A number of Rotarians and guests—those who physically volunteered at the rummage sale—gathered at 6:00 p.m. on July 29, 2024 to discuss how our recent Great Kirkland Rotary Rummage Sale fundraiser went on July 13 at Kamiakin Junior High in Kirkland. Cody Baker moderated the discussion as we examined our experiences as to what worked, what did not, and what could be improved. The conversation covered a wide range of subjects and tended to jump from subject to subject at times. For improved clarity, these notes are grouped by subject, without regard to chronology. [Ed. Note: The notes of two recorders have been combined in this record of the meeting.] Topics discussed included whether to continue with the event, marketing of the event, location of the event, set-up, donations, staffing, pricing, etc.Location: There was much discussion about Kamiakin and whether another place, such as Lake Washington HS might work better. Kamiakin has lots of space in the gym, parking is good, our market might be residents of the Kamiakin area rather than the LW High School area. It was felt by some that Kamiakin is more difficult to get to than LWHS.
Everyone was happy with Kamiakin but there was support for exploring Lake Washington High School as an alternative location. Kamiakin has good parking, plenty of gym space, and the advantage of inertia from previous years. LWHS is closer to the freeway and downtown Kirkland and is the school where the scholarship money raised from the event actually goes (for the past two years; prior to that Juanita and Emerson and the LWIT Technical High School were included).
Timing: It was agreed that if dates before the 4th of July are available that is preferable timing. Doug and others shared that fewer volunteers and customers are available the week immediately after the holiday.
Many people expressed interest in expanding the sale to two days and utilizing Sunday as the half off day. The need for additional volunteers to reorganize at the end of Saturday and work Sunday was raised by Sue. The general sentiment was that shortening donations to three or four days and increasing the sale to Saturday and Sunday would be an improvement.
Staffing: Much discussion about partnering with another club or organization which might lessen the number of hours everyone had to put in. Almost all club members (and spouses/partners) put in a lot of time.
Volunteers were repeatedly raised as a pain point with numerous members expressing a need for more volunteers. John Pruitt shared that over 80% (30+/37) of the club volunteered at least once. It was agreed that more non-member volunteers are needed.
Organization: Need more structure to the set-up process. Lots of people, acting in good faith, were not working efficiently because we lacked structure to the set-up process. Set up committees early to start organizing, marketing, etc.
It was suggested that will-call be changed so that items must be paid for before being left in will-call. Some members thought this was already the process but there was consensus that this should be the process in the future. Some items were left there and not purchased, removing them from sale. Others were left until the half price announcement.
Alice, Daniel, and others repeatedly brought up the value of the club having a storage unit for the sale both to accept donations in advance and store certain high value items that failed to sell so they could be sold online. The storage unit was not discussed in depth.
The Salvation Army bins were a big success and it was asked what other organizations we could partner with to take unsold merchandise.
Pricing: Pricing was discussed at length. Pricing done in a haphazard manner at times. Some items were underpriced; some items will not sell even if priced at $2. See ‘Donations’ about discarding unsaleable items early in the process. Develop guidelines for pricing. Would Bainbridge Island Rotary have pricing guidelines we could use? Might make more money with better-organized pricing.
Cody shared that he felt prices were too low and there was some agreement. Doug shared the need for a pricing matrix to simplify and rationalize pricing. Kate suggested we reach out to the Bainbridge club for advice on how they price.
Terry shared that a customer bought a ski carrier for $60 and told him that it should have been priced at $150 and he was going to just put it online for $150. There was a lot of discussion on how to price high ticket items. Alice recommended those items get set aside and some research is done on more appropriate pricing.
Sponsorships: Sponsors’ contributions more than covered expenses. From a sponsor viewpoint, what do sponsors get out of being a sponsor? As opposed to the Duck Dash, when sponsor names were featured prominently on Duck tickets, we did not do much of a job of publicly recognizing our sponsors.
Numerous members brought up the importance of working with local partners and the success that Bainbridge rotary has with that. Potential partners that were suggested included the Chamber of Commerce, Rotary Club of Kirkland Downtown, Kirkland Downtown Association, and Kiwanis.
In-kind sponsorships and revenue sharing were briefly mentioned with regard to partners although not discussed in depth.
