At Vogel, our Community Heroes consist of businesses and organizations that have committed their support to us through philanthropy, volunteerism, and advocacy. In the coming months, we’re going to feature different Community Heroe

s in this blog, and detail some of the great ways they help us.

We may feature an event or a short interview with individuals within these businesses to get to the heart of why Vogel is important to them. If some of their ideas and events seem like the perfect option for you and your business, we’d love to hear from you and help you get involved.

Informa Markets is a global company that produces more than 550 international B2B events and brands each year. They provide customers and partners a

round the globe with platforms to “engage, do business, create compelling experiences and make powerful connections.”

Their DFW office has been one of our Community Heroes for several years, hosting various events and committing to volunteer opportunities in this time.

A few weeks ago, Informa raised money for Vogel in a very unique way. The company was preparing to move to a brand new office space, complete with new furniture, artwork, and electronics. The group was faced with a challenge: What should they do with all of their old furniture, artwork, and electronics? Specifically, they had 72 pieces of artwork, large TVs, and other office equipment that was not making the move to the new place.  They decided to gather the artwork together and hold a silent auction amongst their employees. As for the electronic

s and other equipment a non-required $25 donation was requested from employees in exchange for these items. They then took all of this money they raised and donated it to Vogel!

To find out more about this genius idea, I got a change to speak with Pamela Miller, a Senior Sales Manager at Informa, and the brains behind this fundraiser; she answered a few questions about the event and what inspired Informa and its employees to give back.

Pamela, thanks for speaking with me today, I just have a few questions for you. How did your company get connected with Vogel and what does it mean to you?

“Informa has been partnered with Vogel for three to four years, and I have had the chance to visit several times, usually during the holidays, helping with the Christmas store. I’m a new grandmother and I just love the babies, helping Vogel is such a worthy cause.”

This silent auction of your office’s old stuff is such a cool concept! We would love to inspire other companies to create unique opportunities like this within their organization. Can you tell me a little more about what inspired you to do an event like this?

“Well, the overall idea came from the fact that we all have so much stuff– too much stuff. When we decided to move offices and knew we would be refreshing everything, it could have been a free-for-all with the old items. Instead we instigated a plan to do something with the artwork and the equipment that would do some good. We decided to hold a silent auction for the artwork, and to make it a fundraising opportunity for Vogel. It was so easy to do! And you guys helped make it easy to set up a page for donations. Everything just took off from there.”

Tell me about the silent auction.

“We had about 72 different pieces of art in the auction. I set up a space like an art gallery of sorts; the last few minutes of the auction got a little crazy with the competition. We also had few large TVs and some other general office equipment, and we set up an optional $25 donation for those items. Even though it wasn’t required I’m pretty sure everyone stepped up and donated their $25. We ended up with about $4,200 for Vogel, I was really pleased with the outcome.”

That’s amazing! Thank you so much! Do you think this event gave some momentum to awareness about Dallas’ homeless children amongst your colleagues?

“Definitely! We’ve been working with Vogel for several years how and it’s just such a wonderful cause. We’ll be participating in a company-wide fundraiser soon called Walk the World. Each year Informa colleagues globally get a chance to walk and raise money for local causes that are important to each of our offices. And Vogel is our chosen cause. So we’ll get another chance to raise more money for you guys.”

Thanks so much Pamela for answering these questions for us, and thank you for creating this great opportunity in your company to help Vogel.

If you are interested in getting your business or organization involved with Vogel and becoming a Community Hero, please contact us at [email protected] today.