Westmont firm's auction system helps nonprofits
While attending a charity fundraiser in 2011, Jim Alvarez felt bogged down by the process that was being used to run the event's silent auction.
Bids were written down on paper, and tracking bids was cumbersome. He was also stymied by the long line the winning bidders had to face to pay for their items.
He knew there had to be a faster, more efficient way to run things.
Alvarez is the founder and president of Gesture, a Westmont-based company that has automated the fundraising process for nonprofits. From using mobile phones for the bidding process to automating the payment procedure, Gesture has proved to be a valuable resource for charities and foundations to raise funds efficiently.
Born in his basement five years ago, Gesture has grown to a 60-person company that is expected to see $10 million in revenue this year, Alvarez said. It has partnered with more than 2,000 nonprofits nationwide, from the Ronald McDonald House Charities and American Cancer Society to local schools and foundations. The company works with the Chicago Blackhawks, Cubs and Fire charities, as well as the foundations of the last four Stanley Cup championship teams and, most recently, the 2015 World Series champion Kansas City Royals.
The company touts it has helped raise more than $275 million through the more than 3,500 events it has handled since its inception.
Key to Gesture's success is a mobile bidding system that will text a bidder when he has been outbid and ask if he wants to submit a new one.
“In the olden days, people would come and make a bid, then they'd start socializing and never really have a chance to go back to check and see if they've been outbid,” Alvarez said. “What we do now is, as soon as they get outbid, we text them and ask if they want to bid again, and this dramatically helps the charities raise more money.”
In addition, the software accepts and holds credit card information during the check-in process, which helps speed up the payment process at the end of the night.
An online dashboard monitors the entire process in real time, Alvarez said. The client can see how many bids they are getting, what the revenues are, and can break information down by item, such as how many raffle tickets are sold or what an individual item is selling for. A custom website is also created for the specific event, which opens the process to a wider group of donors.
“People who might not be able to attend the event can now participate,” Alvarez said, adding that several events in the past have hit their fundraising goals before the event even starts.
“More time, more bidders, equal more revenue,” he said.
While technology is a big part of Gesture, Alvarez is quick to point out the human factor also makes it successful. For each event, Gesture has a team work with the organization to handle the fundraising efforts.
“An account manager walks through every step of fundraising,” he said, adding that process alone can take 10 to 13 hours. “On the night of event, we send a team of 4 to 20 people to take the credit card information at the beginning of event, store that information and collect at the end of night. We also help with the bidding throughout the night and handle the check-out.
“It's not only our technology, but our team that makes sure everything goes well.”
And while it helps nonprofits raise funds, Gesture does not take a cut from that money. Instead, it charges a flat fee to the organization beforehand, based on the complexity of the event.
“It never matters if they raise $10,000 or $10 million at an event,” he said. “Ours is a flat fee.”
Gesture's goal, Alvarez said, is to handle the fundraising portion of the event, so that the nonprofit can focus more on its donors.
“At a charity event, there's a lot of moving parts. What we want to do for our charity partner is to simply take the fundraising portion of the night off their plate,” he said. “Now, from a charity standpoint, they can spend time with their donors.”