Slide 1 (UBB)
Pamela Schwartz – Immediate Past Chair, University Beyond Bars
It gives me great pleasure to recommend Catrina Coulson of Bella Notte Auction Services. A small non-profit needing to ramp up our fundraising efforts, we contacted Catrina in 2017. Our first impression of Catrina was that she was a true professional. Three years later we are even more convinced of that.
Catrina’s organizational skills are remarkable. She schedules monthly meetings with timelines to ensure that tasks are completed, maintains detailed meeting minutes, communicates well with members of our event committee and volunteers as well as representing us at meetings with vendors and event staff. Nothing gets past Catrina.
Catrina’s fundraising ideas are creative and realistic. Catrina’s many years of experience shine on the day of the event. Readied with her team and volunteers, Catrina transforms a blank event space into a magnificent and exciting venue. She tracks all aspects of the event down to the very last detail. Catrina and her staff are well versed on fundraising software allowing the evening to run smoothly and efficiently.
Catrina is the real deal. We owe so much of the success of our event to Catrina. She has turned our gala from an amateur event to a very successful and professional affair.
Catrina’s organizational skills are remarkable. She schedules monthly meetings with timelines to ensure that tasks are completed, maintains detailed meeting minutes, communicates well with members of our event committee and volunteers as well as representing us at meetings with vendors and event staff. Nothing gets past Catrina.
Catrina’s fundraising ideas are creative and realistic. Catrina’s many years of experience shine on the day of the event. Readied with her team and volunteers, Catrina transforms a blank event space into a magnificent and exciting venue. She tracks all aspects of the event down to the very last detail. Catrina and her staff are well versed on fundraising software allowing the evening to run smoothly and efficiently.
Catrina is the real deal. We owe so much of the success of our event to Catrina. She has turned our gala from an amateur event to a very successful and professional affair.
Slide 2 (ICOLPH)
Kathy Wartelle – Principal, Our Lady of Hope School
I want to tell you how incredible you & your team have been to work with the last 5 years. Your ability to gauge our community’s needs and to help bring out the best in all of our volunteers is impressive. You stepped up into the role of chair of our auction. Through the years, you have been a great leader using your connections & expertise. Our school commission is very impressed with your ability to not only meet, but to exceed our auction budget goals. I am grateful for your ability to ease any worries I have about this event and allow me to actually enjoy the auction. Thank you for your professionalism & your partnership. I look forward to many more years of working with you & your awesome team.
Slide 3 (MPSF)
Jen Poole – Office Manager, Monroe Public School Foundation
I have had the pleasure of working with Catrina Coulson over the past 3 years. She has been an incredible help from start to finish with our auction! Catrina and her team go above and beyond the night of the event, making the guest feel welcomed as they arrive and also being the last to see them at check out. Catrina is very knowledgeable and shares her ideas and suggestions. Catrina and her team are professional, efficient, kind and friendly to work with. I would highly recommend Bella Notte to anyone for a successful fundraising event.
Slide 4 (YMCA SNOCO)
Megan Franklin – Resource Development Director, YMCA Snohomish County
Catrina and her team are calm, professional, and put me at ease that our night-of operations for our event will go smoothly, allowing me more time to mingle and take care of our guests on a personal level. She is always available for technology support leading up to the event, provides valuable insight and advice to ensure that our materials arrive organized and ready for our volunteers and is a pleasure to work with. I recommend Catrina Coulson and Bella Notte for any role through which they can contribute to your event.
Slide 5 (WNPF)
Laurie B. Ward – Executive Director, Washington’s National Park Fund
It is with a great sense of pride that I write to you today to thank you and acknowledge the wonderful services you and your team provided to Washington’s National Park Fund during our Spring Dinner and Auction.
From advising us during the early stages with our Greater Giving software, to assisting with packaging, signage, layout and set-up, you all came into our organization with confidence, positive energy and can-do attitudes. These traits carried on right up to and through the day of our Spring Dinner and Auction. THANK YOU!
During our time together, you and your team were professional, enjoyable, CALM (which was INCREDIBLY helpful!), organized and committed to success. There is no doubt you helped us to raise a record $205,000 from the 280 individuals present that night.
From advising us during the early stages with our Greater Giving software, to assisting with packaging, signage, layout and set-up, you all came into our organization with confidence, positive energy and can-do attitudes. These traits carried on right up to and through the day of our Spring Dinner and Auction. THANK YOU!
During our time together, you and your team were professional, enjoyable, CALM (which was INCREDIBLY helpful!), organized and committed to success. There is no doubt you helped us to raise a record $205,000 from the 280 individuals present that night.
Slide 6 (AFE)
Alicia Sands – Events Manager, Alliance for Education
Dear Fellow Event Managers,
I highly recommend hiring Bella Notte to manage event data at your auction or fundraising event.
I manage the Alliance for Education’s annual Black and Orange Gala. Our fundraising goal each year is over $400K.