Donations: Discussed reducing the number of days that we accept donations, perhaps down to three days. This would reduce the workload for volunteers. Discussed winnowing donations and if items are not deemed to be saleable, discarding them immediately. This would potentially reduce the workload at the end of the event. Discussed eliminating the acceptance of electronics as they did not sell. Some high-end, good quality items were dirty-dusty-cobwebby; cleaning them would improve their appeal. Would Half-Price Books give us a few dollars for unsold books??
Terry asked how we ensure that the items we sell are higher quality. The consensus was that we should not generally turn away donations but that we should vet items better and more stuff should hit the dumpster rather than expend the effort of sorting and pricing them.
We discussed accepting furniture and Cody shared that nearly all of the small and medium furniture sold this year. Everyone agreed we should continue accepting that kind of furniture.
Electronics we discussed and everyone agreed we should not take consumer electronics; it is a lot of work to test them and they do not sell well.
Holiday decor was discussed at length and the general feeling was that it should be accepted but scrutinized like other donations and more of it should be thrown away.
It was asked what sold well and agreed that bikes and art were easy to sell and relatively high ticket items although bikes are hard to get as donations.
Doug recommended taking all the unsold books to half price books after the sale.
Cody shared that many donations were very dirty or grimy but otherwise in good condition. It was agreed that those items would sell better or for more if they were cleaned up. It was recommended that with enough volunteers some should be given Clorox wipes to clean those items at intake.
Food: Everyone agreed Rick Walter did a great job with food but some members would prefer having some healthier options during the week. Rick pointed out that food options were limited by the lack of dining ware.
Success of the event; doing the event again: There were a number of questions regarding how to measure success – is this a fund-raiser or a community service event where we donate lots of unsold items to Salvation Army? Several people suggested not doing another such sale – too much work for too little return. Discussion as to whether renaming the event would attract more customers – ‘Rummage’ has a negative connotation. What do we do instead for a fund raiser??
Raising funds to do our various projects is about more than writing checks – it is also about visibility in the community. Problem – lots of donated items, not enough buyers [see Marketing]. Thanks to Rick Walter’s brainstorm, Salvation Army was the recipient of a large quantity of unsold shoes and clothing. Conversations about the purpose of the sale and it's role as a fundraiser, outreach event, and community service event were persistent throughout the meeting. Margie added that the sale also has value as an opportunity for club members to socialize and work side by side.
Will-Call sometimes used as a place to sequester items until we announced that all items were now 50% off; no will call unless paid for? Should we be open 3-4 hours on Sunday, with prices cut 50%? Would make it easier to shut down and clean up. Apparently, we more-or-less broke even last year. Do not have complete numbers for this year but seems to be on the negative side at this point. Stay tuned.
Marketing: We must do a better job of getting the word out – road-side signs a couple of weeks before the event is not good enough. Lots of folks did not know about the event beforehand. The Valpak investment of $500 reached 20,000 people in the Kamiakin area. Posters in various businesses, churches, etc., etc.? Reader board at Kamiakin – used that last year, but not this year. Connect the event to Rotary!! Posters, banners, flyers at the event?? We had a Club booth at events such as the Auto Show, Pumpkins in the Park, Wednesday market, etc. – publicize the Rummage Sale during these events.
Daniel shared that he surveyed customers about how they heard about the sale while he was cashiering and roughly 30% said Valpak. Valpak marketing cost $250 per 10,000 impressions and it was agreed that was a good value although the zip codes we market to could be improved. There was a lot of discussion about who the target audience for the sale is. Cody and others shared that other larger sales attract customers from all over particularly South King County (Renton, Tukwila, Kent).
John Storbeck and others expressed concerns about the specific name "Rummage Sale" and possible negative associations with the word rummage. Support for changing the name was widespread and various ideas were shared without a clear frontrunner.
There was a good discussion about yard signs. Rick Walter mentioned that he put signs all around Kingsgate neighborhood about a month before the sale but by the week of the sale they had all been removed. It was pointed out that no signs were placed on 85th although the merit of placing them on high speed roads was debated and inconclusive.
Doug has the idea to get marketing inside the tech campuses to appeal to a "captive audience". This was widely accepted as a good idea and something to be explored.
Don suggested email drip marketing beginning months before the sale, reminding people that the sale is upcoming and encouraging them to save their donations.
John Storbeck said we should name the sale next year "third annual..." which everyone agreed with.
Cody said he will send out a survey to all club members asking if they want to do the sale next year or if they have an alternative idea.