We have, for many years now, had one of the most successful "Friends of the NRA" annual fundraising banquets in the country. There are approximately 1100 or so of these things held across the country every year and ours is consistently in the top ten or twenty when it comes to money raised. Not bad for a rural community in southern Colorado.
We don't bring in celebrity speakers (their fees take away from the money raised). We don't hire bands or comedians or anything for entertainment. Instead, what we do is host a fairly nice catered meal and we raffle away some very nice merchandise. And we have auctions. Silent auctions and a big huge live auction. I usually participate in the raffles...I think I burned about three hundred last night...and occasionally the silent auctions. I tend to stay away from the live auctions* because I just don't see the point in spending three to five times what a gun (or other similarly nice item) is worth.
I was sorely tempted to bid on a few items, though. There was a violin and a guitar signed (and allegedly used) by Charlie Daniels...those both went for well under a thousand bucks. But, I'm not a musician so I just didn't see the sense in that.
The one thing that I might do differently next year is to bid on the guided hunting packages. These packages are the one thing which almost always auction off for significantly less than they are worth. Last night, for instance, there were two of them. The first one was for a guided hunt for two hunters (and included the fees for two animals) in New Zealand. It probably had a retail value in excess of $5000 and it went for less than half that. The other one, though, was the real bargain. It was for a guided hunt for 4 hunters (five days/six nights) in Africa. I am guessing that it had a retail value well in excess of $10,000 and it also went for way less than half that. What I am thinking is that I could win one of those auctions and then offer up the other spaces on the hunt to other people with the condition that they foot the bill for all of my expenses. That way I could get a trip to Africa, get to bag something, for somewhere around three grand...a huge bargain when it comes to big game hunting.
Anyway, I didn't win a single thing last night but mrs. trapeze and I had a good time dining and socializing with lots of people we know. The money invested (close to $500 with the tickets to get in) went to a good cause and there is always next year.
*The committee makes money on the live auctions coming and going. First, every single item is either donated or (as is usually the case with the firearms) purchased at wholesale. Then they get a sponsor to "buy" the item for the auction. The sponsor gets their name mentioned which is pretty expensive advertising and that's all they get out of it other than the knowledge that they, too, are giving to a worthy cause. So, at this point the committee has already made money...anything they auction the item for is above and beyond that amount already raised. For reasons that I will never understand the firearms especially go for ridiculous prices at auction. For instance, a Henry Golden Boy .22 lever action carbine which probably was purchased (or donated) for around $300 was sponsored for $400 and sold for about $1200. Another example was a S&W .38 special Bodyguard (with laser) which probably retails for about $450 went for over $900 at auction.