Working with Catrina and Bella Notte made auction planning so easy and seamless this year. It felt like working on the auction with a sister or good friend (if my sisters and friends were auction software experts!) I felt so supported- not only was Bella Notte super responsive to every question and request I made, but they were cheerful and encouraging. I felt like I had my own were my cheer leading team!
We hired Bella Notte to handle our data entry before and during our event, as well as check-in and check-out. The role that correct and consistent data entry and processing plays in a successful auction cannot be overstated. After the event I got compliments on the professionalism of the check in staff, and the data was clean and easy to wrap up post event.
Being freed from the hugely time consuming data entry portion of the pre-event work was worth every penny! I was able to focus on all of the other details of making our event extraordinary. I really enjoyed being able to bounce ideas off Catrina. She is a true events expert and she understands that details matter.
I am looking forward to working with Bella Notte again next year!
I highly recommend hiring Bella Notte to manage event data at your auction or fundraising event.
I manage the Alliance for Education’s annual Black and Orange Gala. Our fundraising goal each year is over $400K.
Working with Catrina and Bella Notte made auction planning so easy and seamless this year. It felt like working on the auction with a sister or good friend (if my sisters and friends were auction software experts!) I felt so supported- not only was Bella Notte super responsive to every question and request I made, but they were cheerful and encouraging. I felt like I had my own were my cheer leading team!
We hired Bella Notte to handle our data entry before and during our event, as well as check-in and check-out. The role that correct and consistent data entry and processing plays in a successful auction cannot be overstated. After the event I got compliments on the professionalism of the check in staff, and the data was clean and easy to wrap up post event.
Being freed from the hugely time consuming data entry portion of the pre-event work was worth every penny! I was able to focus on all of the other details of making our event extraordinary. I really enjoyed being able to bounce ideas off Catrina. She is a true events expert and she understands that details matter.
I am looking forward to working with Bella Notte again next year!
Slide 7 (HRS)
Jen Fukutaki – Director of Advancement, Hamlin Robinson School
Hamlin Robinson School has contracted with Bella Notte Auction Services for several years. The Bella Notte staff were: willing and eager to meet prior to the auction in order to plan and answer questions, responsive to input and suggestions, prepared with an experienced team and team leader, patient, friendly, and helpful with our auction volunteers, calm, cool, and collected under stress, open to working with on-the-spot changes, kind (and welcomed) to offer constructive feedback for next year, and able to handle all unexpected situations and attendee stresses with grace and poise.
We highly recommend their services and will use them again next year.
We highly recommend their services and will use them again next year.
Slide 8 (RTW)
Karen Rohrbach – Office Manager, Run To Win Outreach
I am writing on behalf of Bella Notte. We have used Bella Notte for the past two years for our registration and recording services for our RTW Dinner Auction. This past year, we had 450 guests and raised over $320,000!
Bella Notte is efficient, pleasant and teachable. They work hard to make sure that the event experience is great for all involved. They have many good ideas and to suggest and are willing to implement any of our ideas also.
Catrina is thorough and a joy to work with. She has a great crew of people that seem to enjoy what they do.
Auctions can be stressful but with Bella Notte handling the details, we were all able to enjoy the event to the fullest. I heartily recommend Bella Notte for your Auction service needs.
Bella Notte is efficient, pleasant and teachable. They work hard to make sure that the event experience is great for all involved. They have many good ideas and to suggest and are willing to implement any of our ideas also.
Catrina is thorough and a joy to work with. She has a great crew of people that seem to enjoy what they do.
Auctions can be stressful but with Bella Notte handling the details, we were all able to enjoy the event to the fullest. I heartily recommend Bella Notte for your Auction service needs.
Slide 9 (RE)
Anne Greene – Riverview Elementary Auction Committee Chair
Catrina’s personal values and good character were evident in her professionalism in working with her and her team. She made auction planning fun for our volunteer group and took the stress away from us. We enjoyed working with her so much we have decided to increase our budget for the next auction so we can utilize her to her full potential. Her amazing attention to detail and great taste is something we value.
Slide 10 (SEMR)
Julie Frauenholtz – Auction Chair, South Everett/Mukilteo Rotary
Bella Notte Auction Services, led by Catrina Coulson, was recommended to our club with high regards. We hired her based on her expert experience, her willingness to be flexible working with volunteers, and her desire to ensure a high quality event. For the past two years we have worked together with Catrina and her team and we have been extremely satisfied with her services and thankful for her contract.
Working with a club of volunteers can be very challenging at times- with many individual’s requests to balance. Bella Notte Auction Services has been flexible in meeting our changing needs and Catrina has always maintained a positive attitude and consistently ensures high quality work that is accurate and completed by deadline. She has a wealth of auction knowledge and experience that is a tremendous help while implementing the many necessary details.
I would recommend Catrina and her team for both pre-auction management and for day of auction registration and item administration. And I trust, like for us, Belle Notte Auction Services will ensure your event is a tremendous success.
