her and a
few of her friends hold a fundraiser for a young boy battling cancer – Austin Harrison. Of course, I agreed and scheduled to meet
with them.
When I went to meet them, I
was a little taken aback because they were all much older and didn’t understand
the importance of Social Networking or Marketing. The “Them” were only four people in total –
Only FOUR (4) (NOTE THAT). However,
after talking for nearly an hour, the planning began.
The committee quickly rose to
well over 20 active committee members.
Everyone did their fair share of the work, but a couple quickly rose to
the top – Phil & Angela Dicke.
Angela became the Ticket Chair person and was my main point of contact,
she handled everything. Phil himself sold
well over 30 tables of 10. Those two
were Rockstars!!! But the committee
became a fundraising “Dream Team.”
At their event, they had over
640 people in attendance with more donated items than you can imagine. Everyone did exactly what they were supposed
to do and more. With that many people in
attendance, Check In was extremely smooth.
The raffles were incredible because the committee made them happen. The Live & Silent Auction did absolutely
fantastic!!! Check out went just as
smooth, truly everyone did absolutely fantastic.
They had twice the amount of
people they thought they would have, raised more money than they could dream of
and the event ran as smooth as silk. In
fact, many of the guests asked when was the next one.
Why was it so successful from
beginning to end? The answer is very
simple – the committee members were not experienced fundraisers and started out
with zero negativity. Here is the
straight answer why they were successful – Because they listened to me. They followed the exact direction I gave
them, no more no less.
Novice fundraisers (those
that only one or even a handful of charity events) have no preconceived notion
or ideas of what they should do.
However, the truly novice fundraiser has no experience and zero
preconceived idea notions. They merely
follow direction. What happens is, a
Novice Fundraiser begins to plan their event, despite having professional
assistance, the same way they have planned the few others.
If you are an experienced
fundraiser and your previous attempts have been not as successful as you wanted
them to be, perhaps you should open yourself to new ideas and think like you
have never done one at all. Do exactly
like the Rockstars did above, ask for help and follow the direction given to
you to the “T.”
If you would like the same
assistance as they did above, contact us today, we would love to help at www.BWUnlimited.com.
BW Unlimited Charity Fundraising is a North American Charity Fundraising leader in a “One Stop Shop”
convenient setting. The charity
fundraising experts as BW Unlimited Charity Fundraising will guide you through
the myriad of fundraising pitfalls, lessen the amount of stress by providing a
fundraising plan and a detailed, easy to follow strategy. If you would like assistance, contact us at www.BWUnlimited.com.
Wednesday, December 2, 2015
“One Bad Apple Spoils the whole Bunch” - Infestation of Negative thinking
Lately, I have seen major
differences in both Positive and Negative Thinking, especially when it comes to
charity fundraising.
When I initially begin
consulting or speaking to a charity about assisting them plan and host a
fundraising event, the very first thing I look for is NEGATIVITY. If there is any negativity either with the
person or people I am talking to and not shear positivity and motivation, it
sends us a huge “Red Flag” of Disaster.
Negativity can and will
infest a fundraising committee like roaches, soon taking over the entire
thought process of everyone involved.
There is no point to negativity when it comes to fundraising, in fact,
negative thinking is what separates the large, more profitable charities from
the small unsuccessful non profits.
Case in Point – We are going
to use a “Real Life” Scenerio of three (3) Fundraising Committees (this is
real):
Committee A – Committee “A”
is actually comprised of two (2) women only.
Committee “A” is 100% positive and more importantly, is hosting their
very first charity fundraising event. Their
cause is based on local government.
Committee B – Committee “B” Is
a very well established, large group of people.
These people meet on a regular basis and their group is based around a
well-established “Lifestyle.” They have
held many fundraising events, however, those events were not as successful as
they should have been.
Committee C – Committee “C”
started out as three (3) 70 yr. old women.
They wanted to host a “Benefit” fundraiser with no background, no experience
in Charity Fundraising and were a little hesitant at first but wanted to follow
successful direction.
--------------------------------
Committee “A” & “C” are
and were 100% positive with “ZERO” negativity.
However, Committee “B” is quite honestly, infested with Negativity.
Committee “A’s” event is
scheduled for Feb of 2016 – they already have over 400 tickets sold and an enormous
amount of donations. “Negative” thinkers
would say “Oh it’s because of the cause” or find some other reason why they are
successful – the cause ladies and gentlemen is constantly attacked in the
Press.
Committee “C” event already
occurred. There were well over 600
people in attendance and raised more money than even they dreamt of. Their event was an overwhelming success.
--------------------------------
Committee “B’s” event has not
occurred and the fundraising committee has not even engaged yet. Their large committee is racked with
negativity around every turn. Their
event is before Committee “A’s” but to date, they have barely sold tickets.
-------------------------------------
Why is this the case? Committee “A” & “C” were and are 100%
positive and filled with motivation to be successful. Committee “A” & “C” listened and did
exactly what they were instructed. Their
positive demeanor and the ability to follow direction is what is making them as
successful as they truly deserve to be.
Even more importantly,
Committee “C” started out small but followed direction and built a large positive
thinking committee simply by asking others to help them and furthermore, not
allowing negative thinking to take over their committee.
The moral to the story – When
a committee focuses on the negative possibilities, negative results are what
they will find. Negative thinking,
especially at the start of the planning stages will absolutely ruin your
chances to be successful – I’ve seen it time and time again.
Negative thinkers will always point out reasons why others are successful and they are not. They will point out the "What If's" and put fear in the hearts and minds of others involved. They will focus on the minimum expectations and not have a "Shoot for the Stars" mentality. Negative thinkers will pull others into them to support their negative rationale.
Build a committee of
positive, motivated thinkers. Squash
negative thinking by focusing solely on the positives. Remember the old saying “One Bad Apple Spoils
the whole Bunch.” Seek out fun loving,
helpful people who love to get involved no matter what the cause. Build a committee that supports each other
instead of tearing you and your success down.
BW Unlimited Charity Fundraising is a North American Charity Fundraising Leader in a “One Stop Shop”
convenient setting. BWU assists
charities by guiding committee’s around the myriad of negatives and pitfalls
toward hosting a highly successful fundraising event. To learn more, contact us at www.BWUnlimited.com.
Tuesday, December 1, 2015
Ravens Auction items
A bunch of great Ravens autographed items heading to a charity auction in Annapolis MD. www.BWUnlimited.com
#charityfundraising #noriskauctionitems #charity #fundraising #auctionitems #fundraising #charityevents #nonprofit #charities #fundraisingideas #nonprofitfundraising #ravens #ravensnation #joeflacco
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