Raise More with Your Paddle Raise: The Best Practices Most Galas Miss

A successful paddle raise isn’t spontaneous—it’s strategically designed.

In this episode, Bobby D. shares the essential practices that help nonprofits inspire more donors, generate more revenue, and create a powerful mission-centered moment.

You’ll learn how to:

• Build emotional momentum before the ask
• Choose and coach the right mission speaker
• Create strategic giving levels
• Secure leadership gifts in advance
• Use silence and donor recognition effectively
• Select fundraising software that simplifies gift redemption
• Turn first-time gifts into lasting donor relationships

Raising the paddle is only the beginning. From storytelling and professional asking to payment processing and donor follow-up, every detail matters.

Learn how to raise it right—and turn generosity into lasting impact.

For a free event analysis: calltoauction.com

Recommended For

Nonprofit leaders
Development directors
Board members
Event planners
Fundraising committees
School, hospital, and foundation galas

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Alright here, what do you mean to give up a minute? You are listening to the Auction is Action with You in It podcast, presented by Call to Auction, where our favorite four-lived word is S-O-L-D. So, so so Hello there, everyone. Bobby D here with the Auction is Action with You in It podcast, 25 plus year fundraiser, world champion auctioneer, founder of Call to Auction, and a chronic entrepreneur. That's right. We are here today to talk about the most important and biggest fundraising opportunity that you have with your event, the paddle raise. And today we're going to be talking about the paddle raise best practices that inspire more giving. Now, a successful paddle raise isn't simply about starting at a high dollar amount, working your way down. It's about creating a carefully designed moment where guests understand the need, connect emotionally with the mission, and feel inspired to take action. Today, I'm going to be sharing the best practices that can turn a basic fundraising ask into one of the most powerful and profitable moments of your event. So let's start with the most important lesson. Your paddle raise begins long before the first paddle goes in the air. It starts with your event design. Every element of the program should help guests understand your mission, recognize the need, and believe that they can be a part of the solution. No, your video matters, your speaker matters, your stories matter, your run of show matters. All of these elements should work together to build emotional momentum towards the ask. The paddle race should happen immediately after your strongest mission moment, not after long awards presentation, not after the energy has disappeared, and definitely not after guests have started thinking about dessert, the bar, or going home. Now, don't expect your auctioneer to manufacture emotion during the ask. Build that emotion through the event and allow the auctioneer to turn it into action. Next, focus on your paddle raises one clear and compelling need. One of the biggest mistakes that organizations make is trying to explain everything that they do. They discuss every program, they discuss every challenge, every expense, every line of the budget. But when you're trying to communicate everything, guests often remember nothing. You have to choose one fundable priority. Explain why it matters, explain why it matters right now, and then show donors how their generosity can create a meaningful solution. Clarity creates confidence, and a confident donor is more likely to give. Now you also need to choose the right mission speaker or video. Your speaker should have an authentic personal connection to the work. They should be comfortable sharing their story and willing to prepare, and that preparation matters. A powerful story should never be left a chance. Your speaker should be coached, rehearsed, and ready to communicate their experience clearly and concisely. In most cases, three to five minutes is enough. The story should acknowledge the challenge, but it should finish with hope. Guests shouldn't be left feeling helpless. They should understand that the organization has created change and that their generosity can help create more of that change. And here's an important distinction: your mission speaker does not need to make the financial ask and shouldn't make the financial ask. Their role is to create connection. The professional askers' role is to turn that connection into action. So let's talk about your giving levels now. Your paddle raise levels should be designed around giving capacity of people in your room. They should not be copied from another organization. They should not be based on what look good at somebody else's gala, and they should definitely not be selected simply because they are around numbers. Now you might use levels like $25,000, $10,000, $5,000, $2,500, $1,000, $500,000, $250, and $100. But those amounts must make sense for the audience. Every level should also be connected to meaningful impact. What can $10,000 accomplish? What changes could someone uh make by giving $5,000? What becomes possibility of a gift of $1,000? Donors aren't purchasing programs or supplies. They're investing in outcomes. They're investing in impact. So don't only describe what the money buys, describe what the money makes possible. Another essential best practice is securing leadership gifts before the event. Do not walk into the ballroom hoping someone will surprise you with a $25,000 gift. That rarely happens. Hope is not a fundraising strategy. Identify your strongest donors in advance, have personal conversations with them, and invite them to commit before the event. And ask whether they will raise their paddle publicly when the level is announced. These priest committed gifts accomplish more than generating revenue. They establish confidence, they create social proof, and they show the rest of the room that respected members of the community believe the mission is worth supporting. The first paddle at each level is often the hardest to raise. So make sure you know where some of those paddles are coming from. The person leading the paddle race also matters. A paddle race requires someone that more than someone that can speak quickly, entertain the audience, or read a list of dollar amounts. It requires a professional asker who understands fundraising and has done it before. That person needs to read the room, they set the pace, they make your direct and confident ask. They recognize donors properly. Hold silence without panicking and adjust the strategy in real time. Great paddle raises are structured, but they're never robotic. The ask must understand when to pause and when to push, when to celebrate and when to move forward. This brings us to another powerful best practice. Slow down. When you announce a giving level, clearly explain the impact and make the ask and then pause. Give people time to consider the decision. Give couples time to look at each other. Give donors time to process what their gift could accomplish. Silence does not mean the ask has failed. Silence is often the moment when someone is deciding to give. Don't become uncomfortable and immediately talk over that decision. Hold that moment, watch the room, and allow generosity the time it needs. As paddles go up into the air, recognize those donors. Thank them. Use their names when appropriate and when you are certain of them. You need to make people seen and appreciated. And that recognition also creates momentum. One