Working with a club of volunteers can be very challenging at times- with many individual’s requests to balance. Bella Notte Auction Services has been flexible in meeting our changing needs and Catrina has always maintained a positive attitude and consistently ensures high quality work that is accurate and completed by deadline. She has a wealth of auction knowledge and experience that is a tremendous help while implementing the many necessary details.
I would recommend Catrina and her team for both pre-auction management and for day of auction registration and item administration. And I trust, like for us, Belle Notte Auction Services will ensure your event is a tremendous success.
Slide 11 (NORDIC)
Pamela Brooks – Finance, Nordic Heritage Museum
I just want to thank you for the service you provided for our Northern Lights Auction. I always appreciate how well you remember the details of our previous auctions and are able to help fine tune our event to run more efficiently than the years before. I really think we had a smoother event based on your recommendations and expertise. The kind of trouble shooting skills you employ during the event itself are so valuable to our success and your support team was so great. Everybody was up to the challenge, knowledgeable and professional. I felt like we had the resources in assistance available to ensure that nobody was held up at check in and nobody was inconvenienced at the end of the night. All of the inevitable challenges were promptly remedied and no attendees were the wiser! That’s really the hallmark of success, the very nature of this type of event dictates that there will be hurdles but when the behind the scenes team is so spot on at troubleshooting that the hurdles don’t cause hiccups we have won. So thanks for making us winners and as always, I appreciate your post event support and your general great attitude!
Slide 12 (NWN)
Cathy Jackson – Auction Chair, NW Nationals Premier Soccer Club
Catrina and her staff are very knowledgeable and they were really helpful in the months leading up to the auction. They offered great ideas and suggestions that we hadn’t thought of ourselves. They thoroughly tested the database prior to the auction night, so they could identify any problems with the data entry that might be troublesome the night of event. It was such a relief to know that they could take on the entire task of registering guests, enter bids and handling checkout at the end of the night. Their professionalism and accuracy entering all of the information made the entire night a huge success and our guests really noticed the difference the last couple years they have worked with us. Thank you Bella Notte for your help in making our auction a huge success!
Slide 13 (GPHS)
Sarah Olsen – Auction Chair, Glacier Peak High School
The Glacier Peak High School Parent Organization has worked with Catrina Coulson and her team from Bella Notte on several occasions. Most recently, we held our annual Fundraising Auction with great success. The team from Bella Notte AS was certainly a big part of that success.
Having known her work, we were delighted to contract with Catrina for our fundraiser. Any questions that we had were answered promptly and professionally. We met with her to go over program planning, how to number items, how to use the auction software and anything else that popped up. She was a huge help with the “little things” from how to maximize raffle ticket sales to how to organize registration materials and even deal with last-minute registrations.
Having known her work, we were delighted to contract with Catrina for our fundraiser. Any questions that we had were answered promptly and professionally. We met with her to go over program planning, how to number items, how to use the auction software and anything else that popped up. She was a huge help with the “little things” from how to maximize raffle ticket sales to how to organize registration materials and even deal with last-minute registrations.
Slide 14 (SEF)
Sandy Bartell – Snohomish Education Foundation
We found Catrina and her staff to be customer service oriented, professional, timely, and organized. They were calm under pressure, detail oriented, and always willing to advise on auction related matters. They helped to ensure the success of our event.
Slide 15 (JRE)
Laura Teeuw & Melissa Blumhagen – Auction Co-chairs, John Rogers Elementary PTA
They exceeded our expectations far and beyond what we initially imagined with enthusiasm and encouragement before, during and after our event. We attribute our event’s success in raising more than our goal in large part to their support.
It was apparent from the beginning that Catrina has a lot of experience with all types of auctions and was willing to work with us to help make our event a huge success. She made herself available for several personal meetings as well as numerous phone calls and emails to answer any questions we had as well as offer sound advice in the months leading up to our auction. During the night of our auction, she and her team worked tirelessly alongside our own volunteers to help manage all the silent auction events, and they took care of the live recording, registration, check-in/check-out process and reconciliation of all sales the day after our event. They did all this with the utmost professionalism and saw to every little detail until the very end, and as a result, everyone was able to enjoy the night.
We highly recommend the use of Bella Notte Auction Services for your next event and can assure you will not be disappointed.
It was apparent from the beginning that Catrina has a lot of experience with all types of auctions and was willing to work with us to help make our event a huge success. She made herself available for several personal meetings as well as numerous phone calls and emails to answer any questions we had as well as offer sound advice in the months leading up to our auction. During the night of our auction, she and her team worked tirelessly alongside our own volunteers to help manage all the silent auction events, and they took care of the live recording, registration, check-in/check-out process and reconciliation of all sales the day after our event. They did all this with the utmost professionalism and saw to every little detail until the very end, and as a result, everyone was able to enjoy the night.
We highly recommend the use of Bella Notte Auction Services for your next event and can assure you will not be disappointed.