Loyola High School

Loyola High School

Thoroughbreds: A Night at the Derby

Right out of the gate, Loyola High School took the reigns and was completely comfortable managing their first cMarket online auction. It wasn't long before they realized that they were on the fast track to running a successful web-based fundraiser.

As one of Los Angeles' private college preparatory academies, Loyola High School is in direct competition with many other institutions in southern California for fundraising and support. They are constantly looking for new and innovative ways to raise revenue and turned to cMarket to enhance their annual gala dinner.

Loyola High School ran their first online auction, "Thoroughbreds: A Night at the Derby", in conjunction with their event. They selected over 200 auction items for their catalog - items featured exclusively on the web and only open for bidding during their online event. This gave the school's staff the chance to scale down their live auction during the gala and better manage the workload involved on the day of the event. It also presented the opportunity to get constituents excited about their fundraiser prior to the dinner.

A big part of Loyola's fundraising strategy was to sell numerous sponsorship spots to raise even more money from their auction site. In keeping with the theme of their auction, they used corresponding names to represent the different sponsorship levels including: Triple Crown, Thoroughbred, Churchill Downs, Belmont and Preakness. In addition, they offered interesting auction items for their community to bid on from a "Twentieth Century Fox Summer Movie Premiere for Four" to a selection of certificates to local restaurants and cafes. They gave their constituents a chance to "Fund-A-Project" and help raise money for specific needs by donating to the academic departments of their choice.

Loyola High School embraced cMarket's technology, services and all of the opportunities presented in which to raise money from their online auction site. As a result, they earned close to $60,000 more from their fundraising event than in previous years without the online component.