My church has a ministry that remodels homes for single moms. there will be an dinner and event this friday in which they will have a silent and a live auction to raise money for this area of ministry. anyhow, i emailed the coordinator and offered a donation in the form of a cake similar to this.

http://www.cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=gallery&file=displayimage&pid=143143

but, minus the pillow and the bible on a bigger scale. I'd estimate the value at $90. I had initially planned on bringing the actual cake to the auction, but just recieved an email asking if the winner could order the cake another time instead of taking it home that night.

opinions on this? it feels odd, only because i dont want it to turn into a hairy situation later when someone gets a cake and feels like it wasnt what they expected, not big enough, missing the pillow (like in the photo) or whatever. I suppose i am asking for advice on what stipulations / conditions to put on the voucher. I'd appreciate any input ...i would like to respond in the next couple of hours. THANKS!

If you are going to include a photo, be sure NOT to use one that has more cake than you offer. A picture of a nice, simple cake that would be easy to do will make the certificate much nicer.

If you don't have a photo, carefully describe the limits of the cake, such as Non-tiered cake to serve up to xxx people, one flavor, one filling.

Or something to that effect. You can put an expiration date on it, but you cannot enforce it. It is just to encourage the buyer to get a cake soon.

Then, keep a copy of the certificate, and try to get the name of the buyer for follow-up.

rather than lock yourself into one design (which you could still do as a showpiece for some other time at church)

do the voucher and have it w/ pics of several different cakes you make.

but...
be VERY specific about what it includes.

such as:

a 2-layer 10" cake or equivalent size sheet or carved cake.
buttercream frosting and basic decorations
one flavor of filling.
retail value of $xx
additions at extra cost (ex. fondant, custom figures, etc.)
--------
if not specific enough -- then opening self up to person ordering big ticket cake and expecting to only pay small amount.

I would do a dollar amount value on the gift certificate. You could do a photo to give an example of your work, and use a cake that is in the range of the dollar value.

But when they come in to order a $1000 cake with a $100 gift certificate, they don't have a leg to stand on and you are covered.

I'd do the actual cake personally!

You could explain the time and effort that goes into making a cake, and that you wouldn't feel comfortable giving a voucher because you couldn't promise that you wouldn't be busy when the winner wants to cash it in. Obviously your paying cake orders are going to take precedence. Maybe just try and say something along those lines?

Basic Customer Service 101: You don't tell them what you CAN'T do .... you tell them what you CAN do. You CAN donate an actual cake to be auctioned off that night.

ALWAYS phrase it with what you CAN do.

I would want to take the cake too. You can send a response email saying something like, "While a voucher is a nice idea, I would prefer to donate an actual cake. A lot goes into making a cake of this magnitude and I think it will work out better if people can see what they're actually bidding on rather than a picture. Please let me know if you would still like me to donate a cake for the auction. Thanks."

Hopefully they'll will respond that that's fine and all will be well. Good luck.

"I was really looking forward to making this cake and bringing it for everyone to see at the auction. Maybe I can do a voucher for another event."

I donated a voucher for a Relay for Life Silent Auction recently and it went over really well. I think that it would raise more money if you did the voucher rather than an actual cake. People may see the cake, no matter how beatiful, and say "I would love to have a cake like that but what would I do with it right now". Just my thoughts.

I understand what you are saying about the voucher and not feeling good about doing it because someone might call at the last minute etc. I work for a landscape company and we donate "container planting parties" for people where we teach them and up to 11 friends the best way to plant their annuals into pots. I asked the owner why we don't just donate a finished pot and she said because this way the people get to have something more personalized.

BUT, the auction voucher is VERY specific. The parties are only up to 12 people, and they must be held between certain dates. We do this so that we can have enough flowers. Plus, it says that they must give at least 7 days notice before the date they want to have the party. I think you could follow these guidelines, but to fit your cake. It will be a certain size to feed xxx number of people, it must be ordered at least xxx number of days in advance (to give you time if you need to work around paying customers), it will have these decorations (buttercream, borders, etc.) And be sure to put a dollar value on it. People seem to love this.

This way you can be a little flexible with the auction winner, too. If they are going to cash this in as a birthday cake for a child vs a cake for their 80 year old grandma, you can can tailor the colors without too much of a hassle changing the basic idea you had laid out on the voucher.

Good luck and let us know what you decide to do!

Becky

The last time I donated (breast cancer silent auction back in May), I gave 2 cakes (a 9" carrot cake, and a 2 tier floral design) and a $300 gift certificate. In front of the gift certificate, was a print-out of several cakes I have done, so they knew the quality of what they'd be getting. There were also terms for the gift certificates recemption (2 week minimum notice on a wedding or tiered cake, 1 week for anything else).

