Charity auctions (whether live, silent, or online) are fundraising events in which guests bid to win auction items and packages. The highest bid wins the item, and the fundraising organization receives the proceeds. A win-win! These are highly engaging events that lay the groundwork for long-term engagement with donors.
If your organization is planning to host a charity auction, you’ve come to the right place.
At OneCause, we’ve helped hundreds of organizations raise more with auctions. In this guide, we’ll walk through all the essentials you’ll need to become an auction planning pro.
Use the table above to navigate to a specific section, or follow along with us from the top. You’ll be rocking your next charity auction in no time!
First, let’s cover a few frequently asked questions about these fundraising events:
Question | Answer |
---|---|
Who can host charity auctions? | All types of fundraising organizations host auctions - nonprofits, schools, universities, community groups, and more. Explore our success stories for real-life examples. |
Can small nonprofits host auctions? | Yes, organizations of all sizes can succeed with charity auctions. These are flexible events that can be adapted for a variety of scales and audiences. |
Can a charity auction be hosted virtually? | Yes! Online auctions are a cost-effective way to take your fundraising virtual. We'll cover more about these events below. |
How do you find the right auction items? | We'll cover auction item procurement below, but we recommend starting with reviewing your donor data. What are their interests? How much can they afford to bid? |
Are auction bids tax-deductible? | Yes, any amount paid over an item's fair market value can be deducted as a normal contribution. The IRS has specific guidance about charity auction deductions. |
There are three types of auctions that your organization might host:
An online or virtual auction is held exclusively online through a dedicated website and item catalog. Auction software helps organizations manage the entire process! Choosing the right solution makes the logistics of virtual fundraising much simpler than in-person auctions.
Success Story: Cornerstone Schools of Alabama exceeded their goals after pivoting to an online auction in just 24 hours.
During these classic, high-energy events, an auctioneer will present auction items and manage the bidding process. Guests typically place bids by raising paddles or shouting, but mobile bidding tools can simplify and speed up the process. Live auctions are often more elaborate and hosted as part of a gala.
Success Story: Make-A-Wish Georgia raised over $1 million at their gala by employing new tech and engagement strategies.
At a silent auction, you display items and packages on tables for guests to bid on by writing amounts on paper bid sheets or by using their smartphones via mobile bidding software. These events are very flexible and can be easily adapted for any audience and price range.
Success Story: MARR Addiction Treatment Center tripled their silent auction proceed after switching to mobile bidding.
Each of these types of auctions is highly adaptable to your particular needs and audience. You can even combine them!
For instance, a virtual auction can be paired with an engaging livestreamed live bidding portion. This is a great way to boost the energy and competition for your top items. The OneCause Fundraising Platform makes it easy! Take a tour today.
The basic format of any type of charity auction is fairly straightforward:
This core structure can then be adapted for each type of auction. A live auction involves presenting your items one-by-one, while silent and online auctions allow guests to browse all items and place bids at their own pace.
When choosing how exactly you’ll structure your charity auction, there are a few key pros and cons worth keeping in mind:
Online auctions are cost-effective and let you reach wide virtual audiences.
However, you’ll have to go the extra mile to reinforce your mission and keep the entire virtual event engaging for audiences. Livestreamed elements and peer-to-peer tactics can be helpful for this purpose.
Live auctions are classic, high-energy events that can raise a lot of money.
They can be difficult to plan, but they’re very effective when targeted to the right audience. Big price tags and a competitive atmosphere in a public setting might be overwhelming for many potential attendees, though.
Silent auctions are extremely flexible for practically any audience.
They’re easier to plan than live auctions but still require plenty of strategy. A more relaxed atmosphere can be the right move, but you’ll have to actively maintain the energy and momentum of the event to generate bids.
When you’ve settled on which type of charity auction will be best for your organization, your fundraising goals, and your audience, there are a few additional considerations to keep in mind.
The core charity auction format can be built out to accommodate all types of organizations, audiences, and goals. If you’re planning an auction for your own nonprofit, just remember to get started early. Give your team plenty of time to consider each of these elements and which strategies will be most effective for your base of support.
In the digital age, it takes more than ledgers, notepads, and invitations to pull off a charity auction. You’ll need software and technology on your side. There are several essentials we recommend:
Explore our complete buyer’s guide to charity auction software for a full run-down of essential features to look for. If you’re planning an online auction, you’ll also need to ensure that your auction software allows you to create and fully customize a microsite and item catalog for your virtual event.
In general, using dedicated auction software that includes features to support mobile bidding, registration, and marketing will be your best bet in the long-run. One that integrates with your CRM will be even better! There are a few major benefits to building out your charity auction toolkit, like:
Mobile bidding, in particular, can take any type of charity auction to the next level.
This software is essential for engaging virtual audiences, but it dramatically improves the donor experience at live and silent auctions, as well. Plus, mobile bidding tools make it easy to share important notifications immediately. You can highlight an item that needs more bids, announce upcoming bid closures, and call out big bidders to up the energy.
Streamlined bidding and increased engagement translate to more revenue for your auction!
To plan a charity auction, there are several core steps you should follow:
For a more thorough walkthrough of the planning process for a generic auction event, explore our complete auction planning guide.
Of course, the exact process you follow to plan your own charity auction will vary depending on a number of factors.
For online or virtual auctions, you won’t need to worry about venues and food, but you will need to focus extra attention on your event website, item catalog, and digital marketing. Develop additional strategies for keeping bidders engaged over a longer timeframe, like planning livestreamed elements.