person raises a paddle, then another, and then another. Generosity becomes visible, and visible generosity can inspire others to participate. You also need to make participation easy. It needs you to use large, highly visible paddles with very plain font and as large black numbers on white background as you can. This is the best design. If you can't see this, it's a five by eight card with white background and big, bold black lettering. Very simple. Now you need to make sure that every guest has one. Now make sure that every guest understands what the number means. Train your spotters before the program begins and coordinate with your professional asker, your spotters, your recording team, and your audio visual team. Everyone should understand the levels, the process, and the specific responsibilities. A powerful emotional moment can quickly become confusing if no one knows who's recording gifts. And that brings us to something every organization needs to consider: your fundraising management software. Raising the paddle is only the first step. You still need to accurately record the gift, connect it to the right donor, process the payment, send a receipt, and a follow-up and a thank you message after that. A strong fundraising management solution makes donation redemption easy for both the organization and the donor. Every guest should be registered correctly before the program begins. Their paddle number should be connected to their name, their contact information, and preferred payment method whenever possible. And when they raise their paddle, your team should be able to record that gift quickly and accurately. One special part about call to auction is that we provide a fundraising scribe for every event that we host. And that helps our team to track the data for your team and to make sure that everything is correct and concise and gets that into the system as quick as possible. So once that uh gift is uh recorded quickly and accurately, at checkout, the donor should not have to stand in a long line, repeat their information, or wonder how to complete their contribution. The easier you can make it to fulfill the gift, the faster your organization receives the money, and the better your the donor's final experience will be. Your software should help you track the paddle numbers and giving levels, process payments securely, identify outstanding pledges, generate accurate receipts, and integrate donor information, as well as create the reports your team needs for immediate follow-up. But having the software is not enough. Your team must know how to use it. Test the entire process before the event, create a mock paddle raise, enter sample gifts, verify that your spotters, recorders, checkout team, and fundraising staff understand their roles, and establish a backup system in case the internet, tablets, or software experiences a problem. Technology should remove friction, not create it. The emotional journey may inspire the gift, but an efficient redemption process is what helps turn that inspired commitment into collected revenue. Now, another mistake is treating the lower giving levels as an afterthought. Organizations often bring tremendous excitement to the top gifts and then rush to the final levels because they believe the important money has already been raised. But your lower level donors might produce the largest number of donors, and that matters. Those gifts create participation, they introduce new supporters to your organization, and they allow more guests to see themselves as part of the mission. And collectively, those gifts can generate significant revenue. Bring that same energy, gratitude, and respect to every level. A $250 donor deserves to feel just as connected to the mission as a $25,000 donor. The dollar amounts might be different. The desire to make a difference is not. Now, at the final level, invite at every level, invite board participation. Make it clear that every gift matters. Show guests how individual contributions create collective impact, and then finish the paddle raise with gratitude. Celebrate what the room has accomplished together, and thank the donors, thank the people who raise their paddles, and thank those who may give privately or after the event. Connect their generosity back to the people, the families, animals, students, patients, or communities that they are supporting. Be careful about announcing the total unless you know it is accurate. Instead, celebrate the shared commitment. You can say, look around this room. This is what generosity looks like. Or tonight you simply didn't just raise your paddles. You raised possibilities. And because the final emotion should not be the relief that fundraising is over, it should be the pride and the hope and the momentum. And remember, the paddle raise does not end when the paddles go down. Follow-up matters. This is key. Use your fundraising management software to identify unfulfilled pledges immediately, send acknowledgements quickly, confirm payment and gift information, and provide those tax receipts. Share what donors have helped make possible. Continue reporting impact throughout the year and pay special attention to those first-time donors. A first gift should not be the beginning, should be the beginning of a relationship, not the end of a transaction. Many times donors are coming into events and providing test donations to see how the organization will treat them after a donation is made. Too many organizations spend months on preparing to receive the gift and only minutes planning what happens after it. Great fundraising includes great stewardship. So let's bring it all together. Build the emotional moment before they ask, focus on one clear and compelling need, select and coach the right mission speaker, design giving levels around your actual audience, connect every level to meaningful impact, secure leadership gifts in advance, use a professional ask, slow down and allow donors time to decide, make participation simple, use fundraising management software to record, redeem, and follow up on every gift, value every giving level, make sure everybody has a paddle in their hand and their name is attached to that paddle, and finish with gratitude and steward every donor with intention. The most successful paddle raises are not spontaneous, they are strategically designed, carefully rehearsed, and efficiently managed, and confidently led by a professional fundraising auctioneer or asker. Because fundraising isn't simply about getting people to raise their paddle, it's about inspiring to raise their hands and say, I believe in this mission, I want to make a difference, and I want to be a part of what happens next. Well, there you are, friends. Raise it right, the best practices for your upcoming paddle race. So I want to thank you all so much for your time and your dedication to the work that you are doing through events to make a bigger impact for your organization. By spending time here, this shows us that you are dedicated to creating a better event. Better events create more fundraising, more fundraising creates bigger impact. And I want to thank you for all for that. So thank you again. Uh, my name is Bobby D with Auction is Action With You and a podcast presented by calltauction.com. If you're looking for an auctioneer, uh dates are filling up quick. So head out to our website, calltouction.com, and schedule your free event analysis today. Thanks again for listening, and we'll see you all on the next episode. $25,000 in a bit to get $50,000, $50,000 in a bit to get $75, and a bit $100,000 right there, and it's gonna be solid. You got it.