I haven't yet heard from the person who won the gift certificate... and honestly, I can't wait to! I'd love to find out who wanted my services so badly that they paid that much for the certificate.

thanks for all the suggestions.

one reason i wanted to do the cake, is because i get to avoid "choices" and the hassle that comes with that.

all the conditions suggestions are good, and i will consider them.

ok, here's a question:

WHICH DO YOU SUPPOSE, WOULD RAISE MORE MONEY?

after all, thats the point that i need to remember.

The reason I think you should just do the cake is "selfish"

I looked at the pic of the cake, and it is awesome! And well, people need to "see" something in order to buy. I think they would spend more because its so cool, as well, people would probably order from you because they saw this cool cake. KWIM?

another thing is
....say i put a value of $90 dollars, and also say that this cake will serve 15 ($6 serving)... i imagine that since no one "normal" understands cake , will freak out at that and not bid because they imagine the quality of a cake mix cupcake as compared to a completely scratch cake with expensive ingredients and fillings and design elements. if i bring the actual thing in....there is nothing more i have to do or worry about.

sheesh. am i trying to convince myself? rationalize it till i make up my mind? aaaah. this was supposed to be a simple, pleasurable donation.

I see what you are saying about donating the actual cake. But I think a voucher might raise more money. This would only be because someone bidding on it might be thinking of an occasion to use it for. Typically you dont need to bring home a fancy cake on a whim. So for that reason I would say a voucher might be more appealing to people, JMO.

I donated a voucher in February, and no one has contacted me about it. I did say it was to be an 8 inch round cake to feed (12-16). I figure if they come to me wanting more than I can just tell them they could pay me the difference.

Firstly from a customer's point of view...I went to a cake competition on the weekend. They had 4 raffles. Two were baskets of goodies - one grocery items, one 'cake stuff'. The others were cakes. I admired them but didn't think twice about purchasing tickets, because I thought to myself 'lovely, but what on earth would I do with it???" I bought tickets for the other two, and was delighted to find out later I had won one of them.
Now from the 'donator's' perspective, I do a voucher for my childrens fair every year. They raffle or auction it off, and tickets go 'like hot cakes!!" since the winners of previous vouchers have given good feedback. I have received several orders as a direct result of doing this.
Like others have said, if you do donate a voucher, be specific about normal price, needing a reasonable amount of notice, size and basic flavours. And remember why you're doing this, to do someone a good deed, you shouldn't have to stress about it!

Can you donate a cake to an auction if you are not a legal bakery? I might consider doing this for my elementary school basket auction.

You could (but only if you absolutely wanted to) make a small cake to donate WITH a voucher for the exact SAME style of cake only larger to feed XXX people. That way the buyer sees (and tastes) exactly what he/she will be getting again in the future. Nothing is open ended other than when you make it. It is this exact cake (flavor, filling, colors, shape, style...) only BIGGER for a future event.

I do vouchers for "a cake feeding up to 60 people", knowing that I will be putting more money into the cake than they probably paid for the auction - at least for the first few times, I write it off as advertising dollars. I've always been lucky and had free reign to do whatever I wanted based on their theme.

I think a voucher would bring in more money.

But I can TOTALLY see how it would just be easier to bring in a cake

i do not run a bakery. i do not have a legal business, I do not advertise. i dont want this to become an issue in donating a certificate and order lists/ choices / prices etc. simply put, i do not want to get in to trouble because someone supposes that i am advertising a business and trying to get orders out of this.

now i am second guessing my whole involvement in this. i see the point that people may not want to bring home an expensive cake for no reason. but for me, it'd be much simpler to just donate an item and be done. i wanted to do something 3d instead of just an average round general cake. though they would both taste delicious, people see normal round cakes everyday. the bible, i thought would be good,cause its for a ministry event. the first time i made it , people thought it was real, or ceramic (ceramic? why would it be ceramic? lol) so i wanted to do something that people would be impressed by and feel that they had to jump at the chance to get it cause its unique. however, i may just be tooting my own horn without cause. maybe its less practical. i just wanted to do SOMETHING, and this is my talent. i dont have a big ticket item like a car or other valuable service to donate you know? i'll let you all know when i decide.

i would bring the cake. it would then be liek a bake sale but with an auction. SOMEONE will buy it. especially one of your cakes.

no need to stress. stick to what you planned.

thank you.

for those of you who do auction certificates. ...if i say a value of 100, how much do you think people actually tend to pay? i almost wonder if it would be better to just donate the cash is someone is only going to pay 25 bucks for it. thoughts?