I have a few thoughts on fund raising. Keep in mind I will go along with the crowd and you can't offend me. But I personally like auctions because it's kind of fun if you get a real nut (Kenny or the like) to be the auctioneer and people like me always have something I don't really need but is too much trouble to sell, that I would kindly donate to the cause. And everybody gets what they want when they bid (and win). I know in the past I have really enjoyed participating in the auction at Aberdeen and I did donate a item or two and I always bought something.
This will be the last time I mention anything on the subject because I am not trying to complicate things and I don't want to influence anyone. If we have any type of raffle or auction I have stuff I will bring solely for that. One thing to point out, we need to consider the vendors. If I bring stuff I have sitting around that I don't want and donate to the auction, and a vendor has the same thing for sale, it will hurt his sales. Point is, with such a small crowd (compared to Aberdeen) we need to be thoughtful of anyone that goes to the trouble of bringing stuff out to sell. Having said that, we live in a few market and competition is real.
Joe