Your Marquam Auction Agency Auctioneer – Misty Marquam
Misty Marquam, founder and Principal Auctioneer at Marquam Auction Agency, is a powerhouse of energy and enthusiasm. Specializing in fundraising, data-driven revenue strategy and equity, Misty and team work tirelessly as organizations’ ambassadors. The result? Successful, inclusive and profitable events. She has but one goal for her partners: bring the fun while showing them the money!
As a woman of color, Misty proudly advances diversity within the auction industry, where fewer than 17% of auctioneers are women and fewer than 5% are people of color or minorities. MAA is the first and only fundraising auction agency in the nation comprised of minorities with emphasis on serving underrepresented groups.
Innovating FUNdraising since 2006, this native Oregonian, foodie and mother of two is a World Wide College of Auctioneering graduate, a Benefit Auctioneer Specialist (only 1% of all auctioneers attain this designation), a St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital Fundraising Ambassador and a member of the National Auctioneers Association.
When not exceeding goals, Misty adores music, dancing, singing, bonfires, nature and general merrymaking. We believe you’ll not have a better time supporting your favorite cause with anyone else!
Misty Marquam in her own words
Benefit auctioneers sell more than just stuff. We sell dreams. We sell vision. We sell a feeling. In 2006, I dove into the benefit auction universe as an event clerk and subsequently became a professional bid assistant. After long deliberation, I emerged from World Wide College of Auctioneering as a certified benefit auctioneer. Having now mentored, networked and worked alongside some of the best benefit auctioneers in the business, I would be remiss if I didn’t express immense gratitude to those who came before me, paved this amazing path and instilled such a great foundation in me for what we do. And what we do is literally change the world – one fundraising event at a time!
Having launched into auctioneering completely and head first, I spent my first few years working as a contract benefit auctioneer. During that time, I polled donors about their event experiences noting many common themes in their candid feedback. I witnessed a multitude of sins at charity events that could be improved, innovated, reimagined and ultimately reinvented. Having suffered alongside auction-goers too many times the negative impact of poorly planned programming, unhappy experiences, long lines, sloppy execution and haphazard messaging – resulting in stalls and declines in giving, the idea of Marquam Auction Agency was born. I imagined a full-service fundraising agency who walks its clients through the process smartly, effortlessly and comprehensively, setting up fundraising for optimal success. I envisioned a team of professionals, all experts at their roles, working together to elevate the entire event experience for loyal donors, our esteemed partners, and the recipients of their services.
I recruited experts to develop these ideas into a proper business plan, brand identity and market penetration strategy. I called in favors from my personal network for everything from graphic design, videography and marketing to legal advice, social media and accounting. I began assembling my dream team. MAA opened its doors in 2016 and my baby now boasts 50+ vibrant team members with specialties ranging from auctioneering, consultation, sales, administration, bid assisting, event clerking, social media, photography/videography and digital marketing.
We joyfully serve our clients with energy, expertise, humor and refinement, always looking to add as much value and fun as we can. My only prerequisite for our staff is that they believe wholeheartedly in every organization for whom they raise money as a genuine passion for a cause always shines through.
I fall in love with each organization with whom we partner. Their missions all inspire me, though the values I hold most dear are uplifting the underprivileged, saving lives, education and youth, women’s issues, promoting equity, diversity and inclusion, environmental conservation and arts. Grateful is how I feel every day because work rarely feels like work to me and the impact of our work can be seen and felt in my community and around the world. My why? A deep desire to change the world for the better every single day.
In my off-time, one can often find me outside in half shade pondering life, happily stoking bonfires, singing, dancing (like no one is watching!), hosting friends and family, traveling, patronizing amazing restaurants and chauffeuring my two daughters around town (while failing to convince them that I do indeed know what I’m talking about some of the time. Teens!). Oh, and I love to laugh.
Here’s to funding worthy causes!
