Auctions are among the most engaging and lucrative fundraising events your nonprofit could host. They appeal to a wide range of supporter interests and foster a fun atmosphere of friendly competition. Plus, they have the potential to raise thousands of dollars for your mission through winning bids on items, entry fees, and additional donations made during the event.
However, successful auctions require careful planning—even more than most other fundraisers. Your team will need to manage many moving parts, budget carefully, and stay organized to achieve your event fundraising goal.
If you aren’t sure where to start with organizing your nonprofit’s auction, you’ve come to the right place! In this guide, we’ll walk through four tips to smooth out the planning process while boosting your event’s impact, including how to:
- Choose an Auction Format
- Procure Items Strategically
- Develop a Multi-Channel Marketing Strategy
- Recruit Volunteers to Assist Your Event Team
As you implement these strategies, always keep your organization’s unique supporter base in mind. Donor engagement at auctions looks different depending on your target audience’s demographics, preferences, and lifestyles. Get to know your supporters through data analysis and feedback-gathering. Then, structure your event in a way that excites them and leaves them feeling satisfied with their experience. That being said, let’s dive in!
1. Choose an Auction Format
Auction planning involves a lot of decision-making, and the first choice you’ll encounter is whether to host a live or silent auction. Winspire’s guide to organizing an auction fundraiser lays out a number of differences between these two formats—let’s review a few of the key points.
Live Auction
Live auctions are fast-paced events where participants bid on one item at a time in direct competition with each other. An auctioneer leads the bidding process, reading out increasing bid amounts, recognizing supporters who lift paddles or raise their hands, and selling to the highest bidder once the competition for the prize dies down.
Since bidding takes place in real-time, live auctions are best held in person, and you’ll need to set aside a specific time during your event for all attendees to participate. You’ll only need to procure 12-15 items to keep the auction a reasonable length, but all of your prizes should be high-value to maximize your event’s fundraising potential.
Silent Auction
Silent auctions allow participants to take the event at their own pace as they browse your item catalog and enter their bids on printed or digital bid sheets. The competition with other supporters is indirect, but participants can bid on as many items as they want at the same time. When the auction closes, all bids are locked in, and each prize goes to the highest bidder listed on the bid sheet.
Your nonprofit may host a silent auction in-person or virtually and run it concurrently with other elements of a fundraising event, such as gala entertainment, a golf tournament, or even a 5K race. It can feature as many items as your team can procure—often 100 or more—and these prizes should vary in value to accommodate different participants’ budgets.
2. Procure Items Strategically
Auction item procurement is the most involved part of the planning process. Whether you’re primarily going for quality (live auction) or quantity and variety (silent auction) in your prize selection, it’s important to keep upfront costs low while still making your prizes appealing to your audience. To accomplish this, your nonprofit should procure as many of its auction items as possible using the following three methods:
- Soliciting in-kind contributions. This option is best for procuring physical goods and gift certificates. You can request prize donations from individual donors or corporate sponsors, depending on what items you’re looking for and which of your nonprofit’s relationships are strongest.
- Seeking out nonprofit discounts. Use this method to procure tickets to events (concerts, athletic events, etc.) or local experiences (such as annual passes to a nearby amusement park). Many venues offer these discounts, but you’ll likely need to negotiate to get the best value.
- Partnering with consignment auction item providers. Vacation packages are best-selling items at both live and silent auctions, but they’re rarely donated or discounted by major travel companies. Instead, consider working with businesses that specifically curate and sell fundraising auction travel packages to secure these items.
As you begin planning your auction, form an item procurement committee of nonprofit staff, board members, and volunteers. Brainstorm an auction item wishlist and divide up sourcing responsibilities based on committee members’ skills and connections. For example, you might put a staff member who is good at negotiating in charge of securing discounted concert tickets or have a volunteer who works at a restaurant ask their boss about donating a gift certificate.
3. Develop a Multi-Channel Marketing Strategy
As with any fundraiser, spreading the word about your auction early and often will maximize participation. Expand your reach even more by including multiple channels in your event marketing plan, such as:
- Your organization’s website. Add your auction to your online event calendar and create a landing page explaining all of the important event details.
- Email marketing. If your nonprofit has a monthly or quarterly newsletter, include a blurb about your auction in addition to sending dedicated email blasts to your mailing list.
- Social media. Tailor your event announcements to each platform’s preferred format and features. For example, you might create a shareable Facebook event, branded graphics for Instagram, and a short vertical video for TikTok.
- Print communications. Supplement your digital promotions by posting eye-catching flyers in your community and mailing personalized invitations to your most loyal supporters.
Get your audience excited about your auction by featuring photos of your most valuable items in your marketing materials, but make it clear that the proceeds will go toward a good cause. Additionally, include a link or QR code to your event registration form in every piece of content so supporters can sign up quickly and conveniently.
4. Recruit Volunteers to Assist Your Event Team
Volunteers are critical to your auction’s success. In addition to helping with item procurement, they can perform a variety of essential event tasks, from checking in participants to enforcing bidding rules throughout the competition.
To recruit auction volunteers, Getting Attention recommends taking these steps:
- Identify all of the volunteer needs associated with your event—both the roles you need to fill and the number of people who will perform each task.
- Start your recruitment efforts by reaching out to your current volunteers, especially those who have helped with events before since they’re familiar with your procedures.
- Create specific role descriptions to clarify the responsibilities and requirements associated with each role.
- Recruit new volunteers using a similar multi-channel strategy to your auction marketing plan.
After the auction ends, remember to thank your volunteers along with participants and auction item providers. This shows that you value your volunteers and can lead to higher retention rates year-over-year and event-to-event.
During the auction planning process, make sure you have systems in place to collect data on participation rates, fundraising totals, and supporter satisfaction. That way, you can evaluate your event’s performance so you can capitalize on your successes and know where you have room to improve for future auctions.
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