Maestro’s Text2Bid Helps MDA Chapter Raise $100,000 in Silent Auction at Black-N-Blue Ball

MaestroSoft, a fundraising solutions company, announced that its Text2Bid technology was used to support the Muscular Dystrophy’s Association of Southern Wisconsin’s Annual Black-N-Blue Ball, a money-raising event for muscular dystrophy (MD).

Text2Bid allows guests at auctions to be notified by text message on the status of their bidding, making activity involving items on their ‘watch list’ instantly available.

This approach is particularly helpful for silent auctions, like the one at the Black-N-Blue Ball, held in late May. Guests gathered at the Wisconsin Center in Milwaukee to contribute for 350 silent auction items, including unique Harley-Davidson merchandise and memorabilia. In total, about $100,000 was raised through auction bids.

“It can obviously be a challenge to view and keep track of 350 silent auction items during our event,” Lisa Lodde, the Muscular Dystrophy’s Association’s national director of distinguished events, said in a press release. “Our guests really enjoyed being able to bid from anywhere and continue to bid while enjoying all that the Ball had to offer. We’re looking forward to continuing to work with Maestro as they develop more ways to make it easy for our guests to participate and still be able to enjoy what is a very social event.”

In addition to the auction, the Harley Davidson-sponsored event featured fine dining and entertainment, including a motorcycle raffle, a wine pull raffle, temporary tattoos, a live auction, an MDA children’s art auction, and photo booths.

The MDA annual event has been a hallmark of Wisconsin’s social scene for 23 years. The motorcycle theme also allowed guests to have fun with their best ‘black’ leather and ‘blue’ denim outfits – no tuxedos or cocktail dresses.

In the past 20 years, the fundraiser has raised nearly $9 million to support MDA programs and services.  In 2015 alone, 1,300 guests contributed with over $918,000. The fundraiser provides an annual opportunity for businesses and community leaders to gather and make progress towards finding new treatments and fund more research to search for a cure for this neuromuscular disease.

The Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA) is using the money raised at these events to, by 2020, double its research investment in drug development and clinical trials, provide care and support for 50,000 more families (a 50% increase in the number of families the MDA helps today) and fund 20,000 kids at MDA Summer Camp at no cost.