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Can’t Do a Live Auction? How Oregon Episcopal School Took their Auction Virtual in 48 Hours

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About the Webconference

Presenters: Sarah Manes (Subject Matter Expert, EAB), Madeline Pruett (Director of Development, Oregon Episcopal School)

Annual spring auctions are a time-honored tradition at many independent schools, often serving as large fundraising opportunities for financial assistance offices.  The onset of COVID-19 changed that for schools across the country, leaving development offices scrambling to decide how to proceed. Oregon Episcopal School (OES) was one of them.

With less than three days until their auction was set to take place, Oregon Episcopal School, along with the rest of the state, learned that the governor was limiting all public gatherings to less than 250 people due to the encroaching coronavirus. The next day the school announced that they were closing the campus for the next month.  Though they couldn’t hold the auction as planned, OES’s Development Office decided that the show would go on.  

In the session we hear from OES development staff and their volunteer auction chair as they share what worked with their virtual auction, what they would change, and what they are preparing for in the next 12 months of event fundraising.