American Fundraising Foundation Reminisces About Its Roots As It Celebrates National Auctioneers’ Week
MAITLAND, Fla. (April 28, 2021) – This week, the American Fundraising Foundation (AmFund) gives recognition to its Founder, Wade West, as the nation celebrates Auctioneers Week.
“Never underestimate the power of a woman crooking her finger to her husband,” Deborah Marshall, Chief Operating Officer of the American Fundraising Foundation, said. “That’s how it began for our Founder to become one of the nation’s most entertaining and exceptionally effective benefit auctioneers.”
While seated at a high-profile gala dinner, West saw his wife, Emmy-award winning broadcaster Barbara West, motion for him to come to the stage where she was Mistress of Ceremony for the event. Not knowing what was up, he did her bidding and joined her on stage. She whispered to him, “The auctioneer cannot be here in time, so you are it!”.
West proclaimed, “But I’ve never done that before.” Only to be met with his wife’s declaration, “Well, you are doing it tonight.” And he did.
The evening was a resounding success, with more money raised than expected for a very worthy organization. Not only did the organization surpass their fundraising goal for the live auction – West “got the bug” to do it again, went to auctioneering school and founded, along with his wife, the American Fundraising Foundation (AmFund), a 501(c)(3) organization with the primary mission of educating and funding important causes.
Now, after raising nearly $40 million for other nonprofit organizations, AmFund continues to be innovative in its diverse methods for educating organizations in best practices for fundraising, and how to host an effective auction, whether it is live, silent, or virtual.
“We are so grateful to recognize Wade for his contributions to so many organizations that are meeting the needs of communities throughout America. In so doing, we also recognize the profession of auctioneering and the impact it has made through the years,” Marshall said.
For more information about how the American Fundraising Foundation can fund your cause at no cost to your organization through a variety of funding opportunities, call 407-895-8000 or send an email to Info@AmFund.org
Media Contact: Deborah Marshall Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer dmarshall@amfund.org (407) 895-8000
About the American Fundraising Foundation
Each year, the American Fundraising Foundation (AmFund) carefully selects organizations to support through three distinct programs: the Golden Pear Grant Program, our Education & Resource Program, and signature Fundraising Travel Program.
In 2020, AmFund was recognized by Nonprofit PRO as Fundraiser of the Year. It is also recognized with the GuideStar Platinum Seal of Transparency and since 1999 has distributed nearly $40 million for worthy causes. In January 2021, it was among an elite group being named a Top Nonprofit.
AmFund’s signature Fundraising Travel program feature once-in-a-lifetime experiences that are good for three years with no black-out dates. Additional benefits of this Program include: no risk or cost, no line-item, waived credit card fees and full marketing materials.
Last year, it introduced AmFund's Signature FundraisingPlatform, a virtual platform that is becoming the “go-to” virtual fundraising option for nonprofits. New in 2020 was the added benefit of the AmFund electronic bidding platform that offers exceptional tools to heighten fundraising opportunities – all at no cost to AmFund’s chosen partners.
Leveraging more than two decades of fundraising experience, AmFund provides expert training on a wide variety of topics and offers subject matter expertise through its Speaker’s Bureau for groups ranging in size from 12 to 500.
For more information, visit www.amfund.org or call (407) 895-8000. Read AmFund’s blog at www.amfund.org/blog and connect on Facebook, and LinkedIn.
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