Designing Auction Materials for Non-Profit Fundraising Events: Branding, Teamwork, and Project Management
As the designer of printed materials for non-profit fundraising auctions, I played a key role in ensuring a cohesive and impactful event presentation. My responsibilities included working closely with event organizers and teams to align all materials with the organization’s mission and theme. This required strong collaboration, attention to branding consistency, and meticulous project coordination. From invitations to event programs and signage, I handled all aspects of graphic design while managing print production and timelines. My goal was to enhance the event’s visual appeal, helping to engage donors and maximize fundraising success for the non-profit.
2023 Catalyst: A Wilson Foundation Event Poster, 24″ x 36″
Pieces included:
- 2023 Auction Booklet, 8 pages, 5.5 x 8″, saddle stitched
- Event Pass Lanyards
- Newspaper Thank You Ad
- Sponsorship Fliers
- Event Posters
- Silent Auction Signage
- Digital media advertisements and social media posts
Lanyard tags were designed for this event with a bold, rock-and-roll-inspired theme, drawing inspiration from music tour passes. These tags served multiple purposes: they acted as name tags for event attendees, with VIP tags distinguishing high-dollar donors, and included individual numbers printed on the back, allowing them to double as silent auction bid numbers and replace live auction paddles. The design emphasized the edgy, vibrant aesthetic of rock-n-roll concerts to reflect the event’s theme.
2023 Catalyst: A Wilson School Foundation Lanyard Tags, 3″ x 4.5″
I was tasked with designing a program that incorporated all the essential event information and sponsor advertisements while carefully managing ink coverage and page count to stay within budget. The challenge was to balance a visually appealing layout with practical printing considerations, ensuring the design was efficient in terms of ink usage and kept the total number of pages to a minimum without sacrificing content or quality.
2023 Catalyst: A Wilson School Foundation Gala Program, 5.5″ x 8.5″ saddle stitched
Consistent Branding Across Multiple Items
This event theme was “Mad Hatter’s Ball.” While another designer created the primary cover logo, I built on that foundation to design the rest of the event materials. Despite the black-tie formal nature of the auction, the stationery and branding elements followed a whimsical, informal style to align with the playful theme.
Pieces included:
- 2017 Auction Booklet, 62 pages, 4.5 x 11″, saddle stitched
- Silent Auction Paddles
- Party Invitation
- Dinner Menu
- Dinner Place Cards
Solving Knock-Out Text Issues
In 2018 the theme was The Gatsby Gala and it was a lot of fun to switch into art deco mode. One of the main requests was to have knock-out text as much as possible which is problematic when stroke and font lines get too thin for press registration. The major challenge was typesetting large amounts of text onto super narrow pages without going over the maximum page count meant that fairly small type was required. As a result, I introduced the reoccurring gold lines so the interior pages could still have black on white text with matching design items from other pieces in the collection. Then I could do black flooded pages for some of the end-matter where the text could be much larger, and brought back some knock-out text as requested in the advertisements pages.
Pieces included:
- 2018 Auction Booklet, 62 pages, 4.5 x 11″, saddle stitched
- Silent Auction Placards
- Party Invitation
- Dinner Menu
- Dinner Place Cards
- Address Labels
- Thank You Notes
- Letterhead
