September 28, 2022
History of ClickBid
20 years ago, as a very young freelancer, I was asked to be part of a project to improve the results of a fundraising event. The event had very unique items to auction off. They were porcelain masks painted and signed by music celebrities around the world. For this nonprofit, a paper auction just would not do justice.
This was the birth of computer-based bidding. 12 computers, placed on top of kiosks, spread around the venue. All a guest needed to do was type in their bidder number, pick an item and place a bid. The system handled all the math, bidding, and receipts.
One moment that stands out to me when I think back was the request of a senior board member. “I am a retired person who doesn’t use computers. If I can’t make a bid in less than 10 seconds, we’re gonna do paper!” Under that mandate, the first and easiest computer bidding system was created.
Since then, our all-in-one event fundraising platform has successfully managed 10,000+ events. We credit that to our undying belief that if we combined our expertise in fundraising with our expertise in technology development, we could build a platform that truly focused on our nonprofit’s bottom line and fundraising needs.
The ClickBid logo over the years
First ClickBid Logo
2011
2015
2016
2019
2022
The Crazy Simple story
Sometime around 2016 or 2017, we were building new features and improvements. In fact, we were building so many new features that it was hard to keep up with our development. We would roll out a new feature and our support team had little time to become familiar with it.
Out of this situation, the words “Why aren’t we crazy simple?” showed up on a whiteboard in the office.
It was put there as a question but more so a mandate. Organizations would rather run a smooth event that hit their goals than spend too much time learning complex features and reading tutorials.
Unlike a CRM or “daily platform” like Gmail, nonprofits spend shorter bursts of time in ClickBid. They shouldn’t be overwhelmed.
The writing on the whiteboard stuck, and soon, those words started showing up in meetings as a challenge to new features. It even became part of our logo. It has been a beacon for us in all our development efforts.
Our ongoing effort to be Crazy Simple
Crazy simple isn’t automatic.
But in an industry where many of our competitors insist on certain enhancements, we believe the secret to a successful event is still simplicity.
That’s why our mantra is the same. Make it crazy simple. Help nonprofits and charities change the world one event at a time by making it easier than ever to manage their fundraising efforts and let donors contribute to their causes, regardless of where they are.
It is our hope that our updated brand and website would help capture and share that story.