For live auctions, you’ll need to hire an auctioneer to run the event and oversee the bidding process. You’ll also need to focus on developing a concrete schedule for your event to maintain high energy and provide a more seamless experience for guests. Monitors, projectors, and mobile bidding tools will improve these events, too.
For silent auctions, you’ll need to ensure that your event has a schedule with set open and closing times. Auction software can help simplify this process. During your planning period, you’ll also need to devote time to packaging and displaying your items well. How you arrange and present them can have a big impact on bids!
For any type of auction, you might also choose to position your event as the grand finale of a larger campaign or event, like an ambassador campaign or golf tournament. You’ll need to factor these additional tactics into your planning process from the start. Download our eBook on ambassador fundraising for a quick guide to help you get started with this strategy.
For your auction to succeed, you’ll need bidders! Marketing your charity auction will be essential for a few reasons. You can use your marketing channels to:
Marketing is crucial for any type of auction, live, silent, or virtual. For online auctions, digital promotions are especially important to make up for the lack of in-person engagement and to reach wider audiences to drive more bids. We recommend taking a multichannel approach to marketing your auction. Here’s how it might work:
The main idea of a multichannel marketing campaign is to use each of your digital outlets to drive more traffic both to one another and to your target action – in this case, your auction’s registration page. Here are the typical outlets that you might use:
Then, promote your content between each of these outlets. For instance, if you’ve written a blog post explaining your auction’s goals, share it on social media. Ask your ambassadors to share sneak previews of your item catalog with their own audiences. Just remember to always include a direct link to your auction’s registration page.
Remember to set specific goals for your marketing efforts. How many registrations do you want to secure? How many of those should be new attendees, and how many will be retained supporters? Creating concrete goals and metrics will make it easier to check in on your progress leading up to the auction, and it’ll give you a solid foundation for promoting your next auction.
Consider creating engaging challenges and contests for online supporters, too! Set goals for your ambassadors, and recognize their achievements with awards or prizes during your event. For all of your registrants, you could ask them to share your social media posts or create their own content about your mission. Then, during your event, call-out your top participants or draw a random name to win a prize.
Strategies like these are generally referred to as gamification, and it can supercharge engagement with your event before it even begins!
Whether you’re planning your nonprofit’s first charity auction or you’re a longtime auction pro, staying on top of changing trends and preferences will go a long way to boost the success of your event. Let’s walk through a few trends to keep in mind:
It’s more important than ever that your item procurement strategies are focused and tailored to your specific audience. Many organizations have already begun shifting to a less-is-more strategy.
Avoid overwhelming bidders with a huge range of items or too many in one price range. By anchoring your catalog with one or two showstopper items, plus several mid-range and lower-range packages, it’s easier to make sure every item gets attention and bids.
Review your past donor engagement data to more effectively target your audience with the items you know will catch their eye (rather than casting a wider net that won’t necessarily generate a positive ROI)). Check out our procurement tips and item ideas for more information.
Just as virtual events are becoming a new norm for nonprofits, more tech should be implemented into any live events you host in the future, as well. Mobile bidding tools are a great example that can boost engagement at any auction event.
Monitors to display items, incoming bids, and fundraising totals is another effective choice for in-person auctions.
Additionally, consider using your mobile bidding tools to make direct appeals during your live or silent auctions. With the “fund-a-need” technique, you explain your fundraising goal, bring the energy up to a fever pitch, and award a prize to whoever makes the last donation before the timer ends.
Explore our fund-a-need guide to learn more about this strategy and why it’s become so popular.
Stay on top of types of items that have been trending up or down in luxury, art, and collectible auction markets. This is especially relevant for larger nonprofits that host high-revenue live auctions.
Luxury watches, jewelry, antique dolls, and Asian art have been popular in recent years.
For smaller organizations, get creative to tap into these trends while still fitting your audience and budget. For example, a school might auction a vintage school t-shirt from the ’70s or ’80s to tap into a sense of history and personal connection with parents placing bids.
When you invest time, energy, and resources into planning a live, silent, or virtual auction of any size, you have to take steps to ensure your event generates a positive return on investment.
Auctions can be extremely lucrative for nonprofits and engaging for donors. However, simply planning and promoting your event isn’t always enough to guarantee a strong ROI. Here are our top recommendations for maximizing revenue at your auction:
Finally, after you’ve planned your charity auction, implemented the right tools, secured your items, attracted an audience, and hit your fundraising goals, you’re all done, right? Wrong!
Now, it’s time to actively steward and retain the support of donors and attendees for the long-run. Plus, you should always take the opportunity to study your performance for strengths, areas for improvement, and new opportunities.
Analyzing your performance and prioritizing retention is particularly important when it comes to online auctions and virtual events, which can help you reach much wider audiences than previously possible. If you don’t take steps to keep your organization and mission on the minds of those new attendees, they’re likely to forget about you.
Here are a few of our top strategies for generating more long-term value with your auction:
Powerful missions need powerful fundraising software! The OneCause Fundraising Platform makes giving modern, flexible, and seamless to drive deeper engagement and grow your fundraising. Take a look at this versatile all-in-one fundraising software that meets the expectations of today’s donor, supporting any event, in-person, virtual, or hybrid.
Want to learn more on how to take your charity auction to the next level? Look at these additional resources: