One Gift, Double the Impact
Boutique Event, Major Impact: Strategic Auction Innovation Raises critical funds for Student Scholarships: UWC ISAK Japan's Pay It Forward Fund launch event achieved remarkable success, critical funds through a powerful combination of strategic fundraising tactics and intimate donor engagement. Despite only 25 in-person attendees, the event leveraged sealed bid multi-selling and expert auctioneering to generate outsized results.
Key innovations drove success: the multi-selling strategy transformed 21 bids into 13 sold items, while guest upload technology helped achieve exceptional 44% participant engagement across bidding and pledging. The live auction, enhanced by professional fundraising hosting, consistently surpassed revenue expectations.
The results prove that sophisticated fundraising strategies need not be limited to large galas. By combining advanced auction techniques with personalized donor engagement, UWC ISAK created a new model for maximizing impact in boutique settings—ensuring that more students receive the transformative education they deserve.
Result
The intimate setting delivered outsized results: 13 items sold through multi-selling strategy from just 21 total bids. 44% of participants engaged in bidding or pledging. Sealed bid multi-selling helped increase charity profit.
Live auction surpassed expectations, maximizing per-item revenue. The event demonstrated how sophisticated fundraising strategies can thrive in intimate settings, proving that community size matters less than strategic execution when driving transformational educational opportunities.
UWC ISAK Japan, an international school where 70% of students rely on scholarships, launched the Pay It Forward Fund—a first-of-its-kind initiative uniting past and present parents to fund a full three-year scholarship for a deserving student.
A carefully curated boutique event in Hong Kong, supported by global online participation, aimed to ignite generosity within an intimate community. The goal was to leverage advanced fundraising tactics to jumpstart the multi-year scholarship fund, using a "Double the Impact" narrative to show how one gift transforms both the recipient student and their peers.
The strategy blended intimacy with innovation:
- SmartRaise Fundraising Platform with guest upload to maximize participation
- Dedicated Project Management ensuring seamless execution
- Fundraising Host and Auctioneer Peyami Kalyoncu driving live auction energy
- Sealed bid multiselling strategy creating multiple winners from single items
- Hybrid format allowing global participation alongside 25 in-person attendees