A Guide to Hosting a Successful Wine Pull Auction
How to Host a Wine Pull Auction
A wine pull fundraiser is a great way to generate a lot of money for your cause. Basically, you set up a table or wall of wine bottles that are all covered in bags or wrappings to conceal their label and value.
Guests then purchase a ticket for a set price and select the wrapped bottle they want to take home.
Ticket Pricing
If you’re hosting a wine pull auction in person, you can use it as an additional fundraiser to sell tickets prior to the event. You can also create a hybrid wine pull where guests can purchase bottles online and attend the event in person to unwrap their bottle and see what they won.
In a traditional wine pull, you’ll have bottles of wine with varying values, each wrapped so the labels are concealed. People will buy a ticket for a set price, usually $20-$25, and then draw a number that corresponds to a bottle. They will then claim that bottle as their prize.
Nonprofits can also use their event platform to offer instant-buy wine pull options, which allow attendees to pay a fixed price for a bottle and then choose from the available wines. This option is great for raising funds for a wine drive or other campaign. You can also promote your wine pull to local businesses and organizations to reach a wider audience.
Bottles of Wine
A wine pull is an opportunity for your attendees to win a bottle of wine at random and take it home with them. As such, you will need to have a good selection of wines available for this event. Prior to your fundraiser, seek out and secure a number of different bottles of wine from local vineyards or wine merchants, ideally with some high-end options.
As the event approaches, promote your wine pull in all of your event materials to encourage attendance and participation. Also, consider setting up donation kiosks around the wine pull area so that your supporters can easily make cashless donations through text-to-give or QR code access to your online donation form.
Another fun way to increase your wine pull participation is to tape special prizes, like a vineyard tour or a wine tasting party, on the bottoms of some bottles to add an incentive. Finally, once the event arrives, have guests line up to purchase an entry ticket and choose a wrapped bottle from your wine wall or table display. Once the guests select their wine, label it with their name and place it in a holding area to be picked up later.
Wrapping
Wine pulls are great events for nonprofits to attract attendees that enjoy wine. If you’re able to secure a nice assortment of wines, you can offer the bottles as an instant-buy option at your event for a set price like $20.
During the event, guests will present their ticket and can then choose a wine bottle. The nonprofit should have a holding area to place the wine once the winner has selected it. Then they can either pick up the bottle at the event or have it delivered to their home.
To make the wine pull event more eye-catching, you can dress the bottles in wrapping paper that matches the theme of the fundraiser. This can also be an opportunity to display the names of your donors and sponsors. You can even use the wrapping to promote your event through social media leading up to the fundraiser. A hybrid wine pull that is hosted both online and in person like the one PayBee helped HELP of Beaufort run can unwrap each wine live for the virtual audience.
Display
Whether used as a standalone event or incorporated into a larger fundraiser, a wine pull provides a deeply engaging complementary factor to the main event. As a result, it encourages attendees to stay longer and contribute more to the cause.
To conduct the wine pull, all bottles of wine are pre-wrapped so that the label doesn’t show, and a display is created to look like a wine wall or a sleeved bottle stack. Each guest buys a ticket and pulls a number that corresponds to a bottle. They then select the bottle and keep it.
The best way to make the wine look exciting and draw people over to the display is to wrap the bottles in creative paper or cloth materials and color code them with numbers. This makes the display look eye-catching and interesting, increasing the likelihood that people will buy a ticket. You may also want to sell handcrafted wine covers on-site to raise even more money for your cause.